Waiting

Today was long.

We took JJ to Tufts today for his scheduled MRI (which I fought hard to have moved up). A nurse met us in the MRI department and told us, "Mr. & Mrs. Del Turco, there has been a change of plans." Always a fun thing to here when you've planned for something else....when you had your son do the "prep" for one procedure and told him "X, Y & Z are going to happen to you today," and they decide to change things on you.

She went on to tell us that JJ's GI doctor and the radiologist talked and decided the anesthesia for the MRI would be too risky for JJ. He would have to drink a bunch of barium and then they would have to put him out so he would be perfectly still so they could get the pictures they needed. She said the amount of anesthesia they would have to give him might be too dangerous since he is so young. If it was an adult having this procedure done, they'd be able to drink the barium and then lay perfectly still. Not a four-year-old boy, though.

So, after all that....they decided an Upper GI Series would be a better plan to try to figure out what was going on with JJ's digestive system. He had to drink a big, thick cup of barium and then had to lay on the table as they watched it travel through his body and take pictures of it traveling through. Then they had him go out into the waiting room and drink another cup of barium (we had to do a lot of encouraging and coaxing to get him to drink it) and every 30 minutes we went back in for more x-rays. Once it reached the end of his colon, they were able to get the pictures they needed and see the area they can not see when they did the endoscopy or a colonoscopy.

I must say, my son did a remarkable job. So proud of him!

After that, we went to see his GI doctor a couple of floors down. By that point, JJ was starving and all he could talk about was getting an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich at Dunkin Donuts. I think every doctor and nurse knew what my son was craving because he told EVERYONE! So funny! Despite everything, he brought some humor to the situation. Love that boy!

We met with his doctor who told us it would take 24 hours to get the test results back and that he thought JJ might have some sort of inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's or ulcerative colitis). He told us he would review the tests from today and let us know (hopefully) tomorrow. He also told us not to put him on a gluten-free diet just yet, but that we could eliminate dairy because it causes a lot of tummy trouble. He kept telling us, "Listen, his system is trying to tell us something here. His body is trying to say something. Things are definitely not right. We will get to the bottom of this." So good to have a doctor who is fighting with you for your child.

After the appointment, we headed back up one floor so JJ could get blood work done again (he just had blood work done on 11/1/11). By that point, his tummy was starting to bother him. When we left the hospital, he complained about tummy pain the entire way home. My sweet boy....today was so hard for him!

So now, we wait. Hopefully, we will have more answers tomorrow.

For now, I pray everyone in our house gets really good rest tonight, including myself, for it has been an incredibly long day.