News

Not sure how many still read this blog, but I wanted to do a brief update regarding some health issues with Carter. Right now this seems the easiest way to document the goings on and also gets the facts to you without making a hundred phone calls and feeling like crying every time I try to explain.

The Background:
Since day one Carter has been a "pukey" baby. Always projectiling meals, reflux etc. Early on in his life, I was told to put him on Zantac and he would out grow it. I was nervous of starting him on a medication so young, especially after the Dr. we were seeing stated that often if they don't outgrow it, they require more medicine for the rest of their lives. So I never started. We tried over the years to monitor his diet. Excluding dairy, organic, limiting wheat, etc. Allergy tests, sticking to certain organic brands, cutting down intake, changing to 5 mini meals a day and so on.
Recently:
The vomiting has progressed, so much to the point that I started to chart it. A little X in my calendar, should normally mean the days I work, not so. It stands for "today Carter threw up." When I say he throws up, I don't mean a little hiccup and a teaspoon of puke. I mean cup fulls. And the little trooper NEVER cries, just looks at me and says, "Mom, I'm going to throw up now." He waits till I grab a bucket, empty kleenex box, garbage bag, or on one recent outing, my Coach purse. The same purse he and Cam gave me for Valentine's Day a couple years ago. Really, how could I let him puke all over himself in the car and ride another 20 minutes home, so there went the only thing I had. The purse. According to my "chart" we are at 3-4 episodes a week. Every 2 weeks, he gets what I thought was food poisoning, 8-10 hours of severe wretching, exhaustion and fatigue. But no one else in the family seems to come down with it.
Yesterday:
I had scheduled an appointment with his Doctor to address this issue. She poked and prodded at his tummy, mostly tickling him and making him shy with her questions. His response to most of them was, "Yeah, I throw up. But is doesn't hurt. Ever." So after this prodding that lasted several minutes she asked if he had every had an ultrasound for the "probable intestinal deformation" she was feeling at the base of his rib cage. Ummm, no. Excuse me what? Probable? Deformation? So she wanted us to get to Children's Hospital for a Upper GI study and stated she would know more then. She told me that in 15 years of her career, she has had 3 patients that presented exactly like Carter. No pain, no weight loss (but no significant gain when he grew 2 inches), severe and "undiagnosed" vomiting of large quantities several times a week. Their diagnosis = deformation of the intestines/tumor/malformation. Basically something is not digesting right, it gets built up and thus the puking.
Best Case/Worst Case: Best case, "severe reflux with lower esophageal sphincter delay" meaning his lower esophagus doesn't tighten up like it should to prevent food from coming back up. This should've corrected itself when he was younger, but maybe has not. The "cure' or prevention from further damage is to put him on Meds that will keep him from vomiting/refluxing, and prevent any further stretching of this lower esophageal area. Worst Case, deformity/abnormality of the small intestine needing a resection. Whether or not he will require special diet/restrictions/medication for the rest of his life is unknown.
The Plan:
Upper GI study for Tuesday w/contrast ruling out Probable intestinal deformity/abnormality. This will give the doctor the picture she needs to determine if her "feeling" is correct, if it's "just" the esophageal sphincter delay, both, or something totally different.

So this is where we stand. Not freaking out yet, but scared that something is wrong with my baby and I certainly can do nothing to fix it.
I will be sure to keep you posted.