Thursday, February 2, 2017

worth's health

this isn't an exciting post but one that i want to have for future reference.  poor worth has had several health issues and we are still trying to get him all figured out.  the great news is that none of them are serious and he is a happy baby despite his ills!

at birth he had low glucose levels and we had to supplement with high-calorie formula (which never went down really well or stayed in him).  he was just a big baby (8 lbs, 12 oz) and my milk by itself was not getting the job done.  easy and fixed quickly!  but the formula issue would resurface.....

fast forward to almost two months later.  we went to the beach so i tried to feed him some formula on the ride instead of stopping to nurse.  two hours later, he got violently ill.  threw up everything, including stomach bile and dry heaved for a while also.  it was so scary and very pitiful.  i spoke with a local pediatrician and we started a pedialyte regimen.  that got him calmed down and we went back to nursing - no issues.  over the next few weeks, we unsuccessfully tried various formulas but got the same reaction.  after about 4-5, he was able to finally keep down alimentum.  yay!

about a month later (he was around 4 months), he had to go to the doctor for an ear infection and they diagnosed eczema as well.  both of these issues would turn out to be something we would continue to deal with.  he was given penicillin and several ointments for the eczema.  his skin continued to get worse so we returned to the doctor.  well, turns out his rash was an allergic reaction on top of the eczema.  we didn't know (and still aren't 100% sure) if he was reacting to the penicillin or ointments.  he was done with the penicillin and we went to aquaphor only on his skin.  however, i noticed a few days later that his neck was oozing a little bit of fluid.  back at the doc, they tested him for strep and mrsa.  guess what - mrsa.  ugh.  so, another round of antibiotics - topical and systemic.  this made me very nervous.  thank goodness they tested it to see what it was susceptible to so we knew these meds would kill it.  

a few weeks later, he had a bout of vomiting and diarrhea for about a week.  i thought it was drainage from his ears but antibiotics weren't working so we tested his stool - norovirus.  and c diff.  c diff is very scary in adults and this freaked us out.  however, it is usually present in infants with no issue.  we just had to wait out his stomach bug.  

during this and for the next two months, he continued to get ear infections and it would take multiple rounds of antibiotics to get rid of them.  we finally decided to get tubes right at the 6 month mark so he could go under anesthesia.  of course, he had also developed a nasty case of thrush from all the meds.  tubes went great but he still had the thrush and pretty bad constipation for about two weeks afterwards.  

as you can imagine, because of all of these issues, he did not sleep through the night until he was 7 months!!  for three weeks prior and following tubes, he had to be held to sleep.  i was a zombie!!!  he is still sleeping through the night and that makes us both a lot happier!  we endured emergency room visits with bloody stool and as many as 4 doc visits in one week.  (i do count my blessings because i know how much worse we could have it!)

he started a few weeks prior to tubes with rashes again.  the eczema (and yeast under his neck) is ongoing but this rash on his torso is not related.  we have determined that it is an allergy but we don't know to what.  he was tested but didn't have a reaction to anything.  i removed milk from my diet but the rash returned.  we have since taken him back off all food and he exclusively drinks a hypoallergenic formula (elecare).  it retails for $60 a can!!!!  our allergist and a local pharmacy were able to file in a way that i can get 12 cans a month for $55.  so thankful for that!

his rash is clearing up but he has horrible congestion right now.  he did have an ear infection over the weekend so it could be that or a sinus infection.  the allergist is also worried about reflux.  so, the poor child is now on zyrtec for allergies, antibiotics for ears/sinus, nexium for reflux and a steroid breathing treatment for his throat/lungs.  i am really hoping it is not reflux and we can finally get this baby all the way healed.  if his cough improves in the next two weeks, we will slowly add back baby foods and see what he reacts to.  unfortunately, he is not a formula fan so we are adding caro syrup to sweeten it and aid with digestion.  he has been on a probiotic so i may need to add that back too.

we have been baffled by this kid for the majority of his short life.  again, he is such a happy and sweet baby.  the not sleeping almost killed us for a while there but we are over that hump.  just have a few things left to solve and we should be good!  his pediatrician calls him germ.  ha.  of course, once he is healed up, he should never catch anything else again.  :)

cross your fingers for us and him!  more to come.............

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