Seattle

Our appointment was at 8:30am on Tuesday, so we left our other 3 kids with some wonderful friends and took Seany over to Seattle on Monday afternoon. My awesome neighbor Jeannette caught us before we left and loaned us a few movies for the road. Sean was so excited. He kept randomly saying throughout the trip "dat wa' nice a 'Nette!" Sean has now seen "Cars," and now knows who is on his favorite pajamas. :) Our room had an awesome view of the Space Needle. Sean loved it.

He also loved having his own big bed with tons of pillows.

This is Sean the morning of his appointment. He looked so peaceful and relaxed, I didn't want to wake him up!

We met with Dr. Christie. He. was. awesome. I loved how he listened to everything we said and took notes and took everything seriously. He agreed that Sean definitely has a chronic problem that he was likely born with. He suspected reflux, weak stomach muscles and inflamation of the esophagus. He also suspected, but did not rule out, that his recent diarrhea was from a recent bug, but that because of his chronic issues with his stomach, was not able to get over the vomiting like he should have. He was also shocked to hear that Sean's doctor had put him on metoclopramide for a year when he was 18 months. Apparently, it is a really strong drug, meant for adults, that with long term use in children can cause damage. Super.

He ordered X-rays of his upper GI, where Sean drinks something and the doctor watches it go down. That was scheduled for 3pm Tuesday afternoon. It was actually very fascinating to watch. The good news is that everything is anatomically correct, so there was nothing that required immediate surgery to fix. The bad news is that, just as he suspected, Sean has bad reflux. It was fascinating watching the fluid go down on the monitors, and then seeing it coming back up. Poor guy. The X-ray doctor said that if that was food, it would have made him throw up. Definitely explains all the throwing up when he was a baby. He had bad reflux. It's a little frustrating that my doctor didn't flag that as abnormal 3 1/2 years ago. FYI, if your baby throws up forcefully everything they eat EVERY TIME they eat for months, it's not normal.

The nurse gave him an iguana beanie baby, which he LOVES, and affectionately calls "Lizard." Poor guy was so tired, he passed out on the exam table when they were finishing up the X-rays.

Dr. Christie also ordered an endoscopy called an EGD. They shorten this word for a reason. It took me 5 minutes of studying this word and it's pronunciation to just be able to say it. and I've already forgotten how. Ready? I dare you to say it one time slow. Forget 3 times fast. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. (eh-SAH-fuh-goh-GAS-troh-doo-AH-duh-NAH-skuh-pee... 26 letters!) Did your brain explode just looking at that? I know mine did. They put a tube down your throat with a tiny camera and light at the end and take pictures of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum (beginning of the small bowel).

Sean had that procedure done at 1:3o today. We had to stay overnight again, so Sean and I stayed in Seattle and Jeremy drove down to Portland after the X-rays yesterday to do his work down there. The hotel we stayed at had a complimentary shuttle to Children's so Seany and I rode over there on that, and Jeremy met us there when he got back from Portland. I felt so bad for Seany. Yesterday before he had the X-rays done, he wasn't allowed to eat or drink. So until 4:30, the poor guy had not eaten since breakfast at 7:30. Jeremy and I both waited until then to eat, too, so we wouldn't upset Seany. After the X-rays, we got him some chicken alfredo pizza and a donut from the cafeteria there because that's what he wanted. He downed it. To prepare for the EGD, after 7pm, he was only allowed to have clear liquids until 9:30 the next morning when he couldn't eat or drink until after the procedure. He was so hungry, and it hurt me beyond belief to have my skin and bones child begging me for food in public and not being able to give him any. But we were there for a reason, and I wanted the right results.

So on our shuttle over to Children's, Sean was going off about the foods he loved. "I want a popsicle and fries and ketchup." "I love pizza. Addy can't have pizza" ... "Addy can have pizza if we cut it in small pieces so he can't choke." He kept saying these things over and over. It was pretty cute to listen to him, and the driver was getting a kick out of it. He talked about food the whole way over there. When we got there, I took him in the gift shop and bought him a little "Blue Angels" fighter jet. He was so excited. He flew it around for a half an hour until it was finally time to check in. He was a good sport. Although when they put the mask on him to put him under, he was not thrilled. In fact he hated it, but his crying helped him to fall asleep in less than 10 seconds.

Dr. Christie did the EGD, and took biopsies from the stomach and colon (he also put the camera in there). He also drew blood while Sean was asleep. After the procedure, he came out to tell us his initial findings. He showed us pictures from the endoscopy. He has severe inflamation in his esophagus, the upper muscles of his stomach are weak and the flap valve (sorry, I have no idea what the technical term is) is loose. Essentially, that is causing his stomach to not keep the food down like it should. So far that is what we know. Sean has esophagitis with severe reflux. He prescribed him a drug that should control the reflux. We will have the results from the biopsies and bloodwork in about a week and a half. Among other things, he is testing the biopsies for food allergies, so we will know more next week if further testing is necessary. So for right now, he is going on the new drug, and we will see how it does. The saddest part? Sean has been banned from tomato products because of his reflux. i.e. ketchup, pizza sauce, etc. That hurt a little. I haven't broken it to him that he can't have his two favorite foods. Remember what he talked about the whole way there? Fortunately, he did absolutely love that alfredo pizza yesterday, and so far, that hasn't been banned.

When Sean started waking up, they let me go back and hold him because he was crying, even though he was still mostly out. He looked so pitiful with all those wires hooked up to him. He had a fat lip from being intubated. (They intubated him also because of his history of vomiting.) It took him a minute, but he settled down when I was holding him. Still out like a light though. Didn't help that it was nap time either. He eventually woke up when I asked him if I could eat his popsicle. I fed him his popsicle, and when he kept it down, they let me get him dressed and take him home. He slept most of the way home. He woke up about 20 minutes away from home saying he was hungry, so we got him a milkshake and he was so happy with that.

This is Sean after he came out of the procedure. He wanted the wheelchair and everything. You can tell how tired he is. Poor guy.

I can't tell you how thankful I am to my friends that took care of my kids while I was gone. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was such a relief to not have to worry about that, knowing that my kids were in good hands. I'm so thankful for all of the prayers and fasting for us. I know that is why things have gone so well.

I also feel very relieved that my concerns were listened to, taken seriously and validated. Also that it isn't anything more serious. I kept thinking that there were so many children in that hospital much more sick than my son. Yes, it's bad, but it could always be worse. I'm so glad it's not.