Answers, hopefully...

I have been working for 3 months to get Hallie into the GI department at Cincinnati Children's. They have one of the best departments in the nation for her problems. We really have felt strongly that they were our best chance at finding answers for her. I have jumped through so many hoops to make this happen, I am a little dizzy! First, we had to sign authorization for them to get Hallie's medical records from ALL of her doctors. Then they had to request them. Then after a month of me calling every day to see which records they had gotten and which ones I still needed to follow up with, they decided that they didn't have any of her x-rays or scans. Luckily, I found a lady sympathetic to my cause (I think she could tell I was on the verge of a nervous break down) because she overnighted all of it to them for me. They finally had all they needed and it took Dr. Kaul the motility specialist that we were wanting to see over a week to review them and decide that he needed more help. Most motility issues stem from the large intestine, but Hallie's seem to stem from her small intestines. So he called in Dr. Mezoff, who reviewed her records and they made a tentative appointment of Dec 30 to see her together.

We booked flight because we knew if we waited much longer that we wouldn't be able to go. We had 2 foundations in town step forward and agree to pay for Hallie's and my flights since we are traveling back there for medical purposes. That proved to be a challenge in and of itself because my in-laws paid for Derrick and Carson to fly back. I couldn't figure out how to find a flight, call 3 different people and get it booked without us ending up on 3 separate flights! Finally, I called a travel agent and he was able to put tickets on a 24 hour hold and got us a better price than anything I had seen.

Of course, after we booked the tickets, Cinci's Children's decided to inform me that they wanted to admit her for 3 days for tests and they couldn't get her in for those until 2 days after we left. I told them we were leaving on the 4th and they said then we could come back in February--right. So, I called the travel agent and started to change our flight when Dr. Mezoff's nurse called and told me to hold off-- she was trying to switch us with another out of town patient that hadn't booked flight yet. Then she called back and said she couldn't switch us, but Hallie is being admitted on Jan 4 at 6:30 a.m. Derrick and Carson fly out of Columbus, 2 hours away, that morning at 8:00 a.m. So we get to do the divide and conquer that we have become so good at. My father in law is going up to Columbus with Derrick driving since Brad can't drive in the dark. He will take Tucker with him and drive back after, since it will be light out. Vicki, my mother-in-law is going to take Hallie and I to the hospital. Hallie will be put under general anesthesia and they will do an endoscopy as well as insert the wires for the manometry test. These wires will remain in for 24 hours, while the monitor the pressure her intestines exert on them as they are digesting food. She will hopefully be released that next afternoon and we will fly out the afternoon of the 6th. She was supposed to have a colonoscopy done while we are there, but htey have decided that because her colon is so small and short that the risk of puncturing it is too great. So she will go in on the 30th and have a barium enema done instead.

We are very hopeful that all of these tests will lead to answers. It will take them about a week to get results and they will just call us with them. We are anxious to get out there, anxious to meet with the doctors. We truly believe they are her best hope. It has been a long process to get the appointment set up, almost as long to figure out what to do with her home medical supplies (the Kentucky board of pharmeceuticals has granted permission for our company to ship the supplies directly to us out there), but in the end we are hopeful that we will at least have a direction to go with Hallie. Please keep her and her doctors in your prayers the next few weeks. She needs all of the help she can get!