lifestyle changes

Well, after many months (almost 6!) of trying to figure out why our otherwise healthy toddler generally isn't interested in eating or gaining any kind of weight, we finally have some answers. Hallelujah! May 23rd was Sophia's gastric emptying scan, which we had been dreading/praying about for some months, mainly because it involved her drinking a couple ounces out of a sippy cup in 10 minutes (which she usually was not interested in) and lying totally still for an hour, unsedated (umm...is that even possible for anyone under the age of 12?).

But sure enough, she gulped the 3 oz. of milk mixed with something radioactive, so it must have been as tasteless as they promised. (It definitely helped that she hadn't had anything to eat or drink yet since she had gotten up a few hours earlier.) She was pretty upset at the nurse who taped her torso down to the scanning table, but after a few minutes, she was chill as could be. Know why? They dimmed the lights, rolled up a little TV cart, and popped in some Blue's Clues. Sophia was MESMERIZED. She's not really a TV watcher yet, and this must have been the coolest thing she'd ever seen. It was nice too - the scanning was being done from underneath her, so we could sit on either side of her, reach over top of her - whatever needed to be done. It was more painless than getting her weighed or measured at the pediatrician!! I mean, the child did not move a muscle for the straight hour. I think she might have twitched a finger in the last ten minutes, but that was it. The nurses were flabbergasted - they'd definitely never seen any kid her age be that still for the whole time. Miraculous!!

And...they called us a few days later (also miraculous) to let us know that she's got moderate reflux and delayed gastric emptying (which means food hangs out in her stomach too long making her not hungry). Some morning Prevacid for the reflux and 3x daily low dose erythromyacin to make her stomach empty out, and we might see some results in the nearish future! She ate like a horse the first night we started the meds, and I got all excited about it, but she hasn't done that since, so I think that was just a fluke. (Darn!) She doesn't love getting the meds squirted in her mouth, but we manage to get them down without too much drama. I'll keep you posted if she suddenly chunks up! :)

The other lifestyle change? Daily SPF 30 now goes on Josh's head. Yep, a visit to our dermatologist this morning confirmed that the two spots on his head that seemed like they were always in process of healing were actually precancerous! Whoa. Fortunately, Dr. Webster froze them off right then and there. So if you have any spots/moles/anything that make you nervous at all, don't hesitate to get them checked out! (PSA over now. :D )