Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Upper GI Results

After all the "ear" stuff, you would think
Nolan would know where the otoscope goes. Apparently not!

The ENT office called me this morning to give me Nolan's Upper GI test results. From the radiologist's report, it is completely normal. This means that his eating issues stem primarily from the borderline gastroparesis, and not from some unseen anatomical anomaly. I'm not sure if this is a "good" thing or not- an anatomical anomaly might have been easier to "fix," but at least there isn't anything else wrong!

In the meantime, Nolan is eating more again. By "more," I do not mean "eating like a typical 2 year old." An example of today's ingested material is:

2 tablespoons of oatmeal
2 bags of Yogos
3 french fries
24 ounces of whole milk
2 cups of diluted fruit juice

The Yogos might take some explaining- we found a food that Nolan will eat, so we're giving him some Yogos to keep him chewing and swallowing. Some kids begin to prefer an exclusively liquid diet and don't want to chew anymore, so we're giving him these as "chewing practice" and not for any nutritional value.

He has spit up twice this week (like an infant- white milk) and has had some good eating days and poor eating days. We see the gastroenterologist on Monday and will have a better idea of how to proceed. Right now we're officially "dealing" with resolved PUV's, hearing loss, gastroparesis, and head lag. This new doctor is an MD/PhD and specializes in complex medical cases, and our ENT is hoping she'll be able to come up with a comprehensive diagnosis. Of course, it is always possible that Nolan has a bunch of unrelated, rare problems. But it is more likely that everything stems from a common cause. All I really care about is getting my kid to eat again, and to eat enough to gain weight. A 22 pound two year old is pretty skinny, and we can't find pants to fit him. He's in a size 9 month for the waist, and needs a size 18 month for the length.

We may be investing in suspenders in the near future.

5 comments:

Holly said...

Love your blog. My little one has figured out how to pull the tubing from the earmold itself. Now it is loose. Any ideas on how to get it back in b/f we go to the audiologist. I know super glue wont work. Any ideas??

leah said...

Nolan does that on a weekly basis! He used to do it on a daily basis, so I guess that's improvement, lol!

We just stick the tubing back into the earmold (making sure the earmold is in the right orientation) and try to push the tubing in so that it is snug. We actually have used superglue in the past (when he was outgrowing his earmolds faster than we could blink), but now we don't because sometimes he needs a tubing change and not an earmold change.

When we do get back to our audi, she takes them and re-glues them for us. I wonder if you can buy audiology glue online??? Something to google!

Tricia said...

We always laugh at ourselves, because we have one child that we never allow candy, soda, or large amounts of sugar. Then, there is Emmi. We just need her to eat. Anything. Fruit snacks for breakfast? Sure! Chocolate milk and a hershey kiss for lunch? You bet!

As for the tubing, there is a glue sold online for it. I found it while searching for cleanser for the earmolds. Let me poke around and see if I can figure out where I found it. If I find it again, I will post the link.

Holly said...

Thanks for the suggestions! I also tried clear nail polish. I saw it on the listen up site. It helps a little. And Trish Marie, I live in Houston also. Rice University area.

leah said...

Oo- clear nail polish is a good idea! I hadn't noticed that one on listen-up before. I'll have to keep that in mind the next time Nolan decides that hearing aids make a great toy.

Trish, we can't remember a time when Nolan ate normally. Sometimes we'll tell people that he "ate well today," forgetting that Nolan's "eating well" and a normal appetite are on different planets. We were so ecstatic that he was eating really well earlier this week- he ate one chicken nugget at lunch time, and some rice at dinner. There are days we are happy to get ANYTHING into him- chocolate chips, icing, pieces of donut... nutrition is almost secondary when you're just trying to get enough calories into them. We see the GI doc tomorrow, so we'll see what she says!!