Haley...

Rewind 3 weeks ago... Haley threw up at school, but told the school nurse she thought she ate too much at lunch...

Over the past 3 weeks I have called the Dr. NUMBEROUS times... they just wanted to add a new medicine or change the ones she was already taking. We spent St. Patty's Day at the Imaging Center having an x-ray and some blood work and everything came out perfect! Haley was not perfect... she was MISERABLE! This past Friday... I had hit a breaking point and kinda got mad at the nurses (because the doctor wasn't in...) and told them something was wrong with Haley and I wanted her to be seen immediately. Finally... we were told to go to St. Vincent ER by her Ped. GI doctor and they team would do a work-up and called Dr. M with the results (no... she didn't meet us at the hospital!). Thank you to our RN Carla... loved her! (found out they just built a house of some land Lowder's used to farm and came by the morning after the tornado to help!) Anyway, the CT showed an ileus. They couldn't tell us why she had it or what it was. Haley was admitted to the hospital about 1 am. I headed home to pack a bag or 2 and grab the things Haley requested. Justin stayed while they moved her to her room and until I could get back... it was about 2:30 am. She was so miserable she ended up having Morphine!

Saturday: I can't remember anything from Saturday... I know we had lots of family come visit, but I still had no answers. People were questioning me for taking Haley to the hospital and doubting the hosptial staff. I was so mad! How dare you do that in front of my kid!? (Sorry...) Haley still wasn't allow to eat! Poor kid was hooked up to all kinds of lines... steriods, fluids, antibiotics, etc... We were also told that we'd probably have to follow a new diet... Low Residue!

Sunday: Dr. M came to the hospital and did a scope and took some more labs on Haley about 8:30 am... once again everything came back normal. Haley was not feeling well and still hadn't been allowed to eat. More family visited... I hit a wall and was an emotional wreck. I have now been in the hospital with Haley since Friday and know nothing! I was mad, tired and fed up! Finally Dr. M said she wanted Haley to do a barium follow through and radiology was willing to do it on Sunday about 11. Well, because she hadn't had a bowel movement... they couldn't do it. 5 doses of miralax and hours went by and still no luck. We ended up having to give her a suppository. Time went by again and she finally was able to go to the bathroom. INSTANT RELIEF! She was like a different kid! However, the nurses informed us it was too late and we couldn't do the barium until in the morning... Haley still couldnt' eat and she was grouchy and just wanted to go home. She was starving! I felt awful that I couldn't do anything to help her. We were both exhausted! LOVE our nurses (Amy and Wendey) for convincing radiology to do the test on Sunday night... good thing they had a TV for Amy, Ali, Justin and me to watch the Purdue game while also playing with Haley! She is such a trooper! The test was finished and the radiologist had mentioned, "something abnormal!" My thought... "Yeah... they found something... I hope it is easy to fix!" After that... Haley was able to eat! New Diet... what can I get her to eat... McDonald's burger plain! She was thrilled! By 10 pm we still didn't have any results so we had to stay another night.

Monday: Haley wasn't hooked up to any IVs all night so we both slept pretty good. We got results... a 3 cm segment between the small and large intestines ... thickening of the intestinal wall / inflammation. That caused the ileus from Friday night. (The brain basically tells the bowels to stop movement because "something" is going on down the line.) I had an answer that completely made sense to me and that I could explain to others.

1:00 pm - we are outta there... Haley and I headed home!

Treatment: Low Residue Diet, no Lactose, 8 medicines... 3 of which she is used to taking... 5 new ones! The intestines should heal. This will most likely happen again however now we know what to look for.

Cause: a virus... Haley may not be sick (cough, fever, etc...) but the smallest virus will attack a Crohn's patients intestional tract. Since items weren't moving... her little belly swelled up with all kinds of gas, air and fluids causing major cramps and discomfort!


Defining Ileus:

Intestinal obstruction is a partial or complete blockage of the bowel that results in the failure of the intestinal contents to pass through.

Symptoms:

Abdominal distention
Abdominal fullness, gaseous
Abdominal pain and cramping
Breath odor
Constipation
Diarrhea
Vomiting

Hopefully this helps explain a little of what we've gone through this weekend!