Our sweet Gab

My beautiful first-born, Gabriella Rae

Our sweet Gabb girl is having some medical issues as of late. They began around Halloween after she had both a stomach bug and strep throat. We noticed quickly that her little belly was becoming hugely distended by the end of every day. As you can imagine, when your child has an identical twin sister, it is very easy to realize when something is far from normal. We began seeing her pediatrician about this problem before Thanksgiving. After several visits, we were referred to a pediatric gi physician. However, because there are so few specialist in our state, we had to wait 2 1/2 months to see her new doctor.

In the meantime Gabby had abdominal x-rays and bloodwork, both routine and slightly more extensive) completely to rule out several factors. The good new was everything was ruled out, the bad news was we still had to info about what might be causing her discomfort. We also tried adding probiotic yogurt to her diet, removing her from lactose, and limiting her gluten intake in the meantime.

Today we finally saw her specialist. After the most thorough family illness background I've ever witnessed, her doctor examined her and explained to us what might be causing her problems. I'm writing this to inform family and also keep track of this journey.

Possible causes and the path we are taking to explore each:

1. Her system took a hard hit from strep and the stomach bug she contracted in October. Her body is still trying to overcome and get back to normal. There isn't anything to do to know if this is it forsure. We basically rule out other things in this case.

2. She has a food allergy of some sort. She had an exotic round of bloodwork completed today. She's being tested for 12 different allergies including gluten/Celiac's disease (90% accuracy with this test), lactose, and peanuts. She's also being tested for a bacteria that might be present in her stomach. If she has this bacteria, antibiotics will cure it. If the gluten allergy is positive, she would have to have a biopsy taken of her intestinal track in order to diagnose 100%. Because a diagnosis of Celiac's disease has other serious health issues related to it (highly likelihood of diabeties, cancer, etc), it complicates her insurability for the rest of her lifetime. We have excellent insurance, but we will not ever label her with this disease now without an absolute diagnosis which can only occur by biopsy. It is something that is very life changing, not only in terms of diet.

3. Her body doens't break down sugars appropriately. There is a small chance that instead of digesting sugars normally, Gabby's body releases increased amounts of hydrogen gas during digestion. If her blood work comes back normal, we will look into this possibility first. The test for it is a non-invasive breathalizer type of test. She drinks sugar water and then blows into a testing instrument at different time increments in order to track how much hydrogen gas is in the air she breathes out.

4. She has a condition (which I forget the name of now) that basically twists and contorts the area of her body inbetween her stomach and small intestine. Usually this is accompanied by other symptoms so we are doubtful this is an issue. To diagnose this, an upper-gi scan complete with drinking nasty barium would be necessary.

5. She has nothing, but has developed IBS. There is no cure for this so we would work on through diet, dealing with stress more effectively, etc.

So our decision is to see how the current blood work comes back. If we have reason to look into Celiac's further, we will have to to the intestinal biopsy. If everything comes back normal, we will go as far as to have her complete the breathing test. If still nothing shows up, we've decided to hold off on any further testing. We truly feel like the invasive nature of many of these procedures isn't justified by her symptoms and discomfort now.

My mother's instinct believes this is all related to the illnesses she experienced in October. In the time we've waited to see the specialist, her problems have decreased ever so slightly with each month. I do not expect any of these tests to come back positive, but will wait and see.

So brave. So strong. So beautiful.

On another note, I realize that Gabby and our family have only experienced the tip of the iceberg when it comes to medical issues relating to children. Today our appointment was in a transplant center. We walked by rows of 'liver' exam rooms. As I passed each one, the knot in my throat grew bigger and bigger, praying that my baby wasn't examined in a liver exam room; praying that our pediatrician hadn't spared me when it came to Gabby having liver problems. I held her in a bear hug that was about 10% hug and 90% restraint as a phlebotomist stuck her twice and fished around both times in order to draw her blood. And just that was almost more than I can handle. This experience has taught me two things. For one, God be with the next person who attempts to stick my child with any needle. I'm way beyond caring about hurting anyone's feelings and will forever be requesting the most experienced person for every medical procedure my child endures. And two, my heart goes out in ways I can't express to the parents and children who are truly enduring serious medical issues. You have my respect and prayers. No child should ever be anything but healthy and happy.

I'll keep you updated.