GASTRO APPOINTMENT

Jonathan finally had his gastro appointment at KK yesterday (24 August 2011).

Dr Chu is a very nice lady.  Jovial and easy to relate to.

She gathered all the information from us with regard to Jonathan's history -

• Was he already retching during early years
• when did we get the surgery done for the PEG (feeding button)
• why did we switch from Karihome goat milk to soy milk

and some other questions.

From our discussion, she told us there are probably 3 possibilities of Jonathan's vomiting episodes:

1. The fundoplication* that was done during the surgery 4 years ago, for the feeding button, has loosened.
   *SEE FUNDOPLICATION
2. The brain sending signals to his body.  She gave an example of a child with fits.  When the brain sends signals to the body, then fits starts.  In Jonathan's case, it's retching.
3. Food allergy.  There might be a small component of food that he's taking that he cannot handle.  One way is to take a blood test but may come negative for food allergies.  The other is to switch to another type of milk formula that has more nutrients for a week to see reaction and then switch back to soy to see if there's another reaction.

Well, we have decided to take the barium test (managed to get a slot on 5 September) and to see what's the outcome.  Jonathan has to fast for 6 hours before taking this test.

And in the meantime, since the next appointment is only 2 months later, she's prescribed 2 types of medication just in case Jonathan needs them.  Ranitidine Syrup and Domperidone.  Both to prevent acid reflux.  Expensive medication.  But so long as he has no gagging or acid reflux, there's no need to take them.

The milk formula she recommended is called Peptamen Junior by Nestle (because of his current weight).  I was shocked by the price : SGD45 for a 400g can of milk powder.

Jonathan's consumption of milk is at least 20 cans of 400g milk powder a month.  It will cost at least SGD900 per month if we decide to switch to this milk powder.

I posted a journal about his feeding issues HERE 2 months ago.  Till today, adding milk to rice water has stopped him from gagging and his got full tummy feed.

So I hope that come 5th September, the results will be good.  There's no reflux and no surgery needed to fix this problem.

Thank you Lord that everything will turn out good and there's going to be a solution to this.

Thanks for dropping by :)

SLEEP PATTERNS

change with season?  days?  I don't know.

But Jonathan's sleeping pattern has been changing almost everyday.

On good nights, he sleeps at 12midnight, wakes up once and goes back to sleep on his own.

Sometimes, he wakes, looks for me and I have to stay with him in his room till he goes back to sleep again.

On not so good nights, like last night, he slept at 12 midnight.  Woke up at 3am, didn't go back to sleep till 6am and woke at 10am this morning.

When he fell asleep, I went to work immediately because he was not well 2 days ago so my work has been held back.  Just when I wanted to retire to bed, he woke up.  And when I was trying to make him go back to sleep, his daddy came back from his work at the studio (at 3.30am).

So that's it.  Jonathan heard the door click and his eyes just opened even wider.  Daddy kissed him and tried to coax him back to sleep but in vain.

I gave him a feed at 4.30am, hoping that he will go back to sleep.  But no.  even when I had to give him medication for his stuffy nose.

I gave up.  Held on to him to soothe his excitement and turned on my laptop to keep myself awake.

By 6.30am, he was fast asleep and I put him back on the bed. I slept around 7am.

Today, I'm a little dazed from the lack of sleep.  Being awake the whole night is tiring.  But thankfully he woke up at 10am so I had at least 3 hours of sleep and he took a half hour nap today.

I don't know.  He's just full of energy even though he had a disturbed rest last night.

Most of all, I'm thankful to the Lord that he's healthy.  That's what matters most for me.

JONATHAN CRIED TODAY

It was a heart-wrenching cry.  The type of cry that you will cry along too.

We went for breakfast this morning.  Took a walk to the hawker center that passed a government kindergarten.  We saw a class was marching to their teacher's command "One, two, three, four ..."

Suddenly, Jonathan started tearing and became upset.

While crossing the road, he was unhappy.  Kept pouting his lips and his eyes looking sad.

After crossing the road, we took him to one quiet corner and wiped his face.  H was getting upset because he didn't want Jonathan to cry big time and start having secretion.  We thought he didn't want to be there but it was not.  Finally, we realised that he was upset because of the children.

Anyway, we talked and consoled him and he was ok.  Had breakfast and then we came back home.

He continued the day, watching television, listening to music and took his nap.

When he woke up, he started tearing and crying.

Most of the time I will refrain from asking him questions that will make him cry even more.

But today, with my gut feeling, I asked him the following questions:

"Are you still thinking about the children this morning?"
"yes"
"Why do they make you cry?  Is it because you want to walk just like them?"
"Yes."  and he continued to cry loudly.

I cried with him.

That evening, I was an emotional wreck.  It was bad timing that I was expecting a guest but I couldn't cancel it at the last minute.

Jonathan is beginning to show his emotions more lately.  Now I know why he's been asking to listen to some healing songs lately and kept asking us to repeat them.  I believe he wants a miracle to happen.

H prayed for him before he slept.  I prayed that today's incident will not affect him deeply again.

Lord, hear the prayers and cries of Jonathan.