Poking, Prodding, and Testing

An update on Gage's barfing/failing to thrive issue, by the numbers:

4 - the number of times we've been to the doctor in two weeks.

4 - the number of times they've tested Gage's blood. The first time they tested it was to see if there was something viral or bacterial causing his barfing. They found a high white blood cell count. They keep testing him, every few days, seeing if the white blood cell count is lowering. It isn't. They've contacted pediatric hematologists, who seem to think that Gage has some kind of virus. Which means that we can't do a dang thing about this.

5 - the different kinds of formula we've tried in the past month. Alimentum - eliminated barfing, but stunk to high heaven and gave Gage horrible diarrhea. Lactose Free, Rice Starch Added, Gentlease - no marked difference. Nutramigen - stunk, and no marked difference. Poor Dad - Gage barfed this stuff all over his coat. Nasty. I felt badly. We're back to good ol' Similac Advanced.

4 - the different kinds of nipples we've had to use, depending on the thickness of the given formula we're trying that week. (Rice Starch Added is really, really thick.)

2 - the number of times we've been to the radiologist to do different kinds of x-rays. The first was an upper GI-tract x-ray. Gage had to drink barium (he actually really liked it), and then they watched on the machine as it went down, to see if he had pyloric stenosis, or a twisted stomach or whatever. Physiologically, he's great. Which is a relief. I think you have to have surgery for pyloric stenosis. The second time we went to the radiologist was today, to get an x-ray of Gage's chest. They had to put him in this weird contraption so that he would remain perfectly still. It was like two half-cylinders, plastic. They put him inside, put his arms over his head, and then cranked it until it was tight enough so he couldn't move. That made him MAD. :) We got the results today - his chest/lungs look great. The white blood cell thing is a total mystery. I am of the opinion that they should maybe just give him an antibiotic and see if his count goes down afterwards. I am planning on sharing this opinion at next week's visit. You just never know until you try.

1 - the examination room we're always put in at the doctor's office. It has a really horrible mural of cartoon butterflies in it. I'm really starting to hate that room.

4 - times per day that I have to change Gage's clothes.

10 - the number of burp cloths that Gage makes sopping wet per day.

2 - new issues that have come to the doctor's attention as the result of just going to try to resolve the barfing issue. The first is the white blood cell count thing. The second is torticollis. His head is tilted to one side when held upright. And he favors the left side when on his back or his tummy. The doc wants Gage to start occupational therapy for it - the wheels are in motion for that right now, but Melissa, Micah's OT, showed us some exercises to do for him in the meantime. He HATES them. :)

3 - number of my children who will have had to be in the infant/toddler program. Sigh. But thank goodness for programs like these, you know??

2 3/4 - scoops we put into five ounces of water. It's supposed to be 2 1/2 scoops, but the doctor is having us put a higher concentration of formula into the water to up Gage's caloric intake, so that he'll gain more weight.

4 - ounces Gage has gained in two weeks. He should have gained 14. Babies this age are supposed to be gaining one ounce per day, according to the doc.

11 - pounds Gage weighs right now.

1 - times they put a catheter in him, to get some urine to test and see if he had a UTI that would have caused his white blood cell count to be high. It tested and cultured normal.

3 - the number of days that Ben and I gave Gage a double dose of Prevacid, to see if it would help more than a single dose. Yes, we checked with the doc - he's totally cool with it. And here's the great thing - IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING!!! I really shouldn't type those words. I'm going to jinx it. But for the past two days, he seems to be only spitting up minimally, like a normal baby. Except for tonight's meal. I gave him rice cereal for the first time, and I accidentally mixed too much. But he ate the whole thing, and then drank his normal amount of formula, so I think his little stomach was too full. He barfed quite a bit. I feel like tonight was my bad, though. The rest of the day, he was doing really, really well. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!!