Monday Hayden had an appointment with his GI doc to follow-up on the increase the vomiting/intolerance to his feeding. Luckily, the fundoplication discussion was non-existent except for saying that that was not an option at this time. He wasn't into the idea of changing his food at this time because he sees so many parents chase foods and none of them ultimately make a difference. Hayden has been on Prevacid for some time now and is not big enough for a higher dose, so he suggested we try Prilosec. He said that some kids do better on it, but if we don't see much difference, to let him know and we can switch back to Prevacid. Prilosec has to be compounded and refrigerated so it is more inconvient. We also advised him that we have taken 4 ounces out of Hayen's feeds a day, so he is down to 26oz of Pediasure a day. That has seemed to help with the vomiting. Since that is 72% of the food he needs for maintance (and he is gaining weight) he is okay with that. Hayden just needs to stay above 67%. He did say that Hayden's stomach empties slower than normal due to the spasticity of his muscles (cerebral palsy) and that is why he can vomit half of his feed 2 hours after he was fed.
No one seems to know why he has so much thick mucus in his stomach and if its origins are nasal or gastric or a combination. The ENT we saw this spring thinks it is gastric since it is so thick (the consistencey of egg whites), and the GI doc thinks there is a nasal componet. Hayden is not big enough for one of the tests that could test the PH to help determine the origin and the other test involves a tube down his nose for 24 hours. If Hayden didn't pull it out himself, Nicholas probably would. He also gave us a prescription for Flonase to help with the nasal inflamation the poor child has from refluxing into his nose. He snores so loud we can hear him in the living room from his bedroom. No two year old should snore like that.
We are going to try both of these and pray that they help. I like having Hayden on Pediasure since it is readily available and less expensive but I would still like to try a different food that can digest faster so maybe Hayden won't have to vomit at all, or maybe only once a day. I don't want to wonder if I really tried everything possible to help ease his GI issues.
Tuesday, the boys went to the Pediatrican for flu shots. I wanted to make sure they received them early so that they would be able to get the H1N1 vaccine as soon as it was available. Once again, they were big boys and only cried for a second. Hayden actually cried this year. I almost cried last year when he didn't cry. Kids are supposed to cry for shots. They are not supposed to be used to needles and invasive medical procedures. Hearing your kids cry is heartbreaking, but it may be more heartbreaking when they don't cry.
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