Re: New to the List
Jill Chester-Haney (jillch@primenet.com)
Tue, 19 Mar 1996 06:49:05 -0800
>Hi all. My name is Laurenza Riojas and I have a son, Steven who is 2.5 years
>old. He was born at 23 weeks to a drug addicted mother. I am in the process
>of adoption. He is a wonderful little guy who has lots of health problems due
>to his premature birth and the poor health care and drugs abuse by his
>birthmother. He has BPD, mild CP, microcephaly and developmental delays.
>We've only been together since November 2, 1995 and I've been on a crash
>course with hospitals, doctors, social workers, OT's, etc. etc. ever since. I
>feel so blessed and I joyful to have Steven in my life. I've waited for him
>to come home for a long time!
>
>Currently he requires oxygen when he is sleeping. I was in the process of
>weaning him, but he has a cold and ear infections now so the oxygen is back
>up. He also is failure to thrive and has a g-tube. This area I am having
>great difficulty with. He is doing better at trying different foods, but he
>has no appetite to speak of. He is 2.5 years, weighs 21.5 pounds and is 32
>inches tall. The doctor is getting very concerned because he isn't gaining.
>She mentioned today that she wanted to do a barium (sp?) test and then she
>thinks he needs a fundal plication (sp?). I would appreciate any information
>any of you may offer me from your experience with either the barium test
>and/or the surgery. If he had reflux wouldn't he vomit every day? He
>doesn't. He has actually gone for a couple weeks without vomiting. Isn't
>there medicines that they can try before doing the test and surgery? I'm very
>scared about the possibility of another surgery. He's been through so much
>already.
>
>Well, I have to close for now. Thank you for all being there. I've read many
>of your intros on the web. I think I'm in the right place! Thanks again.
>Laurenza and Steven
>vps04@msu.edu
Laurenza,
My Kevin, age four, had the fundoplication and barium studies about two
years ago. (That barium is constipating. The baby will have to drink lots
of liquid after the test so as not to have problems.)
Kevin never vomited. Really, never. And yet they insisted after the ph
study (You must have an overnight in the hospital to get the ph study. The
probe is inserted in the esophogus and measures the amount of acid reflux
that occurs after feeds. It is an important part of the whole picture,
even if the barium upper GI is done.) It turns out that the ear infections
that led to two different sets of ear tubes were from micro-aspirations of
food and acid into the upper respiratory tract, and that the tubes were not
really needed after the g-tube and fundoplication were done, anyway.
According to Kevin's surgeon, vomiting is not part of the program,
necessarily, though it is an important factor in considering the Nissen
fundoplication. Kevin's esophagittis was much more convincing to the docs
than the lack of vomiting.
(Congratulations, Steven, on picking such a great mom.)
Regards,
Jill
jillch@primenet.com