Cherish's Belly Aches

Cherish has been suffering with “belly aches” since June 2011. It began about three days a week back then—coming and going on those days. She saw several doctors during this time.

However, she has gotten so much worse. She is suffering CONTINUOUSLY—24/7. The pain is bearable with a mixture of Motrin and Tylenol.

About three weeks ago she was transferred to a place that is similar to Mayo Clinic—but for kids. She had lots of blood work done a couple of days before our vacation, and she had an upper G.I. exam done a day and a half after we got home.

She was in the hospital for the tests and first had an ultrasound done of her full abdomen and her middle and lower back. We went to a small waiting room then to await the upper G.I exam.

A few seconds after this picture was taken, Cherish was ushered back to the x-ray room. She was expected to drink about a quart of barium immediately, then lie down and begin the x-rays.

Nope.
Didn’t happen.
She went into hysteria.
HYSTERIA!

After several attempts at various ways to get Cherish to drink, the technician said a feeding tube placed down the nose would be the only option. Derek agreed, and I exited.

I heard bloody-murder screams two hallways away. Derek told me later that he and three nurses had to hold her down on the x-ray table as the technician inserted the tube. Then, the insertion of the barium. Then, the x-rays. All while Cherish was screaming and being held still by four adults. The nose tube came out and Derek said she immediately fell asleep on the table. During the exam.

Out she came…asleep. Resting on daddy. The remainder of the day went well. We stayed for hours waiting for the barium to move down her system. X-rays were taken every 15-30 minutes (for a total of 50-60 x-ray images).

(One of the staff members made her this butterfly bracelet.)

On the way home, we stopped at Chick-fil-A for Cherish to play on the playground and have a milkshake. (She drank about 4 oz. of the milkshake and played for about 10 minutes.) Unfortunately, she had been fasting from her pain medication, so it took until about 11 a.m. the next morning for the pain to be controlled.

Since then, we’ve found out the two tests came back normal, so now she is scheduled for an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy. If you’ve ever experienced the trauma of “the cleanse” the day before, you can imagine all the hardship facing her. (Plus, she's been taken off Motrin by the doctor. Yikes!)

Until then, we are testing different flavors of Gatorade, trying to find one she likes—or at least can tolerate.

Side note: Her new symptom is the loss of appetite due to the immense pain. She used to eat even in pain but not anymore. My guess: the pain is a lot worse. It gives me the determination I need to continue with the testing—even though it kills my heart to see her hurting worse from the tests.