GI Study

I just realized that I never updated about Ethan's overnight GI study from last week. Well, we had to be at the hospital by 11am on Tuesday (8/12). Ethan had to be NPO since midnight. Luckily for me, Ethan doesn't really complain about hunger in the morning, so we just stayed occupied so he didn't focus on the fact that I did not give him breakfast before leaving the house. Noon rolls around and we are still sitting in the surgical waiting room. They tell me that his OR appointment wasn't until noon, so we should be going back anytime. Sometimes, I think that they forget that you have had a child NPO for over 12 hours!

We finally go back to the PACU a little after 12:30pm and he is wheeled away from me,like a big boy, around 1:10pm. I hate, hate, hate it when I can't be with him anymore. But, the OR is pretty firm on the NO MOMMIES ALLOWED policy.

The doctor came out around 1:45pm and said that the endoscopy went well and that he didn't see any damage to his esophagus or intestines. So, that's great news. He then says that his nurse was putting in the scope for the esophageal manometry. I was told originally that this phase would only take about 20 minutes. After that, they would put in the pH probe (with impedance). We have had the pH probe done a couple of times before, so I knew that didn't take long- I expected to be called back to PACU in no more than 40 minutes.

TWO HOURS LATER: "We are ready for you now". (What took so long???) Out of the PACU, Ethan is being wheeled on an adult stretcher. He is obviously drunk on some sedative. He tries and tries to lift his head, only for it to fall back down. It was actually quite comical. But, he did manage to still give his worried Momma a kiss so I knew he was ok.

So what took so long? Apparently, no one read his three-foot thick chart that says that: 1) anesthesia wears off very quickly with Ethan 2) he has the strength of ten men and 3) he magically develops 3rd and 4th arms that will attempt to yank IV's out and probes up his nose out. Yes, he woke up during the procedure, went mad, started yanking IV and probe out, and swinging at nurses. Due to this, everything took longer and they gave Ethan another round of versed to help him "chill".

Once we were upstairs in our lovely hotel, I mean hospital, room, I tried to get Ethan to drink some juice without any luck. I figured that he would be so thirsty/hungry since by that time he had gone about 20 hours without anything to eat or drink. They did have him on an IV drip, so hydration really wasn't much of an issue, but with the issues we have had with him eating lately, I was so afraid that he wasn't going to eat anything for a while. Well, I finally bribed him with pudding and lots of it. He ate FIVE puddings and almost two yogurts by the time he went to bed. His belly was still full by the next morning.

We got up the next day, after a night of NO sleep! Ethan was tossing and turning, all while wrapping his IV line and probe wires around him, so I had to untangle him all night. When he did toss and turn, he was hitting me with his arms, which were still in arm restraints, so I felt like I had been beaten with a log all night long! Anyway, our next test was the stomach emptying scan. We have done this test a couple of times too, so I knew what to expect. Since Ethan won't eat the radioactive egg sandwich, we have to use a can of Pediasure instead. Long story short, after 4 hours, Ethan still has HALF of an 8 oz. can of Pediasure sitting in his belly.

Now, I wondered if he still had a bunch of pudding still in there, but there was no way to tell. The only thing that I know for sure is that his results were similar before, so I will have to assume that the pudding was not an issue for accurate results. Of course, this result was unofficial since it was not the doctor telling me.

We go back in next Tuesday for all of the results. I fear that the doctor is going to tell me that we need to proceed with the nissen with partial pylorectomy. This would mean an automatic G-tube. It is all very discouraging, but if it means better things for Ethan, then we will do it. Ethan is NOT growing. This could be due to the lack of nutrition actually being absorbed into his body. I guess we will just have to wait and see what Mr. GI Doc says next week!