Apparently, I am not the only one in my family with issues of letting go. (I feel compelled to add, for the sake of clarity, that my issues are not akin to Nik’s!)
We saw Nik’s beloved Doctor Mary this afternoon. It’s true, she is beloved; she is the only doctor Nik will ever fully —and joyfully— cooperate with no matter how awful he may be feeling. He adores her and makes her laugh; it’s a win-win social skills situation all the way around.
But I digress.
The results from the lab cultures will not be ready for a few more days; apparently the specific cultures Doctor Mary requested can take up to five days. But we don’t think Nik has an infection, really; the severity of symptoms ebbs and flows —from severe to nearly nonexistent— in the course of any given day. There is, thus far, always a slight lull after Nik’s had a couple of really awful days full of explosive diarrhea. (What?? TMI? Try living with him for a while!)
The abdominal x-ray —which I must say Nik was an absolute champ for— showed no structural concerns but did show a significant amount of stool in the large bowel. At first blush, it appears that he is developing a bad case of constipation —bordering on a partial obstruction.
I won’t go into graphic detail about what leads Doctor Mary to this conclusion. Imagine your kitchen drain being partially clogged; it still works, just a little slower. When it gets really bad, you have to, erm, help it along. Same thing with Nik. Of course, this doesn’t address the underlying cause of the situation; one thing at a time.
So, if I disappear over the next couple of days, though I hope not to, you’ll know it’s simply because things have gotten —as the good doctor put it— “worse before getting better.” If that doesn’t do the trick, we’ll revisit the issue with Doctor Mary at the end of the week. She may want another x-ray to see just how bad things look.
Fingers crossed that it all, ahem, comes out okay.
Answers are always a good thing. Hope this turns out to be all over soon, and have everybody feeling better!
If it is a constipation issue, I have a sure fire 5 minute solution. You can email me in private and I’ll give it to you.
Good luck with this. I am glad you’re getting some insights, and hope that relief comes soon.
Ah, sweet memories of being an intern…
Sweet Pea had problems with constipation when she was fairly young. We ended up using glycerine suppositories, and the occasional manual disimpaction. Fortunately, she’ s grown out of that.
Joe
I know it sounds weird, but I’m hoping Ts solution is as simple, even though that’s not simple. Of that makes any sense. We’re still in the don’t know phase follow up with GI isn’t until late march
Prayers here.
Hope things get figured out.
Explosions are not fun.
Been there. Absolutely there. Sigh.
My favourite cure is cheap chocolate chips and a tall glass of water. Give it 20 minutes. Don’t use expensive chocolate, it doesn’t work. It’s also a great way to bribe a kid to sit on the pot a little bit longer (Do you need more chocolate chips??)
The doctor gave us some liquid lactulose stuff, bright orange, tastes like syrup, but it goes, um, right through and takes luggage along with it. It’s completely safe, just an undigestible sugar.
I remember when S was still a baby and developing an early talent for, er, holding it in… we were at his grand-dad’s funeral. S hadn’t done it for three whole days, and we were wondering when he was going to explode. The priest intoned the prayers, and I noticed S’s face starting to turn red. No, no, no, I prayed, not here, not now. And then the priest asked for a moment of silence for everyone to give their thoughts about grand-dad.
No word of a lie, that’s when he screwed up his face and let ‘er rip.
The whole chapel heard it.
It echoed.
My husband started to snicker, and so did the people around us. Then it spread through the whole chapel, and everybody was laughing. That was grand-dad’s funeral.
Except me, because I was going to have to figure out how to clean up the mess.
I’m sure grand-dad was chuckling up there somewhere. It was the sort of thing he always had a good laugh over.
Dude. You know I feel you on the poop retention. Quinn still has that problem regularly. His stomach gets all round and then he poops a lot for several days and he gets substantially thinner. If you come up with a good answer, let me know!
I hope he feels better soon.
CROSSING EVERYTHING HERE!
sending xxx and gobs of prayer.
and the details? lay ’em on me. it’s never TMI for me.
thinkin of you sweet girl .. stay strong
Found your blog on facebook. So glad I did. My daughter with CP also has ‘clogging’ issues on a regular basis. I hope the results are positive. But, like you say, waiting is the hardest part!