A Diagnosis - for real this time!!

It has been a long day of waiting. We had the ultra-sound at 10am this morning and around 4:30-5ish Dr. RatCliffe, (the last GI doctor from the team that we hadn't met yet!) came in to explain things along with a fellow from the general surgery team (who just transferred here from Sick Kids). They informed us that the barium swallow & ultra sound showed us that Logan's stomach was not emptying when food went in, and therefore having no where to go it comes back up and he vomits. This is INDEED what we originally came in to look at on our very first day at Mac almost 3 months ago - Pyloric Stenosis. To remind you all again Pyloric Stenosis is a condition that causes severe vomiting in the first few months of life. There is narrowing (stenosis) of the opening from the stomach to the first part of the small intestine, due to enlargement of the muscle surrounding this opening of the pyloris, which spasms when the stomach empties. We've had 3 barium swallows, 5 ultra sounds & an endoscopy (scope) done to check this before and the reason why we don't always get a consistent result is because of the spasming that is going on. Sometimes, depending on weather or not it is spasming we get a positive or negative answer. So they actually said that in Logan's case it would be called Pyloric Spasms (something related to the stenosis). Weird I know. But this explains SO much to us. Everything about this condition explains Logan to a tee. If you'd like to read up more on his condition follow this link: http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/digestive/pyloric_stenosis.html. The difference is that the stenosis is a hardening which he doesn't have, the pyloris measures up to what it should be and it does not have a big thickening. However that muscle is spasming which is not allowing the food to go through in bollus amounts like a baby without this condition would. They need to do something to make that muscle stop spasming. The reason they did not see this during the endoscopy (scope) is because Logan was put out for that and therefore his muscles were relaxed.

Nothing more can be done this weekend. On Monday general surgery will have a meeting with our GI team to discuss the options of how to correct this issue. There are 3 options. First is to give him some medication to help calm the muscle. Second is to put an injection directly into the muscle to make it stop spasming (they explained that this would be similar to botox). Third they can surgically go in to correct it (not sure how but they will explain this on Monday). We are hoping for option 2 or 3 so that we can get the ball rolling and go home! We are beyond excited to hear this good news. Once I read up more research on this condition everything started to make so much sense. We also believe that our son Malachi had the same thing. It is said that children with pyloric stenosis may gain slowly or show no weight gain at all. Malachi was our slow gainer & Logan has plateaued for a long time, so I guess we maybe had one of each! The doctors believe Malachi probably had a more mild case of this and outgrew it by the time he turned 1. Logan however has a more severe case, and having the GERD (severe reflux) isn't really helping him either. We are not really sure what this means as far as him still possibly having a protein intolerance or allergies, or what life will be like when we take him back home. From what I read if they correct it, he may still spit up a bit, but he should start to gain & get back to "normal" fairly quickly. Hallelujah!

It's been a long few months, and we are exhausted! We could get frustrated about all this wasted time when it was the same thing all along, but instead we are choosing to just be grateful that we have an answer & know how to help Logan. God never allows things to happen in our lives without a purpose, we hold on to that belief. We also know that God in His time, chooses when to reveal things to us if it is His will. We are so incredibly thankful to have an answer to prayers!!

We will keep you all updated on Monday once we know the next step. Wishing you all a blessed day of rest tomorrow with your families and may the Lord's Name be praised, honoured & glorified!

"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 36: 5-7