Gastroenterologist

Friday, I took Lucy for her very first visit to a GI (tummy) doctor. I have to say, before discussing Lucy's stomach health, that the health center in Sacramento where her new GI doctor is located, is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen that is directly focused and geared towards children and their comfort. The entire building is a pediatric building for specialist such as neurology and internal medicines. The walls are painted sky high with murals of giant gardens with butterflies hanging from the ceilings that have 6 foot wind spans. The ginormous waiting room has tropical fish tanks with "Nemo" and "Dori" in them, and each department is identified by shapes. The GI department was easily located by the green, 3 foot wide, four-leaf clover on the wall. Lucy was highly entertained before we even got into the office!

We were greeted by a happy nurse who weighed Lucy and immediately gave her a sticker. She had Lucy wrapped around her finger after that! Dr. Barad came into our room shortly, and was young and very friendly. He happily engaged Lucy while still focusing on everything I was saying. Since it was our first visit, I had to give him a quick lengthy rundown on Lucy's stomach health history from the last two years. Of course, he could have just read her mile long chart on the computer, but why take the time to do that when you have a very detailed mother to give you a recap. I am a mother who can describe her daughter's poop better than any color photo or chart ever could. I know exactly how many rectal prolapses she has had in the last year, some that aren't even noted in the chart! I can tell you exactly when she changed enzymes, to which brand, strength and dose. This makes it so helpful when I walk into those first meetings with new doctors. I end up doing most of the talking...the way it should be in a doctor's office, if you ask me! Who knows Lucy better than me? No one.

Since we had just discovered on Thursday at clinic that Dr. Grumpy miscalculated her Zenpep enzyme dosing, I told Dr. Barad that I would like to give the Zenpep at least a week to start working properly before doing anything too drastic, like a clean out with magnesium citrate or GoLytely. I really do think that now that Lucy is on the correct dosage of enzyme, she will begin to absorb food better. Just in the last 48 hours, it has shown to be effective! She has pooped less, and it is less runny!

Dr. Barad sent us over to the x-ray lab to get a "picture" of her intestines to see if there are any visible blockages or any lingering poop that needs to come out. The abdominal x-ray should show whether or not she is backed up. With every rectal prolapse she has ever had (six in the last year), she has always had frequent, runny stools, but still pushes hard to get them out, which means there could be a need for a "clean out" (enema). We should find out (via phone call) next week if she needs to be prescribed a heavy duty laxative to do a clean out at home.

Dr. Barad also gave us a lab form to take next week to a diagnostic lab to get a pancreatic elastase test done on her poop. I have to go down on Monday and get a poop kit to collect a stool sample. A pancreatic elastase test will show the levels of pancreatic enzyme she makes on her own. The last time she had a elastase test done was at 2 weeks old so the levels may have changed and would effect how we dose her enzyme pills. Her natural enzyme levels at birth were extremely low, making her very deficient and in need of a very high dose of enzymes in pill form.

I can't wait until next week when we get all the results back so we can make the changes needed to make Lucy's tummy feel more at ease! Enough is enough already!

Next week: pancreatic elastase test, x-ray results, and the throat culture from clinic...