We are back and a thank you

coasterqueen wrote: We are back from the UGI. First I want to say thank you to everyone. I come on the board and see all these posts thinking of us and it just made me cry. You are all so wonderful and are my family. You know my IRL family didn't even say anything. I called my mom after Megan's UGI to tell her how it went and she acted like she was too busy to even talk.

Anyways, things went better than I had expected for the most part. Dh took over with Megan at 4 am and she sleep (but restless) til 5 am and was up from then on but didn't start screaming til about 6:30 am. He was able to get her calmed down though pretty quickly and suprisingly enough she was awake but not crying the rest of the time. VERY SUPRISED by that, we thought she'd be screaming from 4:00 to the time we got there. So we all got a bit of sleep, not much just because we were stressed but we did nonetheless.

We got to the hospital and she didn't start screaming til they taped her arms above her head and taped her legs together. Then they put her in this contraption and strapped her down and she screamed pretty much the rest of the time. She absolutely refused to take the barium. duh! Who wouldn't when you are strapped in some contraption with your arms taped above your head but pressed against the side of your face. Sooooo unfortunately after a 1/2 hour of trying to get her to take it (I even tried ) we had to make the decision to have them put a feeding tube down her nose to get the bariun in her stomach. Sounds horrible huh? That's why it took us 45 minutes total before saying "ok" to it. But now we wish we would have just done that as soon as we walked in because she cried just for a split second when they put it in but she was calm (whimpering just a bit) the rest of the time (well for hte most part). So that made me feel real bad that we tried the bottle.

We didn't have to have the bowel xray becuz our PED and the xray doc decided after the xray doc looked at her bowels and said that everything looked fine so no need to put her through that. Although part of her bowel is a bit larger than normal but it was contracting fine so they said not to be concerned about that "for now". I'll ignore the "for now" for now.

Anyways, she had "prominent" reflux from what the xray tech said but no malformations or obstructions. Which we already knew she had reflux but it's nice to know she doesn't have anything else serious going on. So we have to wait til our PED reviews the xrays and go from there. The xray tech/doc said that she just more than likely needs meds/no reason for surgery although some with reflux as much as Megan has they do do surgery. We won't do that for sure. I guess it will just be how we play with the dosage of the meds. She had a pretty bad reaction to one of the reflux meds already so we are stuck with only one other one to try.

So that's where we are at. I'm just so glad she didn't scream from 4 am to 8 am. We knew she'd scream when we got there but things could have been much much worse! Your p&pt's really did help and comfort me. Thank you.

BTW, anyone who's had/has a reflux baby..can you tell me is it beneficial to have Megan see a GI specialist? We only have ONE in our entire town and she's not scheduled for them til 7/25. Is it better for a GI specialist to watch/control her reflux or is a PED just as good for that? Our PED scheduled us for the GI specialist and said that was fine that we go to one, but he didn't make it sound like we HAD to go to one. I know that with reflux every time they gain just the least bit of weight you have to play with their med dosage and not sure who would be best to monitor that. Any thoughts/

MommyToAshley replied:

Poor Meagan and Mommy! I can only imagine how hard it was going through the test, but what a relief it must be to know it is not something more serious that requires surgery. It may have been hard to watch her go through the test, but it's a good thing you did. I am sure that the Ped already told you that if severe reflux goes untreated then it can lead to more serious complications. (that's why we opted to give Ashley the reflux meds, but we never had to have her tested) At least now you know what is causing all the problems and you can seek the right treatment.

Please keep us posted.

DansMom replied: Phew, that's over! It must be a big relief to have the test behind you. I feel clueless about docs and specialists these days, so no advice there. It's great to know that Megan has no major obstructions.

MommyToAshley replied:
Sorry I am no help here, it sounds Ashley's reflux wasn't as severe as Megan's reflux. We tried the zantac and that helped so we didn't have to do anything further.

What kinds of things would the GI specialist do?

coasterqueen replied:
You are right. Even though we didn't want to test her we knew if we didn't we'd question things forever. The main reason they did the testing was because she is still projectile vomiting at times. It's a LOT less than it was but it still happens. And sometimes the projectile vomiting could me worse problems. Thank goodness it's not!

Edit: Not sure what the GI specialist would do per se. I'm just wondering if they are better *equiped* at dealing with the reflux versus the PED since our's hasn't been that quick to deal with it. We had to literally force him to deal with it as well as have been in his office and on the phone with him for WEEKS before he would. At first he just said it was colic and deal with it. GRRR.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: First of all... I'm so glad you made it thru that and things went fairly well. Poor little Megan. She will be okay. I'm glad they didn't find anything wrong per say. I'm hoping she outgrows the worst part of the reflux soon.

Ethan has reflux, however it wasn't the worst case. He still has trouble with it on occasion, but the worst part is over. *whew* He never saw a GI for it. Marie's (texasp3) son has it really bad. Just like Megan. He had all those tests done, and saw the GI. The GI didn't really offer anything that her ped offered so (I think) she decided to stick with the ped until he is older. They really couldn't find anything other than reflux on him, either (which is such a blessing). He was pretty red and irritated in there.

