The New GI

Zane eating at the table.

It’s been a while. I know. Thankfully, things have been relatively stable for Zane for the past month—aside from his seizure activity, that is.

Today, though, Zane saw a new gastroenterologist. I liked her. A lot. She reviewed Zane’s medical records and found that he’s doing quite well, as far as his GI issues go. So she wants to try some new things with him.

For quite some time now, Zane has been taking a predigested pediatric formula. There have been many wonderful things about it (Zane hasn’t had any problems with his GI tract since October of last year). But there are also drawbacks—details I won’t go into here. So she’s given me a new formula to try for the next day or so. If he tolerates it well, we’ll make the switch. Apparently, it tastes (and smells—Justin will appreciate this) much better than the old formula.

She has a long-term plan for him, but wants to change one thing at a time. Once we establish his formula, she wants to back off on his Prevacid intake in the hope of completely weaning him from the medication. There are negative side effects associated with its prolonged use, so I’m in favor of trying. I’m not as optimistic about the outcome as she is.

In addition to all of that, she wants the following to happen (some immediately, some down the line):

• Increasing his water intake from 8 oz a day to 12.
• Zane has been eating with us at the dinner table for the past week or so (something he's not really done in the past), taking about 1 oz of pureed food by mouth and loving it. She wants him to eat orally twice per day—in time.
• She also talked of replacing his Nutriport button (if I could be in love with a g-tube button, it would be with this one) to a Mic-Key to reduce his granulation tissue and leakage. Mom’s not going to let this one happen without a fight.
• Have him see her nutritionist some time next month.

So that’s it in a GI nutshell. Zane’s seizure activity has been…not good. He has a neurology appointment next week. If I’m not too busy, I’ll update then.