A Barium Enema They Say...

Well, we took little Nicky to the GI doctor today to see if we could get any insight regarding Nicky's persistent exploding diarrhea (technical term, I assure you). The doctor was very thorough, as one would hope that a physician would be, and seemed to really know his crap...I mean stuff! Sorry, a bit crass I know, but at this point, after sifting through several diapers in search of enough of a sample for the various tests they've already run, I feel I've deserved a few laughs! Let me back up a bit. For those of you that may not know, Nicky has never had a solid BM. "Never?", you may ask. "Never", I will answer, as far as my knowledge stretches (which is about as far back as August 29, 2008 (our "gotcha day"). You see, dear reader, although the orphanages do provide you with some "medical background", they don't really give you the full picture. So, as far as we know, Nicky has had super yucky, go everywhere, throw away the clothes & sheets, kind of diarrhea...and no - we can't just wash the clothes, it's that bad!


Now, back to the present. After the second parasite test came back negative & the symptoms persisted, we thought that maybe something else could be going on in that little colon of his, so we should be responsible parents & have it checked out! Nicky did NOT like the initial "checking it out" that the doctor did, I assure you of that. Nor will he particularly enjoy the upcoming enema, I'm sure! I've assigned the task to Kris...I've passed the butt. (ha ha! another little bit of crass-ness!) Hopefully we'll be able to have the test later this week so we can get it over with. We asked the doctor if he thought it could be some type of food allergy, but he indicated that if it were a food allergy, then Nicky would most-likely be having massive BM's after meals, whereas now, Nicky can go 72 hours before the explosion emerges. His thoughts? A malrotation or twisting of the colon. And wouldn't you know, the way to "fix" this problem is surgery. This malady is typically found during infancy, however...well, I'm not even gonna go there...I'm sure the orphanage, etc, took the best possible care of him.

If this test is inconclusive, the doctor will run some blood tests (specifically for celiac disease & others) and will most-likely want to perform an upper GI series. Poor little guy! Lucky for him though - we will need to wait to have the circumcision done until this is all cleared up, as to avoid any infection in/on/around his penit! (Nicky can't say the letter "s" - it becomes a "t", so "penis" sounds more like "peanut"! Of course, we run with that one!)

Anyway...we'll keep you all posted with any and all updates!