I just need to pen this down…for our family journal and sharing with other parents out there. This gonna be a long one.
It has been 2 years now…Two years ago of this day, Jonathan boy was diagnosed with Pyloric Stenosis and went through a surgery.
It all started when he was 2 weeks old. He started to vomit forcefully (projectile vomitting) after each feeding. During the first visit to the paediatrician, he suspected air in the stomach and so gave us some colic medicine. Two days later, we went back to the paed and he said it could be reflux or allergy. But Jonathan boy was fully breastfed and breast milk has never been not safe to a baby. Nevertheless, we listened to him and I stopped BF temporary and gave him anti-regurgitation milk as recommended for the reflux by paed. We were told to monitor his urine and bowel movement too.
Despite all these, his condition persisted and worsen. Still vomit forcefully, no intake of milk and his urine and bowel movement reduced. He was restless and slept most of the time. Losing weight and had sunken eyes. My mom, sis and MIL didn’t know what was wrong and had never experienced such condition in our family nor heard of it. Seeing him like that, I have the feeling of losing him and kept praying to God for mercy.
I looked through all the baby reference books I have and searched through the Internet but couldn’t solve this mystery puzzle. Every time, day and night, I was never at peace when feeding him as he may vomit anytime. It had became phobia. I had to be prepared with container, clothing and mop. I lost my appetite and lost weight during my confinement.
I looked through again at Dr. Spock’s baby and childcare book, page by page and word by word. God hears me and fix my eye on a subject called Pyloric Stenosis. I later confirmed this medical term on the Internet. Jonathan boy had exactly all the signs and symptoms mentioned. But to confirm the diagnosis, he may need to go through X-ray, barium swallow or ultrasound. The first two is too much to bear for a baby and so I was hoping that the ultrasound alone can confirm the diagnosis.
The next day, we brought him immediately to the paediatrician and told him if Jonathan could be suffering from Pyloric Stenosis. He was not convinced of that because he didn’t feel any abnormality during his physical examination as usually, you can feel an “olive” at the abdomen. And usually, the symptoms only showing when baby is 3 weeks old. Moreover, it is unlikely to happen among the Chinese, based on the statistics. No wonder he didn’t diagnose this earlier. Good thing the paeditrician was compassionate and he was willing to schedule for an immediate ultrasound to rule this out.
While waiting for the ultrasound report, I was praying to God that the ultrasound could diagnose his medical condition and let it be Pyloric Stenosis so that our mystery puzzle can be resolved. Really praise God that the ultrasound report came back positive to rule out that Jonathan is suffering from Pyloric Stenosis. Immediately, he helped us to make arrangement to see the best paediatric surgeons at SJMC.
We thought things would be fine now since we know what was wrong with Jonathan boy. But not really. They had to put him on tubes and the worst was putting a tube through his nose to drain the fluid from his stomach.
We heard his suffering cries from outside the room. It was so heartaching. When the nurse brought him out, my whole heart fell and tears rolled down. We didn’t expect and wasn’t prepared to see him this way. There was another tube for the saline at his foot as that was the best place they could find after trying from his wrist.
The surgery was scheduled for the next day. That night, both of us couldn’t sleep. He was cranky because of hunger. I can only pacify him and wet his lips with water. The next morning, I was allowed to accompany him at the ops theater recovery area because of his age. Praised the Lord that the surgery went well and the surgeon confirmed once again that it was Pyloric Stenosis and he had fixed it!
That same night, he was cranky. He was not allowed to drink yet. He was only allowed to drink few teaspoons of glucose the next morning just to monitor his digestion. I was only allowed to BF him later in the afternoon. It was such a relieved then.
The above pic was taken one his fullmoon which was 1 week after the surgery. It left a scar on his abdomen. Just a thin and very light line about 5cm long. I didn’t apply any anti-scar oil. Let it be there as something to remember. Anyway, the scar is not so obvious and appear on covered area.
Now, whenever you watches him eat, you never lost your appetite. And he never stop eating. Praise the Lord!
