Endoscopy

At our last GI appointment, it was suggested to do an upper endoscopy. It is an exploratory surgery to put a camera down his throat, esophagus and stomach to look for signs of reflux, inflammation, celiac disease, infection and eosinophilic esophagitis.

We were really on the fence about putting Jack through another procedure -- esp. one that puts him under. But in the end we decided to do it. We were up early in the morning to get Brooke to day care (HUGE relief to have the best day care who was willing to take her at 5:30am). We got to the hospital at 6am, checked in and went to the short term unit stay. Jack played with some legos that they brought, watched some Disney channel and read a Star Wars book.

We explained Jack's panic reaction to any shots or needles. So they gave him a drug to make him a little loopy -- so to not "care" when they put the IV in. They also put some numbing cream on his hand. NONE of it worked... could have been because the nurse was fishing around with the needle in his hand trying to find the vein. Poor Jack was cry and screaming to take it out. Once it was finally in, we were wheeled to the procedure room. I was on the bed with him this whole time but when I started to get off, he got scared and started to whimper. And when they started to hook up the IV to the meds to put him under, he was really upset and crying. To the point where I started to get teary-eyed. But he was asleep within minutes and they ushered me out quickly as my tears started to flow. At that moment, Scott and I both agreed to never put Jack through an exploratory procedure again.

We went to the waiting room, Scott grabbed a bite to eat and probably 15 minutes later, the doctor came out with pictures. He did find a small to medium sized ulcer at the bottom of his esophagus / top of his stomach. The doctor believes it could have been causing Jack pain or discomfort and that is why he isn't willing to eat. He believes that the ulcer was caused by acid reflux. He prescribed one medicine 4 times a day for 2 weeks and another one 2 times a day for 2 months, to eliminate the ulcer and get the acid reflux under control. The doctor also took some tissue sample in the esophagus, by the ulcer and in the stomach to be examined. We'll find out those results in a week.

It is interesting acid reflux is coming again. It was something the doctors in the past thought could have been a problem, but the medicine they prescribed for it never seemed to help. So this time, it is a higher dosage and longer time frame.

We are feeling guilty that if this ulcer and acid reflux is the reason for his poor appetite all these years, that we could have done this a long time ago to resolve it. But we are also hopeful that this IS the reason as the fix should be pretty easy (i.e. no surgery) and that we have pin-pointed the problem. I'm also hopeful that this is IT and not just another problem we've found that but doesn't solve the lack of eating issue.