GI & ENT Appointments

(Again, I wrote this in late October but posted it to the day it happened.)

Two days after his birthday, Gabriel had an upper endoscopy w/biopsy, largynoscopy, airway scope, and twenty-four hour pH impedence test at Vanderbilt.

Pre-op with papaw

Gabe in recovery 

He did MUCH better with the anesthesia than we expected. After he got tubes last summer, he had a terrible reaction and was screaming, crying, kicking, hitting, etc. He had what is called "emergence delirium." We talked extensively with the doctors and anesthesiologist before he went back. They said in kids who are extremely busy and/or strong-willed (Gabe is BOTH!) it isn't uncommon because the kids are fighting not being in control of themselves while they wake up and are still groggy/confused/etc. Anyway, they used a different anesthetic and let Gabe sleep for an extra hour. It made a WORLD of difference and he did much better, thankfully! 

The first few hours at home

While the anesthetic wore off, Gabe's face turned bright red and hot. 

We took him out to ice cream later in the evening when he was feeling much better.

We thought if he had to have the tape on his face, we might as well make it fun. Gabe loved being a "MAN!" for a few hours.

He surprised us all with how well he did with the tube in for 24 hours. We thought he would try and pull it out but he didn't. I think he was so afraid of the "no-no" arm covers going back on that he would do whatever we told him. 

While he had the tube in, I watched his box closely and saw that he was failing the test miserably. It seemed that his pH levels stayed around 2.5-3 for HOURS at a time and would dip as low as .5. His doctor called us about a week later and said he had 96 reflux events, 84 of which was acidic, and that he took way too long to clear the reflux (and was actually having subsequent reflux episodes before he recovered from the first.) He started him back on medicine at a higher dose and it has helped so much. Gabe is EATING food (not just drinking calories), not grunting, and SLEEPING!! Amen.

The ENT also saw that Gabe had vocal nodules and something with his vocal chords (I think it is called sulcus? Maybe?) Anyway, the vocal nodules will go away once the reflux is treated and he can learn not to scream, make loud car noises, etc. but the other problem is more serious. The ENT said he hardly sees it in kids. All of this explains Gabe's extremely hoarse voice. 

He will see the GI doctor on November 13th and have his first appointment at the speech clinic on the 16th. We will learn more about the scope results and his throat concerns then!