Sullivan

So after this crazy week my radar screen was blank. Anything scheduled beyond Thursday was not on it. 

So yeah, Sullivan's appt. in Iowa City came as a surprise. As of Thursday night I had no one to watch Avery and Tess while I took him. 

So my wonderful amazing, supportive, perfect husband took the day off and went with us all. 

The appt. was very educational. We met with a great doctor who spent a lot of time with us, made sure we were comfortable and told me to call him whenever I had questions or concerns. amazing. 

Basically he does not believe Sullivan has Celiacs Disease. He said in children with Celiacs they typically have poor growth. Noticeably are smaller than their peers. If you know Sully, you know this isnt true. He is tall. Tall like daddy. 95% for height. 

And yes, he is thin, but he is in the 50% where he has been all his life basically and it remains steady...no loss. And just like daddy...he's probably just naturally thin. 

Also, during the diarrhea issues Sully had blood in his stools. That is not typical of Celiacs in children. 

The dr. said it is probably a case of Toddler Irritable Bowel Syndrome...which really just means that hes a toddler with unexplained diarrhea for a length of time. 

The dr. said that with any case of diarrhea, if you alter your diet, it typically changes your poop.

No matter how you alter it. 

So the gluten free diet changed his poop. It went from runny to normal. 

He is hopeful that when we go back on the gluten ... Sully will remain with normal poop. 

He did say that we need to know for sure. So the plan is to go back on gluten for SIX solid months. If we have terrible diarrhea again, we do a scope and more blood work. Turns out Sully never had a full Celiac's work up previously.

We have to wait the 6 months because the markers need to be there - I dont totally understand all that but I trust the doctor's like 12 years of education. 

The scary thing is that Celiacs is really very serious. 

Its not just an allergy that causes tummy aches. 

If a person truly has Celiacs - every bit of gluten they eat is dangerous. Even if it doesnt cause any symptoms. The gluten damages the small bowel and increases the chance of cancer in that area enough to make a mommy scared. 

After talking with this dr. I feel really good about our course. 

My prayer is that we will have a definitive answer. That we will either see a lot of problem or nothing. There will be no sitting around wondering, "well should we do the scope or not?"

I like definitive answers!

clear answers!

they are my friend!

We talked about the excema and like I thought  he would, the dr. shook his head. He said, I think you should do more allergy testing...which a pediatric gastroenterologist doesnt specialize in.  

So we are not even a little bit done with that aspect. But Im focusing on this tummy today. 

On the way home we went to Mc Donalds. Sullivan was able to get a cheeseburger for the first time in a very long time. Then we ate supper at my moms and he got to have a crescent roll for the first time in a long time. 

After supper. ...

He complained of a terrible tummy ache and held his tummy and whined for a long time.

hmmmmmmmmm.....this could be a very long long 6 months. 

Pray for little Sully and his parents. That we'll be able to put an end to all this wondering and know one way or another what we are needing to do for him!