Friday, August 7, 2009

Walter Reed Trip

Yesterday I dropped Keegan off at Kindercare for a day of fun while Sophia and I headed to Walter Reed for an upper GI and small bowels test. It took me over an hour and a half to get 30 miles because of traffic and we were almost late but we got there okay. After check in and waiting for about 10 minutes the called Sophie back. I had to put her in a little hospital gown that was still way to big for her and then the radiologist came in. I think the best part of the whole experience is that the radiologist actually did the whole exam and not a tech. He explained everything he was doing and even what everything was on the x-rays he was taking. They did xrays were you can see them right away, I think they are called live x-rays...not sure though. AFter explaining the procedure I laid Sophia down on the table and then had to start feeding her a bottle with barium in it. She hadn't ate since about 6:20 and it by that time was 1015 so she was starving!!! They watched the barium go down through the esophagus and into the stomach and then the intestines. Then we see it go back up! LOL That's my pukey baby! When the Dr. was done getting all the pictures he needed he said he was going to quick go look at them. There was also a pediatric doctor with him so they went to go talk about something. Then about 3 mins later came back to tell me something looked concerning in the way that the barium was getting to the intestines. Basicly what he said was that instead of her duodenum making a stright shot across the body it makes mountians all the way across. Because he didn't really like what he saw and wasn't sure if anything else might be qrong he had us go sit down while he called Sophia's doctor in Annapolis to tell him what was going on and then order an ultrasound. So after getting the order for it we were taken over to ultrasound. Sophia is doing a GREAT job considering she hadn't had a bottle since the early morning and it was now about 11am. During the ultrasound they had a hard time seeing because Sophie had a bunch of gas bubbles. From what they could see her duodenum was still going up and down and up and down and not just straight. After the ultrasound we had to go back to the xray room to finish the last part of the test, but Sophia's belly wasn't cooperating and the barium hadn't moved far enough through the intestines yet. So they told us to wait about an hour and they would check again. The doctor told me I could feed her a bottle which it was 12 already and I knew she was really hungry but she was being a great baby. We went to go get lunch in the hospital and came back an hour later. They called us back and took one picture and everything else looked okay. The Doctor said he would have the report to Sophia's doctor in a day but other than the mountianous duodenum everything looked good and nothing else was twisted that they could see. He was telling me that because there isn't a straight shot through the duodenum that might be one of the reasons for her spitting up. I will probably know more when she goes in for her 4 month appt at the end of the month. I am just happy that nothing is seriously wrong. When they had to order the ultrasound as a second test I was worried but everything came out okay.

Sophia in her little/big gown!



When we got home and picked up Keegan I got a call from my doctor saying the blood tests that I took about a week ago came back saying that my thyroid is supressed and that I have to go back at the end of the month to have it tested again and that we will go from there. Hopefully that fixes itself too because I really don't want to go on thyroid medicine!

4 Encouraging Words:

Holly said...

Sounds like Sophia went through all those tests like a champ! It also sounds like everyone was really nice and I'm so glad to hear that. It's important to have everything explained to you as you go along.

Hope your labs come back ok!!

Holly said...

Just wanted to say thanks for your comment! I'm so glad my journey has helped you.

Caroline said...

Glad Sophia's tests went through ok. Hoping yours are the same. Thanx also for following my blog. I have been so busy lately since my kiddo's are back in school. You are all in my prayers HUGS :)
Caroline

P.S. Sophia is really growing & such a cutie. Both of your children are cute !!!!

Unknown said...

Thanks ladies!