Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Confirmed - RSV

C had a cough that started sounding pretty junky.  I ended up taking him in to the pediatrician on 5/28.  They gave us a breathing treatment and a prescription for an inhaler.  After a couple of treatments with the inhaler, his respiratory rate ended up in the 50s.  The pediatrician directed us to take him in to the ER to be checked for RSV.

At first the doctor at the ER seemed to imply we were paranoid due to C's past health issues.  Then, once the tests were in and RSV was confirmed, they seemed to be a lot more understanding.  The doctor thought he might see a bit of pneumonia, but the radiologist said we were fine.

We're home on steroids and an inhaler. C will get his last RSV shot of this season tomorrow on our 1st (4th technically) wedding anniversary.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

GI Follow Up Results

We have a fantastic GI Doc. She has a tiny picky eater herself, so she understands and gives more leeway when we have a bad month or three.  So, she didn't immediately jump to tests and huge medical interventions.  But the bad news is C lost 1/2 a pound over the last three months and he didn't grow at all.  We're going to really push calories and hope that we get more than 4 weeks between GI disturbances.  C had at least 4 weeks where he didn't eat over the last 3 months and another 2-3 weeks where his appetite was at least half due to upper respiratory infections.  Those illnesses and his increased mobility really explain why he plateaued for the winter.  We're hunting for high fat, high calorie foods he will eat. We're going to stick butter and oil in everything we can.  We're looking for any good calorie dense recipes that a picky toddler who prefers lots of flavor will enjoy.  Please let me know if you have any.

We're currently focusing on this calorie dense food list:
  • Healthy fats- avocado, coconut oil, coconut milk, olive oil, flaxseed oil, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flaxseed, walnuts- not peanut butter!!
  • Meats-Salmon, bison, grass fed beef, halibut, Mahi mahi, tuna, lean ground Turkey, chicken, pork(sparingly, deli meat( no nitrates or preservatives) Turkey Bacon, Turkey sausage(uncured)
  • Complex Carbs- oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, grits, sweet potato- wheat products sparingly.
  • Simple carbs- banana, apple, all berries, dried fruit, honey, not juice because alot of the nutrients are taken out.




Tuesday, February 21, 2012

GI Follow Up Tomorrow

C has his 3 month GI follow up tomorrow.  I'm nervous.  Recently, our pediatrician has expressed concern about C's weight gain.  In the three weeks between the time the pediatrican told us she was worried and this GI appointment C has had an upper respiratory infection, double pink eye, double ear infection and a stomach bug.

We were trying to wean off of Zantac over the last three months, but this month we went all the way back to where we started before we began weaning down.  We were so close to done, but there is no good way to tell whether or not C's reflux was coming back.  After the GI bug we couldn't get him to stop vomiting and he was restless, so I decided to kick the Zantac back up to the original dose.  I want to keep him off of as many chemicals as possible, but he's got to be able to eat and all I can do is guess.

At this point you can see C's ribs and a hint of his hip bones.  I'm really worried about what our GI doc will say tomorrow.  The poor kid just keeps getting sick.  The average child in daycare gets sick every 6 weeks or so.  C's appetite drops every time he gets sick and he's sick for 10 days each time.  So basically he eats well 4 of every 6 weeks.  We'll see how bad it is tomorrow, I'm worried, I don't want to have to do more things that remind me C's still sick.  I try hard to maintain awareness of his overall health without focusing on the fact that he's technically got a chronic illness that will never go away.  His caloric needs are slightly higher than the average child's because of his regurge.  But he doesn't really like to eat huge quantities of food on a good day.  It is a quandry.

On a side note, C brought home a "boo boo" note from school yesterday.  The note read "C was bit on the nose by a friend".  TheMan and I can't help but laugh... it is funny!  Apparently he was flopping around on the ground at circle time instead of sitting up and paying attention and one of the other toddlers in his class leaned over and bit him.  It wasn't hard enough to draw blood, but he does still have red marks on his nose 2 days later.  What are you going to do?  Toddlers just do this stuff to each other, you can't prevent it all.  He's not upset about it, so I choose to laugh at it.  With friends like that, they must be toddlers...