updating...

It's been crazy as ever around here (um, weren't things supposed to calm down after I quit my full-time job???) so I will try to catch you up once again! We saw Dr G, a pediatric GI doctor at Brenner's Children's Hospital (part of Baptist). He asked a lot of questions (some of them twice) about Tate's tummy issues. He has tentatively diagnosed Tate with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. That basically means that he'll randomly and frequently throw up until he's a teenager, at which time he'll grow out of CVS and it will become migraines. There is family history of migraines (I've had them pretty severely since I was a teenager), and it's all related. I'll tell you what I don't like about the CVS diagnosis... there's no way to know for sure that's what it is. It's basically a "Well, we've ruled everything else out, so it must be Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome" sort of diagnosis. I am not a fan. Isn't there a test they can run to confirm? Nope. So he gave us some meds (3 to be exact.... one for nausea, one for acid, and one to directly treat the CVS), and he said this (meaning the med for the CVS) will fix it if it's CVS. I am the type of girl who won't take Tylenol unless I feel like I'm gonna die, so I'm not super happy about my 5 year old being on 3 meds indefinitely. But we figured we'd try it and see if it even worked before we make any big decisions. They also sent Tate for yet more bloodwork... I'm afraid he's going to start having track marks at the rate he's going. Good times. 


Did I mention that the appointment with the Ped GI was on the last day of my insurance with US Airways? Boy, did I find a great time to quit my job or what? I wouldn't be surprised if the folks at the pharmacy are still confused. We went ahead and filled 2 of the 3 prescriptions that day, but the insurance was giving us a hard time about the Nexium. I hear it's expensive. So I was like, "No worries, our insurance changes tomorrow, so we'll have to start over anyway." We were able to finally able to get the Nexium filled, and even the co-pay was high... we're thankful for insurance! 


Dr G set Tate up for a gastric study to make sure that what he has isn't "lazy stomach" (that's obviously not the technical term, however, it is the one that I can remember). I'm about to get detailed, so if you have a weak stomach, I suggest you skip to the next paragraph. Apparently, it's not normal that he's vomiting undigested food (aka chunks) several hours (like 8 or more) after eating. He said that the food should be digested at that point (within 4 hours of eating it), and that we shouldn't be able to recognize what his last meal was. (Ahem. I warned you). So that's what the study is for.... to give him food with dye in it, then track it for 4 hours to make sure it's going where it's supposed to go. 


Tate started taking the meds and hadn't thrown up in 2 1/2 weeks. Until today. Incidentally, today was also the day of his gastric study. We woke up to him getting sick in the hallway (blech!) at 5am, and he kept it up periodically until our drive to the hospital at 9am. I'm glad I had thought to bring a towel in the car. Although at that point, he was pretty much just dry-heaving. It's so heartbreaking to be watching your little boy in the rearview mirror as he dry-heaves, and his face turns so red because he can't get a breath. I nearly pulled over on the side of the road, but by the time I had a chance, the tough part had passed. We got to the hospital at 930am, and they let us know that they would feed him a scrambled egg with radioactive stuff in it (again, not a fan), then they would take pictures of his tummy after he ate, then after 30 minutes, then an hour, then every hour after that until 210pm. I began texting and requesting on facebook that everyone would pray that he would keep the radioactive eggs down, because if he threw up again, the study would be over and we'd have to reschedule. He was tired, cranky, and not feeling well, but we made it through the whole thing (a little bribery goes a long way) and he did great overall. We'll get results hopefully by Friday. I'm anxious to hear it, as I'm a little skeptical to the CVS diagnosis, not only because they can't absolutely confirm it, but because the meds may not be working as well as we thought. Please pray that we get definitive answers. I really want my boy to feel good. He's been through enough already. 

As always, thank you for all the prayers! We really love you guys.