Luke's Latest Procedure

Adding to Luke's already long list of doctors, we started seeing a pediatric gastroenterologist this spring to figure out his tummy troubles. Ever since Luke's birth, it seems, we've been rushing to put out medical fires. We started with his respiratory problems and reactive airway, moved onto his life-threatening food allergies, stopped the bleeding by getting his eczema under control, and now we're trying to figure out why he never has solid diapers. It's been a long journey, but this is the last piece of the very complex puzzle, and I'm grateful.

The doctors think he might have an eosenophilic disorder, which is bad, but the only way to get a conclusive diagnosis is to perform an  upper and lower GI study- endoscopy and colonoscopy with biopsy. Unfortunately, the only pediatric GI in the state is based out of Kalispell, so we had a 4 hour each way trip to get the procedure done. We were dreading it, but as with most things with Luke, the little man made it easier than expected. The day before he had to follow a clear liquid diet and down laxatives, and he handled it like a champ. Never once did he complain about being hungry. It was our own little miracle. The next day, Darreck, Luke, Jack, and I headed out while Max stayed behind with Grandma and Papa. We expected the little boys to sleep in the car up and back, but they barely slept at all. In spite of my worrying, both boys traveled great. We left at 5 in the morning and got home at 5 in the evening. It was a very exhausting day, but it certainly could have gone worse.

As for the procedure itself, his scans looked really good on the outset. We're still waiting for the biopsies to come back with conclusive data, but so far so good. Another bonus to this procedure- the anesthesia was perfect this time around. Another small miracle. I know I'm being redundant, but Luke really did great. He's such a trooper, but I still hope that he won't remember any of this when he gets older.

Now we're just waiting- both for the results and the bills. Story of poor little Luke's life.