Friday, January 14, 2011

DGE, Easy as 1-2-3

Somewhere around the third hour of our second doctor's appointment on Monday, Max decided he was DONE with all of these grown-ups talking about him. So he sat on the bottom step of the exam table, and started spitting on the floor. "Pffffffffffffffffffffttttt", as loud as he could, motor-boat style. Over and over and over. My mom went to stop him, but then at the exact moment she realized that he was spitting all over the floor in front of not one, but two doctors, she started to snicker. The kind of snicker where I knew that in about ten seconds she was going to start the laugh/cry that we're famous for. That was probably my favorite moment.

Or maybe it was when the old-school "Attending" doctor came in to help the young new doctor. And Doctor Attending with the thick accent grabbed Max, threw him up in the air, tickled him....and then set him down so hard that Max fell on his face. Twice.

Have I mentioned how grateful I was to have my mom there with me? Of course it's helpful to have an extra set of hands, especially when I had resorted to walking Max around the allergist's office (after waiting for TWO hours) and telling him loudly "Wow honey, you are being SO patient. We've been here for a VERY long time, and it's so hard to WAIT THIS LONG when you're so little, isn't it?" But it's also nice to have some emotional support. Because of course we never know what curveballs they're going to throw at us, somewhere between hour 2 and hour 3.

So here's the latest scoop:

They think that Max has what's called Delayed Gastric Emptying, combined with severe reflux. Could he still have allergies? Of course. But since he's only on formula and still not feeling well, the allergies probably aren't what's causing his symptoms. The good news? Once we get all of this straightened out, he may very well be able to eat lots of different things. Maybe even milkshakes....in which case we would drive immediately to Kerry's house and have a milkshake party. Delayed Gastric Emptying (DGE) means that his tummy doesn't pass food through as quickly as it should. So when he barfed up whole pieces of scrambled egg and we thought "Ah-hah! It's because he's allergic to scrambled egg!" it really was because ALL food just sits there and makes him sick. And causes acid to come up. And makes him vomit. Could this be the new holy grail of diagnoses? Maybe. I'll do my dance of joy once he actually starts feeling better.

So now Max is on a low dose of an antibiotic that's supposed to help food move through his body faster. Want to guess what that means? Yeah.....pretty much. We may also up his reflux med, and the allergist recommended adding a low dose antihistamine to help at night. He said it was to soothe Max's itchy eczema, but added "It may have a small sedating effect. I figured that might be helpful in Max's case?". And then I kissed him. OK, I really didn't....but he would've deserved it.

So far no change with the medicine, but it's only been a few days. He did take a two hour nap the other day, and then a THREE hour nap yesterday, so we'll see if his nights improve too. Our fingers are crossed.

Last night he woke up at 9:30, and then again at 3:30. The moon was lighting up the clouds when I finally put him in the car at 5 am (he wouldn't go back to sleep at home). Oddly enough, I felt peaceful. We don't know where this road is going, but at least we're trying something new. So for now, we wait. And we drive.

Sean gets home tonight from a week-long business trip, and we're ready to have him here to complete our circle. And I'm sooo grateful to my mom for supporting me this week, in all of the ways that she's so good at....like singing songs with Max....
And teaching him how to do complicated puzzles that are meant for kids older than he is....but he figures them out anyway!
And just to balance out his brilliance at things like complicated puzzles, they also play the "P. U!Smell Max's feet" game, as you can see here....

And they also have quiet moments...
And we keep moving forward, one cuddle at a time....

My 19 month old does all of the hand motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and chimes in with some of the words. So who cares if he doesn't eat or sleep?? Take that, toddlers everywhere!

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