The Joy of Gastroparesis

Megan had her appointment with Dr. Pinerio with the Levine Children's Center today and we left hopeful!

He believes this is Gastroparesis.

According to the Mayo Clinic's website Gastroparesis is "a condition in
which the muscles in your stomach don't function normally.
Ordinarily,
strong muscular contractions propel food through your digestive tract. But in
gastroparesis, the muscles in the wall of your stomach work poorly or not at
all, preventing your stomach from emptying properly. This can interfere with
digestion, cause nausea and vomiting, and play havoc with blood sugar levels and
nutrition. No available treatment can cure gastroparesis. Dietary changes
and certain medications sometimes help control symptoms of gastroparesis, but
they're not effective in every case. And the available gastroparesis drugs can
cause serious side effects. Researchers are investigating other types of
therapies for gastroparesis.

He is going to use Erythromycin and Zophran to help treat it. She will take these 30 minutes before 3 meals - which right now is 4 ounces of Ensure (Yummie!!!) She will finish the other 4 ounces a few hours past that. The Erythromycin will also help her stomach muscles to contract - and push the food to small intestines.

In a week or so, we will move towards yogurt. We will stay there as long as we need to - until she feels like she can move to soft foods like mashed potatoes, yummy cheesie grits and oatmeal type foods.

We will keep progressing from there. He explained to her that she will need to re-teach her stomach to accept food - which I had already discussed with her.

She will be doing a 2 hour Gastric Emptying Scan where she eats a small amount of food and then her gift of holding in vomit will have to kick in for 2 hours. They will scan her and see if she is digesting anything at all. This scan will take place July 29th. She will have been on the new meds for 9 days. He will then decide if we need to up the medication or if she still has zero digestion, he said the Gastric Pacemaker would be an option. It is just like a pacemaker they use for the heart - just on the stomach.

This will be a long process. She will have to do some pain management techniques in addition to the meds and thanks to some great people, we already have some relaxation items on hand to help her.

She is tired of the Ensure, but willing to try. She is still skeptical because nothing has helped.

Thank you for how you have rallied around her (and me) and lifted her up in prayer. There is no way that I can tell you how encouraging it is to hear we are praying for you during this time.

I'm so grateful for all of you! I am so blessed to have friends such as you!

Megan is at camp. She will not have the energy nor the ability to participate in the sports but wanted to go.

A million *hugs* and *kisses* would never be enough to say thank you for caring, lifting us up and for being there anytime we needed you!

I am Completely awed by your compassion.....

“I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance.”
Pablo Casals quotes