Rush to ER

I don't think anything is more discouraging than sitting in a hospital room. And sadly enough, that is where Kylie and I are right now. We had a huge scare about noon today and I found myself rushing Kylie to Children's ER.

Kylie woke up feeling just fine (as far as I know). She was busy all morning playing with all of the new toys she got for Christmas. Next thing I know, she is coming to me telling me she needs to go to the bathroom (tummy ache). I looked at her and I just could tell something was very wrong. She was white as a sheet, her eyelids were very blue, and she was all clamy. She looked awful! All she wanted to do was lie down. At first I thought, "oh no, I think she's coming down with the stomach flu". But as I was helping her in the bathroom, I noticed her abdomen (intestine) was bulging in a couple of different places. I started panicking and yelled for Kaycee's help. We knew something just wasn't right, so I put a call into the surgeon on call and he told us to come on in to the ER.

By the time we arrived at the ER, Kylie was looking much much better and was already feeling better. We thankfully got right back to a room and she was promptly taken to radiology for an e-ray of her abdomen. All the x-ray showed was what we usually see: a very dilated small intestine but nothing else concerning. When the pediatric fellow came in to see Kylie, he observed what her intestine was doing at home: bulging. You could see the bowel loops moving. It was so bizarre. It was like watching the egg move through the snake. I've never seen Kylie's body do anything like this before. The fellow didn't know exactly why her body was doing this but wanted to admit her for observation. So, here we are. Since we've arrived, they've been doing some rectal irrigations. She's been such a trooper through these. She's been eating well too...she can eat anything as long as it is lactose-free.

I should also mention that Kaycee and I have been discouraged about Kylie's progress on the lactose-free diet lately. We saw such nice improvements in the first couple of weeks. But since then her tummy has been much more distended. And I must say that we have not cheated at all since beginning the diet. There is still something that is causing this over-production of gas which is dialating her small intestine.

We'll see what Dr. Abdessalam has to say during rounds tomorrow morning. However, it sounds like she will be able to be discharged sometime tomorrow.

Thank you once again for keeping us in your prayers!

~Jill