The beginning of February Hunter started to get very slobbery and started spitting up after he ate or drank. It went from bad to worse in just a matter of days.
The middle of February I took Hunter to see his pediatrician and we decided to start Hunter back on his stomach motility medicine. The thought was that his slow stomach motility was back. Doc explained that slow motility can come and go over a period of time. So we started erythromycin again. Hunter took from about 6 months until he was 2 1/2 years old so I knew exactly what to expect with this. After a week there was no improvement. We went back to the doctor and came home with some antacids with the direction to continue the motility med and start the antacids. Within days there was still zero improvement and he was getting worse. I decided that he was plugged up and went back to the pediatrician for his opinion. The doc didn't think this was the problem but was happy to order the KUB (x-ray of his bowels). Well, sure enough he was backed up with "moderate colonic stool". So Hunter went on a regimen of miralax to clean him out. Nothing. There was no major poop like I expected.
This picture was taken on March 6th. This is what his shirt looked like all of the time when he started to regurgitate and then the bib would come.
This picture was on Mach 10th. He was living his life in a bib. He chewed on everything, including his socks. His books were thrashed from getting wet. I took a few of his books and took them apart and got them laminated and rebound. I wiped books off every night with Clorox wipes.
This picture was taken on March 15th. The regurgitation came out a little at a time and this is what it looked like.
One week later I took him back to his pediatrician. I wanted another KUB to see if there was any improvement. So doc sent me to American Fork Hospital for KUB #2 and some blood work. Sure enough, no change on the "moderate colonic stool" and his blood work was showing boarder line dehydration. This was no surprise to me as Hunter was regurgitating everything that went in his mouth. He would eat or drink something and within minutes it was coming back up. He was loosing weight and energy FAST!
The pediatrician called us that night and told us that he had spoke to the hospitalist at Utah Valley Hospital and that they were waiting for us. Tyler and I talked about it and wondered if we should be going to Primary Children's instead but we went with the doctor's orders. I packed me and Hunter up and Tyler and Eric Sewell gave Hunter a blessing and we were on our way.
Hunter was admitted to the hospital on Friday, March 15th at 10:00 pm. By the time we got the IV in and settled down it was Saturday morning sometime.
By this point, Hunter was wearing a plastic bib with a pocket on it stuffed full of paper towels to catch and soak up the regurgitated liquid. I stood by his bedside and wiped out the stuff he was regurgitating and replaced the paper towels. This would go on for about 2 hours after he ate and then he would dry right up. Then it was time to eat again.
The hospitalist and the resident doctor decided what the problem was. Hunter must have had a cold that upset his stomach motility and the lack of motility caused him to be backed up and because he was regurgitating everything he was dehydrated. So the plan was going to be to get his motility back on track, get him cleaned out and hydrated and Hunter would be back to his normal self. Ok. We had a plan. I don't know that I was completely sold on this diagnosis and treatment but didn't know what else it would or could be. So we went with the plan.
After a few days of straight IV fluids he started getting some good color in his cheeks and perking right up. He had some new energy that he hadn't had for several weeks. I was starting to feel better about this plan. I asked how the regimen of miralax was going to be any different from what we were doing last week. The answer was that miralax doesn't work properly if the person is dehydrated and they were going to give him "hospital strength" doses. Hunter would need to take 6 times the regular dose until he pooped clear. What?!?! Clear? Really? Well, after a couple days this actually happened. I could not believe my eyes! Hunter had KUB #3 to confirm that he really was cleared out. Hooray!!
Look how good his color is in this picture and look at that smile. I haven't seen that in weeks!
I was hopeful that we were on top of this issue. We went home with Hunter still regurgitating everything but the hospitalist and the resident assured me that now he was cleaned out and hydrated then the erythromycin would keep his motility going and he should get back to his normal self in just a couple of days. Couple of days? With my knowledge and past experience with erythromycin I didn't know if I really agreed with this but hey, I'm not the doctor.
The Upper GI Study came back normal. Things were going down and moving through to his tummy with out any problems. Hunter was not improving and now I was a little stumped. So Tyler and I decided to wait it out a few more days just to see what Hunter would do. Two days later there was no improvement and I called the hospitalist back (he told me to do this with any questions and or concerns) and his response: "Sorry, I can't help you anymore." Ok, so when I asked while in-patient at Utah Valley if we should be having a pediatric GI specialist see him and the hospitalist told me no that this was very much with-in his realm of work he was just kidding, I guess.
After one week of being home and Hunter loosing energy fast I called my pediatrician back and was told that I should maybe see a GI specialist. I called around and was told I had a 2 month wait to get in at Primary's. No way I could wait that long to get Hunter seen. I called Dr. Louis Mizell and WOW I could see his Nurse Practitioner in 2 days! Woot Woot! I took the appointment.
To finish this story go to the post titled The Middle of Hunter's GI Nightmare.
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