She wouldn't mind at all if you wanted to e-mail her or PM her. She would be thrilled to talk to you about it.

Kaitlin'smom replied: whew I am so glad that its done and you did not have to do the other test. I hope the meds work for her. I am so relieved she did much better than you expected and not as much screaming. ((BIG HUGS)) hope you all can take a nice nap together now.

get some rest

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
Don't you just HATE that??? Doctors don't want to admit to babies having reflux. I have no idea why. Sorry, but that really makes me angry. I knew from the start that Ethan had reflux, He had it the day he was born!! I told my ped immediately and stated all the reasons why I thought this. He put him on a plan right away. I'm so glad.

I hope the meds give her some relief. Gabriel has switched to prevacid and it seems to work a lot better for him.

jcc64 replied: I've been thinking about you all morning. Glad it went a little smoother than you originally anticipated, although it certainly didn't sound like a walk in the park.
I'm sure it's a huge relief to not have seen major obstructions, and that you can most likely handle it with the meds.
I hope you all sleep well tonight! God knows you deserve it!

coasterqueen replied:
She's been on zantac for over a month now with only slight relief. The doc then put her on prevacid over a week ago and she was on it three days and had SEVERE throwing up and couldn't poop at all. All she did was scream all day and all night the three days so Dh and I decided to stop it and as soon as we stopped it she stopped throwing up as much and started pooping again and was much better. So we are definitely NOT going with prevacid again. That was so scary!

Unless there are other meds we are not sure of the only ones left to try are reglan (which have SCARY side effects) or prilosec. Morethan likely he'll keep her onthe zantac but play around with the dosage to get the right one.

5littleladies replied: I'm glad it's all over with and that everything went *ok*. I've never dealt with reflux but I think if I was dealing with it I might prefer a specialist to be overseeing everything. It would just be nice to have someone who is specifically trained in caring for my little one's problem-Kwim?

mammag replied: I'm so glad it's over and there were no serious unexpected problems. I can only imagine how tough that must have been to have her taped like that. It would be hard for me....

Hopefull the medicine will improve things for her. She'll remain in my thoughts!

kit_kats_mom replied: I would do the gi specialist. My sitters son was really tiny (so tiny that he had a feeding tube for 4 mos & has a feeding therapist come 5 days a week) and they finally figured out that the poor kid had terrible reflux and the pain caused him to be afraid to eat long after the reflux was under control.

I'm glad things went smoother than you expected. She's a trooper.

How's Kylie handling things?

amymom replied: Karen,
I am so glad everything went well so to speak. I am glad you got support from us here but.... maybe, just maybe your IRL family just doesn't hear/see your panic where you feel free to share that with us. But, still sorry about that

My daughter had/has reflux. (she is 8yrs old now) We treated her until she was about two with reglan. Fortunately we had no side effect problems. And the zantac really didn't do it for her. And we tried loads of things. I consulted a GI but the pediatrician (who had a GI background) oversaw her entire case. Now that she is having more gastric problems I wish I had had more testing done for other things years ago. But, we only do what we think is best at the time. So my recommendation is for you to at least see the GI doc in July and ask him those questions. What will you do for me that the Ped can't? etc.

(My pediatrician had some of the reflux kids see the Gastro doc once per year. We opted not to )

aspenblue1 replied: Isabella just took zantac for her acid reflux. Her ped didnt mention a specialist I know my friend daughter goes to a specialist. I think she is actually going to have to have some kind of surgery for her reflux.

kit_kats_mom replied:
our ped perscribed Axid for Lauren. The biggest benefit to that is that it doesn't taste as bad as the zantac.

A&A'smommy replied: UGH that sounds awful but I'm glad she didn't scream all morning and that you got a little bit of sleep!!! (((((HUGS)))))

Mommy2BAK replied: (((HUGS))) I know exactly how that is having to see your baby strapped down. It's enough to break your heart.

The reflux that you are talking about, is it the kind of reflux where the bladder is sending urine back to the kidney's? Because that is what Blakely was tested for last week.

RayaJoysmommy replied: I have no idea about the GI specialist really. my nephew saw one and I don't care much for him or the way he handled my nephew. But every doc is different.

I"m so glad things wen as well as they did for you!!:thumb:

Boys r us replied: Bless your heart Karen...as bad as it was for her, I'm sure it was 10x worse for you to have to stand there and helplessly watch her go thru that!!

I'm glad that there are no major issues that are causing the reflux. Hopefully this other med you have will work for her with no bad reactions!!

3_call_me_mama replied: HUGS to you ! Sorry you have had such a rough couple days. I'm sure it is a little comfort tho hear that it appears to be just reflux, and nothing else. I have no expertise in the area but i would still see the specialist if it were me. It can only reinforce what you already know or find out more. Good luck to you, you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

amynicole21 replied: I'm so glad that it went better than expected! What a relief that it's over and there is nothing too serious to worry about!

gr33n3y3z replied: I'm so glad everything went very well for all of you

ediep replied: oh man, I am so glad thats over! I am glad that it went better than you imagined. I hope the meds work for megan.
Good Luck!!

Josie83 replied: I'm so glad that its over and I bet that you are too . . . thank for updating us! Give Megan a big from all of us! xx