Have you ever left the doctors office and think "Why do I even bother?' That's how I felt after leaving the GI doctor's office yesterday. I have been waiting for almost a month for this appointment thinking I would finally get some answers to Taevin's reflux problems, but instead I leave extremely disappointed. Here's the story..........
I get there 30 minutes late due to road work and the fact it is impossible to find the place. After waiting 15 minutes to be registered we are finally called back. Get in the room sit down then strip Taevin down and they weigh him 9 lbs 4 oz. What? Only 9 lbs 4 oz? He was 9 lbs 15 oz on Friday. Next the student doctor comes in for a medical history. Asks about his heart defect, his stay in the hospital, about my pregnancy, the reflux and his BM's (they always got to know about the poo). She does a quick exam and listens to is tummy. In comes the doctor asks what my concerns are. (extremely bad and painful reflux) Then we talk about feedings and current medications. I am then informed that Prevacid (which Taevin has been on from the beginning) does not work for babies his age. The doctor says to stop the Prevacid and start Reglan along with the Zantac. Next he starts talking about the lack of weight gain and Taevin only being in the 10% for his age. I think, ok he's a bit small but considering his first month of life it's not to bad right? I guess not because he starts talking about putting back in the feeding tube, which is the last thing I want to do. The reason why he is considering this is because babies burn most of their calories by eating and since Taevin is eating so often (every 1 1/2 to 2 hours) he burns more calories then he takes in. The doctor sends us home with a RX, a lab order (to check his levels) and a follow up appointment in 4 weeks.
Helpful? Not really. Happy about the way things went? Not really. Got the answers I was looking for? Not really.
So on our way home I stop to get his labs drawn. The poor little guy was poked 4 times. They just couldn't find a vain and once they found one it clotted before they got enough blood. They finally ended up sticking the bottom of his foot and squeezing it out. After that we went home and laid down for a much needed nap only to be woke a little later by a phone call from the doctors office saying that his labs came back showing *elevated potassium. They wanted us to go back and get them rechecked to make sure it was not a *mistake. So after a quick Google check on *Potassium and me having a small 'freak out' we headed back to Lake Forest to try again. They poked him again getting nothing so they opted for the foot poke. The doctor's office never called back so I am guessing the levels were normal the second time.
Taevin's 2 month check up is tomorrow, I guess we see what the Pediatrician says.
* Potassium - Potassium is a substance essential to your body. A mineral in nature, potassium is considered an electrolyte. Electrolytes are charged particles, containing ions, whose tiny electrical charge helps to send messages through your nerves. Therefore, either elevated or lowered levels of potassium will affect your nervous system by sending innacurate signals, sometimes resulting in paralysis.
* Elevated Potassium - When potassium stays in your blood because your kidneys aren't filtering it out, you may experience weakness accompanied by an irregular heartbeat.
*Mistake - it is easy to obtain inaccurate measurements of your blood potassium levels. It's very likely that your blood sample has been "hemolyzed," where the pressure of drawing blood into a vial or syringe breaks open the delicate walls of red blood cells. These cells leak their concentrated amounts of potassium into the plasma and other parts of blood, so hemolyzation will give false high potassium readings. For this reason, elevated potassium levels may be difficult to determine without further medical attention.
6 comments:
o goodness-I would be so frustrated too!! i'm sorry Taevin has to go through all of that. hopefully the potassium was a mistake and hopefully the new medication will help his reflux more. maybe if that calms down then he will keep more food down and not have to get the feeding tube. you're both in our prayers.
Hey Liz, Sorry for the crappy day. We loved our GI doc. Her name is Suzanne Nelson and she's a Children's Memorial doc with an office in the Northbrook area. It's not hard to find either. Also coming from a phlebotomist, person who draws blood, potassium from a heel stick is easily hemolyzed. Next time they go for a heal stick make sure they heat up his heel really well with an infant heating pack. Not just for a few seconds. Like a good long minute or two. It really helps get the blood flowing. Lots of prayers your way.
So sorry for the frustrating day yesterday, I was hoping and praying for you that they would have some more answers. Hopefully the Reglan will help with the Zantac. Zantac really helped Bryson as a baby, once it kicked in he was like a new baby. Hopefully everything goes will with the pediatrician. Thanks again for the AWESOME tomatoes!
I know exactly how you feel. Well maybe not exactly, but with my 2 kids that have had health issues there have been times that I felt so lost. There's nothing worse than not knowing for sure what the problem is. My prayers are with you. What a little trooper he is.
Darn them! With my pediatricians I ask them to explain it to me like they would a 5 yr old, then I ask a ton of questions. I'm sorry he (And you) have to go through all of this. BTW, Did you ask about the Neosure? I forgot to tell you the amount were on- 1/2 tsp for 70 MLS. It makes the breast milk 22 calories. Hang in there! It sounds like you have a lot of friends pulling for you!
I was hoping the worst was over and everything would be smooth sailing from here - I sure hope they are overreacting and there's nothing to be concerned about!! I don't see why the weight thing would even be an issue, lots of babies are small for their age. Even Marley was at 5% at a year old! He's such a strong little guy!
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