Gastroenterologist visit Apr 2008:

Gastroenterologist visit April 2008: I took Chloe to her GE today to talk about Chloe’s frequent complaints of heartburn and other tummy pain. We’d talked to the GE in December about similar complaints and I felt like I wasn’t being heard, so I’d decided to find a new pediatric gastroenterologist. There really aren’t that many of them out there, and some don’t participate in our insurance plan and the one that was in plan couldn’t accommodate us in her schedule, so I decided that going back to the original GE was better than nothing. We got an earlier appointment by being seen in Georgetown than we would have in Annapolis, so we spent the day schlepping. This time the doctor was quite receptive and concerned. Chloe is exactly the same weight she was on Dec 10 (to the 10th of a kg). The doctor explained that there is a surgery that can correct Chloe’s problem but advised that only as a last resort such as if Chloe continues to not gain weight, or if a subsequent endoscopy shows esophageal damage (Chloe’s scope over a year ago showed no damage). Our plan of action is to double Chloe’s Prevacid dose (she’ll now take as much as I do), get her allergy tested, put a wedge under her sheet to keep her head and esophagus elevated during sleep, and to do fairly frequent endoscopies to monitor her esophagus. I’m on board with most of the plan although I’m reluctant about the allergy testing since Chloe’s biopsies tested negative for allergy-related complications. I’m not overly worried about the lack of weight gain since Chloe looks to be a healthy weight, she’s got round cheeks, she’s active, and it has been less than 5 months since she was last weighed. Really I’m not overly worried about Chloe’s prognosis at all, but I’m not an expert so I prefer to take the kids to the experts at the first sign of trouble so we can be sure we’ve done everything we can to keep the kids healthy.