Miles illness

If you follow our blog, then you've probably noticed more times then not that Miles (and Brooklyn) have struggled with stomach issues over the past 10 months.  Remember all 3 of our kids had the Cyclosporias parasite last summer?  Well, over time and after monthly episodes/outbreaks as I call them, I started realizing getting fed up with how much our little ones were sick, the severity of their sickness, I was completely over the long nights of vomiting (because that never seemed to occur during the day) as well as the continuos bathroom trips because our sweet kids couldn't control their bowels.  Sorry if that's TMI, but it's true and has been our real life.  We spend every month at the doctors office and a few months I contributed their sickness to a family stomach bug because if one got sick the other would get sick.  Then, symptoms started escalating-- each were different for Miles and Brooklyn but we just had enough.  I knew it wasn't healthy for them, I knew that we couldn't keep doing this every single month so it was time to get some answers.  All the parasite, bacteria, normal tests kept coming back negative not really explaining what was wrong with them.  However, one set of tests showed an elevation in Miles blood count letting us know there was some form of infection, we just didn't know where.  Soooo.. off we went to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. 

The closest one that was recommended to us was in Lubbock, but that didn't bother us.  We were able to get an appointment fairly quickly and drove the 3 hours one morning just Brooks, Miles and I.  For starters... it was so wonderful to get some one on one time with Miles.  He is a sweet kid and enjoys just hanging out.  We loved talking with him and listening to him share things with us one on one!  Truly a gift to have so much alone time together, no distractions, and no one interrupting him!  We had a consultation with the doctor who agreed that Miles monthly sickness didn't make sense and shouldn't be happening based on all that we had done to try and control things so he ordered a colonoscopy an upper GI scope.  Before we headed back to Borger we stopped at a Starbucks to grab a coffee and a sweet man paid for our drinks and Miles got his own cake pop for being so brave at the doctors office!  He was pumped it was all his!!  

We were given explicit instructions on how to flush Miles out so that his body would be nice and ready for the procedures.  If you've ever wondered what it's like to keep a 3 year old from eating for 24 hours and only being allowed to drink a blue liquid in 12 hours that contains enough laxatives to last an adult 2 weeks... it's not fun!!!  And if you think a 3 year old would be all about eating as many popsicles and frozen ices.... you can expect them to get tired of it by the 4th or 5th one in 6 hours.  None the less, Miles pushed through and we survived once the laxatives made it through his body around 8pm that night.    He really is a trooper!  We had some gracious friends who were willing to take Brooklyn and Gavin the night before and let them spend the night since we had to get up at 4am to drive back to Lubbock for Miles' procedures.  

I was pretty anxious the entire drive to Lubbock, I prayed a lot that we would get some answers and something would be brought to light.  I prayed for Miles that the entire experience would be "easy" for him, he wouldn't be nervous or scared and I'm happy to say our prayers were answered.   The hospital was wonderful and did a great job catering to our little guy.  They brought him colors and books, a handmade pillow with dogs as a gift to take into the operating room, and even let him decorate his "sleeping mask".  He put blue stickers all around it!  Miles had to get an enema, which I had to give him and you talk about heartbreaking to see his face and hear the words.. "mommy, you hurt me."  He eventually got over it, but from that point forward he was MUCH more quiet and reserved through the process as he waited.  We were eventually brought to a waiting area where we sat with other patients who were before us.  It was there that Miles fell asleep while coloring.  Talk about an answered prayer!  It was wonderful.  It allowed Brooks and I a little down time and prevented us from having to keep Miles laying in his bed while we waited.  

The anesthesiologist was WONDERFUL and when he came to talk to us and saw Miles sleeping he told all the nurses to leave him alone and not prep him before going in.  They ended up taking him back while he was still sleeping, put him to sleep, AND THEN set all the wires up on his body.  The procedure lasted only 25 minutes, and Miles was wheeled out to us.  It took him about 20 minutes before he woke up and he never knew anything happened!!!  What he did know was that he was hungry!!  He was also very curious about all the wires stuck to him and why so many people were watching him when he woke up!  We had to stay at least an hour to make sure he didn't react to the anesthesia and then were given the all clear to go home.  The pedi GI shared with us some images from Miles stomach and that he found 3 areas of infection.  They took a biopsy of those 3 areas and it would be a week before we were given the results!  

 

Once we left the hospital we were all starving since we had been up since 4am and it was now a little after noon.  We asked Miles what he wanted to eat and he said Chick Fil A so we found the nearest one and got him his food.  Brooks and I went to an Italian restaurant that was recommended to us and Miles was so hungry that he even ate my salad.  The kid NEVER eats salad, but I guess he was just that hungry.  The ride home was pretty quiet for the most part.  He slept a little, we guess from the meds and then watched a movie.  Brooks and I were relieved that aspect of the testing was over and it was just time to wait.

The next week, Miles had a few more tests run that we were able to have done in Amarillo at a hospital about an hour from us.  This test was a little more difficult since it required Miles to drink this awful, chalky, radioactive stuff.  He didn't want to have anything to do with it.  The nurses and I tried everything we could to get him to drink even a few ounces.  The tricky part was he had to do it within a certain time frame from his initial images they took when we arrived.  Eventually, he drank enough to show up in the scans and then we just waited and took x-rays every 35 minutes to see if there were any blockages in his intestines or any reflux, etc.  Those scans came back clear giving us room to breathe and knowing that area of his body was causing his sickness.  Again, Miles was such a trooper and did really well hanging in with all the tests.  He kept saying, "mommy, why won't they take a picture of my face instead of my tummy?... my face is cuter!!"

A week later we received the results from Miles colonoscopy and it showed that he had 3 areas of acid inflammation.  There was no bacteria or parasites or allergy cells in those areas of inflammation so their cause is unknown.  They could be from 10 months of vomiting or they could be the cause of his sickness.  The GI isn't too sure, but at least we know there wasn't anything else.  And we're okay with that!  Miles is on an acid reducer med for 3 months and we will see how things go.  I've also started using Essential Oils on him when he was getting outbreaks and they greatly reduce the length and severity of his outbreaks.  We're hoping, praying, and believing that is all behind us and we're moving forward to better health and our kids being healed!!