Wednesday, October 26, 2011

GI Follow Up Today

Allie met with her primary GI doctor (Dr. Brown) today.  It was just a follow up appointment to make sure things are still going smoothly for all of us. 

Allie weighed in at 27.2 pounds and is 35" tall.  She's doing great!!  She's still quite short and is in the less than 5% but at least she's holding her own.

Allie started Cyproheptadine about a month ago.  This medication is suppose to stimulate appetite if used in very small doses.  Is it working????? It's hard to say because her oral intake is still so random.  There is however no doubt that she's eating slightly more than she did a year ago - so that's a plus. 

Until recently, Allie was drinking her elemental formula (pre-digested) E028 Splash, however she will no longer drink it.  She is now drinking chocolate milk and that's it.  Dr. Brown gave us some samples of the Boost Kid Essentials 1.5 cal.  Allie used to be on that stuff a while ago and she actually liked it.  We would also tube feed it to her but that's when she was vomiting at every feeding.  So, we'll see if she will drink it again - if so, that would be great because it's got a lot of the good nutrients and it's high calorie.

Allie's blenderized diet is still going great.  In January, it will be 1 year that she has been on the BD and VOMIT FREE!  Looking back, one of the most draining parts of Allie's journey so far has been the fact that she vomited every tube feeding for a little over a year.  Parents and children can only handle so much vomiting - my heart goes out to all the parents and kids who continue to deal with vomiting everyday. 

Two months ago, we started adding "Duo-Cal" to Allie's BD and to what she drinks orally.  So far it's given a nice boost to her calorie intake.  I have made the decision to keep her on it for now and see how she does with gaining weight.  Of course, she continues to struggle gaining weight so I'm hoping the Duo-Cal will continue to help us with this.  I don't like adding supplements to Allie's food but since I cannot increase her volume at this point, I need to make her food more calorie dense. 

So, our appointment went well - really nothing new happened.  It was a short and sweet appointment and Dr. Brown was very impressed with Allie's progress.   We go back in 1 month for a weight check and then we see him again in 2 months. 

We are going to continue on the path we are on and just pray one day either Allie eats enough calories or the doctors can figure out why she doesn't like to eat orally.

Allie brush your teeth!

Silly Chloe Ann



1 comment:

  1. We are always praying for little Allie! Miss you guys and hope to see you at Thanksgiving in Esky (that is if you are going to be up!)

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