Big Man's Endoscopy

On Friday, we had Big Man's GI follow-up. All of his stool studies and bloodwork results came back either normal or negative. Dr. A decided to up B's Prevacid to 15mg BID (2x/day) and prescribed Levsin as needed for pain. The game plan was to call him this coming Friday (3/18) and let him know how B's pain levels were. If we couldn't get things under control, Dr. A would do an endoscopy (EGD) at some point in the following 2 weeks. Well B had a different plan of his own.

Sunday night was pure misery in our home. He was up all night coughing and gagging and crying. In addition, he was having a tough time swallowing and kept doing a hard swallow noise. He would sleep in 15-20 minute spurts. We had him in bed with us and we didn't fall asleep until just after 4am. I called Dr. A's office to let them know and within 30 minutes they called back asking us to go in for 1:30pm.

We saw Dr. A, re-explained what happened the previous night and he decided he wanted to move forward with the EGD immediately. He also ordered a pharyngogram (aka VFSS/Swallow Study) and Upper GI Series. He normally does his EGDs on Thursday but he moved some things around and booked B for today at 12pm.

I was worried this morning as to how things would play out. I mean really... how would you feel about having to keep your 2.5 year old NPO until 12pm. I don't think I slept too well last night. We hid as much food as possible. Thankfully he was able to have clear fluids until 8am - so we gave him a bottle of water and he was pretty happy... until we had to take it away... and then he wasn't.

We arrived at OLOL and B slept in my arms while we waited to be taken to his pre-op room. The staff at OLOL is fabulous and beyond accommodating. We did the usual vitals, weight, change into a gown etc. I asked if I could walk with B to the OR and they said YES! They gave me a scrub gown. I was able to hold my baby in my arms, walk into the OR with him, place him on the bed, hold him and kiss him and tell him how much I loved him while they put him to sleep. He wasn't thrilled. He was screaming under the gas mask and looking up at me with the most heart-breaking how-could-you-let-them-do-this-to-me eyes. It took every fiber of my being to keep it together. Once he was asleep, I went into the waiting room. His procedure started at 12:11pm and when 12:33 rolled around I began to get a little nervous. An EGD takes 15 minutes from start to finish (scope in to scope out). At 12:36, the board changed to "closing" and 1 minute after that I was escorted to a family conference room.

I {im}patiently waited for Dr. A --- since yesterday, I have been praying that we would get an answer as to why our baby has been in pain for quite some time. My brain really wanted an answer. My heart on the other hand didn't. As much as I wanted Dr. A to see something, to give us a reason... my heart didn't. Because if Dr. A saw something, then something really was wrong. And he did... he saw a hiatal hernia. Dr. A is 80% positive it was caused by GERD. He said B needs a nissen fundoplication and possibly hernia repair. Dr. A said the nissen could possibly fix the hernia but if the pediatric surgeon felt it necessary, they could repair the hernia as well.

He also took a few biopsies (standard with an EGD). He anticipates seeing mild esophagitis. He noted fluid in his small intestines and removed some for a duodenum aspirate. We will have the biopsies back on Friday and the aspirate takes 1-2 weeks. He switched B to Nexium 20mg BID (2x/day) - he said that Nexium is marginally better for acid suppression. He also prescribed Carafate.

Pending the biopsy results and if the Nexium works well enough to control his stomach pain from his reflux, we are safe waiting until he is around 3 or even a little older to perform the Nissen. In the end, a nissen is definitely inevitable.

B was happy to see me in recovery. I held him and he fell asleep on my chest. We were taken to another recovery area where things got a little yucky. They offered him grape juice in both recovery areas. B vomited twice - like projectile-hitting-the-wall - everywhere. He was complaining of tummy pain quite a bit. We were discharged at 3pm. I gave him some Tylenol around 5:45pm in an attempt to get his pain under control. G and I went to the pharmacy to get his new Rx's and a smoothie for our boy. When we got home, he was doing much better.

We're letting him stay up a bit later tonight since he slept so much today. He is sitting next to me on the couch, getting a breathing treatment (he's wheezing) and watching Toy Story 3. I'm off to love on my big boy... goodnight.