Close call....

After 2 years of not having Hallie's intestines be in the forefront of my worries, they have surfaced again. Hallie has been compaining of a belly ache for a little over 2 weeks. At first I thought it was a virus, then I was concerned about her intestines, but things seemed to be moving normally, so I stopped stressing over it and figured I would give it time. It comes and goes at radom intervals. There were a few days she didn't complain at all and other days it was at different times, sometimes morning, sometimes night. It didn't seem to occur if she needed to use the bathroom, or if she had just eaten something. It was just really random. On to pof that, she has suddenly decided that she needs a lot more sleep. Before this started, she would take a nap every 3-4 days. By bedtime, she would be really cross, but we could make it to bedtime without a nap. Lately, it gets dark and she goes to get her pj's on-- usually around 5:00! Yesterday she took a nap at 4:30, woke up at 7:00 and was back in bed by 8:00. The other night she fell asleep at 6:30 and was down for the night. On top of all of that, she hasn't eaten dinner in 4-5 days.

So needless to say, I was getting pretty worried. She woke up crying this morning at 5:30 and I decided that enough was enough and took her to the doctor this morning. Let me tell you, it made me miss Salt Lake so much! It is so hard to be away from her doctor that knows her inside and out and all of her little eccentricities. It is also frustrating to not have a lab and radiology department in the office. What would have normally taken me a few hours, took me most of the day! Luckily, her Salt Lake doctor's office consulted with me and gave me an idea of where to start and what they would check to begin with. At her Reno doctor, they tested her for strep, thought about a urinary tract infection but couldn't get a sample from her, and finally decided to take her off of all milk products for the weekend. If you know Hallie, you know this is HUGE for her. She LOVES her milk and goes through about 2 gallons a week by herself. Plus it is a major source of calories for her and helps regulate her intestines, so this was pretty big for me. I finally convinced them to do an x-ray just to make me happy (thank you Melissa at Dr. Schmidt's for steering me that direction!) We headed over to the hospital and had her x-ray (which she had to go and do by herself because they wouldn't let me in with Tucker) and I left thinking that maybe I had totally over-reacted-- I mean here I am concerned about intestinal blockages and whether her recent growth spurt is pulling on her staples and scar tissue and her doctor is talking about lactose intolerance!

After I went to the store and bought Lactaid for Hallie and picked Carson up from school, I got a phone call from her doctor with her x-ray results. It is never a good thing when they track you down on your cell phone! Anyways, there is no obstruction at this point, but her intestines have slowed down-- probably due to a virus-- and she has what is basically a backing up that she is having a hard time getting rid of. It is not solid and so is not considered a blockage, but we do need to get rid of it as soon as possible so that it doesn't become one. She is on a liquid diet for the weekend (it's going to be a long weekend!) and hopefully that speeds things up. We will follow up on Tuesday if she is still having pain.

When I think what could have happened if I had waited until after the long weekend to take her in, it makes me sick to my stomach-- or if I hadn't have insisted on an x-ray just to be safe. It's been a while since her intestines have given me this big of a scare! And at the same time it is very eery to have these feelings that I know something is wrong and something big, even before there are enough symptoms for them to make an accurate diagnosis. She wasn't running a fever today and already by tonight she is feeling warm. I am very grateful to have these instincts when it comes to her, but it is a little unnerving to think what might happen if I didn't listen to them!

All in all, we are very grateful that we caught this soon enough and pray that a liquid diet is going to be enough to fix the problem. And it makes me realize how blessed we have been to have had almost 2 years in between intestinal problems. I was starting to take for granted that she was doing so well and now I am very appreciative of the progress she has made!