stickers, tummies & blog changes

The boys (unexpectedly) had their blood work done today. They both were having their pneumococcal titers checked from their June 28th vaccination with Pneumovax23 and their memory b cell function tested. Brice was also having a food allergy panel done. They both did great... well Brice had a massive meltdown over having to wear a band-aid after the fact... and it only got worse when he was given the option of choosing stickers. OH.MY.GOODNESS. I was sweating by the time we walked out... he was so upset that he didn't realize he was saying no to the Toy Story stickers he ultimately wanted.... but then, he wanted the WHOLE roll. I explained to him that he could have a few and the rest had to stay for other kids having blood work too... while he is normally a great share, today, he had no desire to do so. He l.o.s.t. it... the woman that drew his blood said he could have the entire roll... to which I 110% refused. He was not being rewarded with an entire roll of stickers for not wanting to share and for having a meltdown over not wanting to share. Finally, he took one of each type on the roll and we left.

Speaking of food allergies... the boys have a new tummy doctor (aka GI specialist). As much as loved our GI doctor in Baton Rouge (and will forever be thankful to him for stabilizing Pierce as a teeny babe), I just couldn't make the 1+ hour trip any longer. So back to the new tummy doctor... while I can't say that I was overly impressed, I can say that I think I am going like having him on our team.

Dr. K had lots of things to say about Brice and I honestly cannot remember each one because holy gees did my kiddos bring out the crazy for the first half of our appointment. These are the things that I do remember: (1) We're reducing Brice's Nexium intake from 20mg twice daily to 20mg once daily; (2) He's curious if some of Brice's belly issues could be related to food allergies or sensitivities; (3) He reviewed Brice's EGD biopdy report from March --- Brice did not have any evidence of esophagitis but that could have been masked by him being on Prevacid --- Brice had duodenitis; (4) If Brice's belly pain gets worse (especially to the point we were at a few months ago) he wants to do another EGD and a 24 hour pH probe study; (5) the duodenitis could be the culprit for his belly pain... actually visceral hypersensitivity could be. Dr. K said that once the inflammation from the duodenitis subsided, the nerve endings may not have properly healed and could be hyper-sensitive now... so anything moving through the duodenum (part of your intestines), in essence, could cause pain. If this were the case and if his pain were to get worse and if it were to start interfering with his day-to-day activity, they would treat the visceral hypersensitivity. Dr. K did give me a fair warning that the treatment for it is "old-school" anti-depression medications. He wants to see Brice again in two months.

As far as Pierce goes, he is in a pretty stable place GI-wise. I explained to Dr. K that pulmonology wanted us to get another swallow study and I really didn't think Pierce needed to undergo another swallow study (aka pharyngogram or MBSS - modified Barium Swallow Study or VFSS - Video Fluoroscopic Swallow Study) My two reasons are: (1) I am just not convinced that his recent choking episodes were related to anything mechanical - I am of the opinion it's more of an ENT issue (while he was sick) and (2) my poor kiddo has been exposed to SO much radiation in his short 19 months of life that if we can avoid it we need to. While he respected my desire to avoid the MBSS he thinks it's necessary. Due to Pierce's mito diagnosis, he wants a baseline study, if in the event we were to see issues arise in the future. The hospital will be calling me at some point this week to schedule the MBSS and we follow-up with Dr. K in two months.

And... I've made a few more changes to my blog! I moved my blog roll from the sidebar:

to a page at the top (We like to read):

and I also added a few buttons as well :)

I am off to stuff and address 80 birthday invitations for my ALMOST 3 year old redhead... have a great night!