Denver

Turkey, little man and I took off for Denver the middle of December. We planned on staying 2 weeks. James had to work but was able to get Christmas off to fly down and be with us. My folks drove over and met us there to help me with the kids.
Little man and me were at the hospital from 7-7 everyday. We originally went down for allergy testing. After getting looked at and going everything they decided he needed to be seen by a neurologist, gastroenterologist, pulmonologist, immunologist, ENT and the allergist.
Little man was scoped on both ends and had a pH probe placed. When they scoped him the took biopsies to check for various things. The pH probe was placed through his nose and it went down into his stomach. It monitored the acid reflux and how often it happen. He had to keep the probe in his nose for 24 hours. In that 24 hour period he had over 70 reflux moments that went at least throat high. That was also while he was on massive doses of reflux medicine.
He had about every test under the sun done. He did a swallow study which showed he doesn't swallow right and is high risk for liquids to go into his lungs. They did a chest x-ray and found scarring from aspirating stomach acid and formula. They also found out he has asthma. He doesn't talk or make a whole lot of noise so they checked his vocal cords. That test was positive! His vocal cords work great and have no damage. He had an EEG done which came back normal, his seizures are still unexplained but that means he might be able to grow out of them. They did a emptying study to see how fast his stomach drains. On a liquid diet a baby his age should have about 1/2 their stomach drain in 60 minutes, little mans stomach drained by 1/2 in 182 minutes.
He has what is called delayed gastric emptying. He eats and his formula just sits in his stomach. He never cried when he was hungry so I always fed him every 3-4 hours and he always slept. He was rocking 5+ naps a day and sleeping through the night. His stomach was always full.
We went through skin testing for some allergies and even a few food challenges. When we left Denver he was approved to eat: sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, apples, rice, peas, and pears.
After many meetings and tests we sat down with the GI doctor and the lung doctor. Because of the damage to little mans lungs something needed to be done. His GI doctor suggested a Nissen fundoplication and a G tube.
The Nissen is where the surgeon goes in and tightens the top of the stomach to help stop/reduce the reflux. Little mans stomach never really closed on the top. Then they would put in a G tube to help with gas and if he eats to much because of the delayed emptying. We decided it was the best choice and we did the surgery.
Everything went well with the surgery and he came home two days later. By this time we had been in Denver well over a month. In the months time we had found out so much about little mans health.
He has some protein issues that make it so he is unable to ate meats. He is a grain free vegan at this point in his life.
We have to go back this summer for more testing and follow ups. They will redo his biopsies to see if anything has changed. He will go do more allergy testing and hopefully be able to add more foods to his list!
Denver changed our lives and little mans quality of life. He is now up to 12 foods he can safely eat, he is able to play with other children, he has started saying mum and hi, he has been able to get rid of majority of his medications! He does have a feeding pump to help him get what he needs in calories everyday. After his surgery he has had some struggles with eating but we expected that.
Our lives are becoming more normal. He has become quite a monkey who likes to climb and attack Turkey. He thinks she is the best big sister a boy could ask for. Turkey has been through so much with little man being sick and she has been a trooper! She loves that my mom comes and spends time with her and I find time to sneak away for special dates.
I think I am caught up on all that has happened in the last 18 months of our lives.