Mason's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. . .
Yesterday was pretty rough for Mason. He had his 18 month check-up at 9 AM. He's been really healthy for a while, so I thought everything would go smoothly. But he weighed in at only 20 lbs 4 oz, and the doctor was really concerned that he wasn't gaining weight. He looked in his eyes and said he had pallor, which was a symptom of malnutrition. He grilled me on what we feed Mason, and said that even if he was just absorbing the milk we were giving him that he should be healthier. So he referred us for some blood and urine tests at the hospital and said to go that day so we could get the results ASAP. At the doctor's office he got a shot, and screamed until he got a Thomas sticker.
At the hospital it took three of us to hold him down so they could take blood, and they had to do it twice to get enough. Mason was absolutely traumatized. He cried for about 30 minutes. He kept ripping the bandaids off, so they had to wrap up his whole arm in bandages until the bleeding stopped. Finally the sent us home to get a urine specimin to bring back that afternoon.
Anyone who has ever tried getting a urine sample from a non-potty trained kid will sympathize with me. They gave me this bag with a hole in it with really strong tape to attach around his private parts. Getting it on was okay, but he hated having it on, and taking it off left him red and bruised. The poor guy.
It all turned out okay. The doctor called a few hours later saying the blood work looked just fine, so that rules out the major things he was concerned about (lukemia, cystic fibrosis, etc). He suspects it may be celiac's disease, but the test for that is a biopsy of the small intestine, so we are going to wait a month for that. In the meantime Mason is on a strict diet from the doctor of butter, half-and-half, pediasure, carnation instant breakfast, and anything we can add to his food to make it more fattening. So far he won't touch the pediasure or carnation instant breakfast, but he is drinking the half-and-half okay.
At the hospital it took three of us to hold him down so they could take blood, and they had to do it twice to get enough. Mason was absolutely traumatized. He cried for about 30 minutes. He kept ripping the bandaids off, so they had to wrap up his whole arm in bandages until the bleeding stopped. Finally the sent us home to get a urine specimin to bring back that afternoon.
Anyone who has ever tried getting a urine sample from a non-potty trained kid will sympathize with me. They gave me this bag with a hole in it with really strong tape to attach around his private parts. Getting it on was okay, but he hated having it on, and taking it off left him red and bruised. The poor guy.
It all turned out okay. The doctor called a few hours later saying the blood work looked just fine, so that rules out the major things he was concerned about (lukemia, cystic fibrosis, etc). He suspects it may be celiac's disease, but the test for that is a biopsy of the small intestine, so we are going to wait a month for that. In the meantime Mason is on a strict diet from the doctor of butter, half-and-half, pediasure, carnation instant breakfast, and anything we can add to his food to make it more fattening. So far he won't touch the pediasure or carnation instant breakfast, but he is drinking the half-and-half okay.
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