Parker...you're room is waiting

Remember last summer when we did this for the 4th time??? Well, this Friday Parker will be going in for his next EGD (#5) Friday morning to check his EOE. We'll also be checking on his fundoplication, since he's been complaining of some pain in his chest. So, we'll be checking in to Boys Town early. We'll follow up with both allergy and the GI doctors in a few weeks and see what final results are and where we go from here. I'm hoping for a quick day, some decent coffee and maybe a nap in the afternoon. If you've got extra happy thoughts or prayers and want to direct them for any of those things, we'd happily take them. An update to follow soon!

The Parker Update

BIG things have been happening with the little man. Big. Huge. Here's his latest list!

His scope results are in. His EOE is much improved! His esophagus is less inflamed, less swollen, less streaking and his biopsies showed extremely low counts of those cells along his digestive tract. Score!!!
He did great with surgery, spent the day hanging out with me and running a few easy errands afterwards - he does so well with these easy procedures and I'm beyond grateful they don't take him out for a whole day or more. Payton went with us to the appointment and helped talk him through the whole thing since he was a little nervous. We stay with what we're doing for now and will go back in a year and do another scope. We've never had a whole year between follow-ups with anyone.

After almost a year of working with OT for sensory things with noise (mostly) he's made huge progress! School buses that dropped off and picked up kids in the afternoons at respite care were a major source of anxiety, fear and problems for him. With school just starting and the buses being back....we've been problem free. We have to do a lot of talking about all of it to get through it and walk past them, but no major meltdowns. And in other fantastic sensory news, Parker did something else major - he went in a bounce house. Actually inside. We were out at a carnival and they had a small one that was just for little kids - 3 years old and under. The compressor for this one was much quieter and we were outside. There weren't any other kids playing in it. The girl running it agreed to let him take his puppy in with him, and of course he had Payton with him. He didn't stand up or jump around, but he went inside on his own and there were no tears, no fear, no anxiety. "Mom, I did it all by myself. I'm not afraid anymore."

And with our teachers help, Parker was the first kid in their class to be put in potty training bootcamp. He went first and several other kids who were having a hard time with started following along too. It's been good for us to have the extra support and them on board too since they spend all week there. So I'm claiming him potty trained, and about a 50/50 split on nighttime. I will take it! Our biggest issues have been when he's getting tube fed, but we've got it down to a system now. He's doing awesome and gets a little better all the time. Super job buddy!!

Parker's Next Round

As your making out your to-do lists for the week, if Wednesday is looking a little light for you, we'd love if prayers for Parker could get added to it. The little man will be going in for his latest Esophagogastroduodenoscopy with biopsies for his eosinophilic esophagitis - or an EGD for his EOE. Such big words for such a tiny boy! We've done his a handful of times before so I'm not worried, but I'm hoping for a quick day in and out. Boys Town is the place to send them, Wednesday morning is the time. We'll keep y'all updated. And thank you as always!

Eating, sleeping, and pooping

These are known as the things babies are famous for...or things that we have updates on. So grab a drink and here we go.

Eating - we finally had our meeting with the allergist about all Parker's procedures in November. He has eosinophilic esophagitis (EOS). These are the same type of cells that cause people to have asthma or hay-fever, but Parker has them in his esophagus. We've been put on two different medicines - one to spark more appetite hopefully, and an anti-reflux med - and then he'll be scoped and biopsied again in February to see the results. They are trying to determine which type of EOS he has to determine the next course of treatment for this. EOS in his esophagus can make it uncomfortable to swallow or irritated by any reflux symptoms.

Sleeping - This momma got some sleep! For Christmas, Chris gave me a gift certificate to have the night off and get a hotel room by myself. I also got gift certificates to get dinner while I was gone, and coffee on the way home. So last Friday, I went straight to my hotel room from work. I ate dinner in my jammies while it was still hot in one sitting without having to share with anyone. I watched crappy t.v. I slept. Since the kiddos still have yet to make it through the night all the way through without waking through the night, I hadn't had an uniterrupted nights sleep in 2 years, 3 months, and 13 days. It was fantastic! 

Pooping - Payton has suddenly started having some major problems. Major. This has all come on out of nowhere with no real explanation. We had to go check in with the doctor this morning. We had a physical examination by the med student and the pediatrician, then were sent on to rule anything out. A blood draw and quick x-ray ruled out anything awful so now we have a few new tricks to try. Hopefully we can avoid anymore screaming and horrible episodes. 

Half way through another week...one week closer to spring! Stay tuned...more on the way!