Our Family

Our Family
"These are the children God has graciously given to me. (us)" - Genesis 33:5

Monday, May 22, 2006

Successful Doctor's Visit

Yes, I did say successful!!

We went on Friday to see Dr. Russell and Kathy the dietician. I was very nervous that nothing was going to be different, but decided that whatever happens, at last we had wonderful doctors who have been helpful and supportive so far.

Well, my little guy gained 1 lb. and 5 oz. in 24 days!!! Granted, he was very constipated, but even once that waste was removed he still had a positive gain of weight!! He hadn't grown at all in height though. It seems to be the pattern with him. If he gains weight, no height gain and vice versa.

The dietician looked over the food journal I had kept every day for the past 24 days. First let me just say, it is exhausting trying to keep track of every little morsel of food and drink that goes into a 3 year olds body. I can't imagine how much more it would be if he was eating normally!!

She calculated 5 of those days in calories and came up with an average of 1000 calories a day. Better than last visit where he was only taking in about 800 a day. However, he still needs at least another 400 calories a day to really be able to put on the weight.

Back to the constipation, we went back to his glycolax, and we had to give him a suppository to try and clear him out. Boy does that stuff work well. His belly actually went down enough for us to notice and he isn't complaining about pain in his belly anymore.

The doctor was so pleased that he won't see us back for 3 months unless Ethan continues to have constipation problems. Which is fine with me, as long as we can keep his appetite up, which has definitely increased over the past several weeks.

This week both Ethan and his little brother Joshua will be going in to have a sweat test down for Cystic Fibrosis. The pediatrician doesn't believe they have it but she wants to rule out any and all possibilities. It's not invasive and will only take about a half hour or so for each of them.

With the summer coming and the possibility of us moving to a new house soon, we look forward to many cook outs, ice cream sundaes and outdoor activities. All of which should help Ethan gain the weight he needs, so he can grow up "big and strong like his daddy"!

No comments: