Our Five Ring Circus: Mission Impoopable

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Mission Impoopable

My poor little girl has had diarrhea for well over a month. For as bad as it is, one would think she is very sick, but she is acting completely normal!

At first, we thought it was just a virus. She had no other symptoms, and it wasn't even bothering her. It was very bad, though. She was going 4-8 times a day and constantly having blowouts. She was happy, eating well (as well as little miss picky eats), and staying hydrated, so we figured we'd let it work it's course.

Two weeks later, she came down with a mild cold, so I just thought the diarrhea was lingering because she was sick. However, it got worse, so off to the doctor we went.

Yeah. NOT a virus.

Basically, we have several weeks of testing to go through to figure out what's going on with her. Everything she eats is going straight through her, and although her weight is okay right now, if it continues, she's going to end up losing some weight.

The poor girl was a mess at her appointment. At her 18 month checkup, she started to fear her old doctor (whom everybody loved!), and she was the same with her new doctor. She refused to be weighed, so I had to get weighed with her. She happily talked to the pediatrician until she came at her for the exam. From there, she threw herself into a 10 minute tantrum. I was horrified, but her wonderful doctor informed us that she has a "spirited" child at home, just like Lexie. On top of the diarrhea, her belly is very bloated (I've noticed that for a while now), her eczema is awful, and she had a yeast rash (which has since gone away).

Our first step is to collect a stool sample. Hence, the mission impoopable.

Lexie is not potty trained yet. She has started, but we put it on hold until the diarrhea cleared up. Because of that, it is going to be very difficult to get the samples we need. Her appointment was on Tuesday, and it's now Thursday, and we still haven't completed this test.

On Tuesday, we managed to get 2 samples, and the lab told us the test would not work unless they all came in at the same time. So, on Wednesday, we had to pick up individual prescriptions for each test, so we can get each sample separately. Of course, Lexie gave a PERFECT sample that would have filled all 6 containers....in the midst of a bad snowstorm!

So here's what needs to happen: Lexie needs to give us a sample between the hours of 7-4, Monday-Friday. Those are the lab hours, and the samples need to be returned within an hour of collection. There can not be ANY urine in her diaper, or it will throw off the test. She has to produce enough sample to fill a container, which is nearly impossible because it's all liquid right now. And...she needs to fill 6 containers in all. I'm going to log in a lot of hours delivering poop to the lab.


Mission. Impoopable.

If nothing comes from these tests, we move on to blood testing. Then more invasive procedures. It is most likely going to be a lengthy, frustrating process.

I'm scared for my little girl, and just want her to feel better.

2 comments:

  1. :( OMgosh. Poor girl! I hope they're able to figure out what it is fast! You described Zack's bathroom routine since birth. He has leaky gut :( It's awful. And also why he's almost 5 and still not fully potty trained.

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  2. I hope your baby is feeling better soon. I found a blog site that said "tea tree oil" works well for eczema. I cannot remember which site it was but she found the oil at GNC and rubbed all over her baby and it helped. I haven't tried it but I plan to.

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