Hunter Update

So we go in….
Talking with her – she thinks he’s constipated… huh… what? She palpitates his stomach...

1. Your child is constipated if one or more of the following are true:
2. He or she has fewer than 3 bowel movements a week. NO
3. The stools are hard, dry and unusually large. NO
4. The stools are difficult to pass. NO
5. Stools that are large in diameter NO
6. Stools that are very hard NO
7. Small amounts of bright red blood on the toilet tissue after your child has a bowel movement NO
8. Stomach pain and bloating NO
9. Loss of appetite NO
10. Crying or screaming during bowel movements NO
11. Avoiding the toilet or resisting toilet training (doesn’t apply per sea)
    

If your child is having soft bowel movements, then he likely isn't constipated, even if he doesn't have one every day. OK…………

Hunter has…
· AT LEAST 2 bowel movements day
· They are soft and small if anything…
· They are not hard to pass
· He loves fiber filled foods, loves beans, eats a lot of raisin bran, kashi, fresh fruit and veggies… drinks a ton of liquids….

But… Ok I am going along with the Xray… I trust her – she is very much wait and see – (which is also why the fact that she finally referred Holly meant something to me) We talked about his accidents at his 3 ½ and 4 year appointments…. she comes back…
Looking at the XRay
Dr. Brandt - “See all these white spots?”
“Yes…”
“Those are all stool”
“Really? But there are a bunch up into his rib cage”
“Exactly”
“Wow…. Oh wow… I didn’t even think your digestive tract could back up that far… wow…. “

The best and hardest part of the appointment - She got down at his level – she already is but really took him in her arms and looked him right in the eye and said - ”Hunter, this is not your fault. You don’t know when this is happening. It is going to be OK. We are going to help you.”
He literally leaped across the room and into my arms. And we just hugged.

HE WAS SOO HAPPY TO HEAR THIS! His face looked like the biggest burden had been lifted off him. I almost cried. I have not been as understanding as I should have been. I was at my wits end with 4-5 DAILY accidents, which seemingly had no pattern. He was like – "see mom you can still love me and not be mad at me. " Ugh – my heart still hurts thinking of this. He didn’t say it – but I just felt it. I mean I tried to be calm through this – but he knew how disappointed and how frustrated we were. The whole concept that they do this because they are too busy to stop playing - and we were trying to tell him over and over to listen to his body…

She drew out a picture for Hunter of the whole digestive tract…. She explained that stools were filling it up and that when he eats, where his food gets digested and where it the waste tries to go to dry out (he got this all – thanks to the Magic School Bus) that part of him is full past capacity and has continued to keep backing up further and further. Then, the liquid that does push past in the small areas is just expelled out. His body doesn’t even recognize it, because the nerves have been pressed on so much from the still that they don’t have the same sensation.

LIGHT BULB – when you would ask him if he was wet, he would grab his pants to check, he really didn’t know. I noted that in my original thoughts that it was weird, like there was no sensation…

Apparently some children with severe chronic constipation develop a blockage, past which liquid stool sometimes leak, causing your child to have accidents. This condition is caused encopresis. He doesn’t leak poop – but he has had a few “skid marks” occasionally – which was also a tell tale sign…. I look back to him a year ago with all the poop accidents…. They were all runny – geez – could I have caught this a year ago??????
Where we go from here.

She has prescribed Miralax for 4-6 months It is a prescription strength stool softener that is odorless and tasteless and well tolerated by most children. The diet is interesting because we do mostly this already… so it looks like the biggest changes will be severely decreasing milk/ cheese and bananas…. but the basic info was
· Increasing fluids
· Increasing fiber
· Increasing
· Decreasing constipating foods: Limit milk, cheese, etc.

We may (most likely will) have more accidents as his body clears out. Some of it may come at such a force, we may have poop accidents, because of this, we need to set a timer and have him go every 30 minutes. She explained that to him that he should have a SMALL reward for this. 1 M& M for every time he listens to the timer and gets up and tries – or a sticker chart for his skateboard, something that means something to him. He has to retrain his body to feel again. After a few weeks, he should be good to go just listening to his body.

Never would have gone there….. he has none of the regular signs