All is well

So far so good with the Prevacid. Alexander is sleeping much better at night, and is more comfortable during the day.  He's been able to tolerate some foods in moderation that he couldn't have at all before (like fresh apples).  His diapers have remained relatively okay, and we aren't taking our "presents" home from day care anymore. 

Overall, we'd say he's doing very well.  We are going to continue to keep him completely off of milk and see if the lower GI issues return while he is OFF milk.  Though he's been having mini flare-ups, they only last for a day or so and then resolve (as opposed to the weeks long flare-ups before). 

We were able to enjoy home-made pizza as a family the other night - it was a very special moment for us.  A local organic grocery store had really good vegan cheese. It didn't taste like mozzarella, but it did taste good!  :) 

All is calm and well for the time being.  We feel blessed to have such supportive individuals in our lives and such a funny, sweet, and entertaining son. 

Approval!

After some tense moments today (and lots of prayers!), Alexander will be able to go back on the Prevacid.  What is (hopefully) even better is that there is now a generic.  Generic means a much less expensive prescription, but there's always that apprehension about whether or not it will be as effective. 

Say a prayer all goes well at the pharmacy and that Alexander's system responds favorably!

Meds

We contacted Alexander's doctor today to put him back on his Prevacid.  It was with a heavy heart I made the call.  I don't think any parent wants to have their child on meds long term.  We really tried everything we could to keep him off, but we have seen a steady increase in his reflux and decline in his sleep (which affects many aspects of his health and well being).  Since we can see where he's headed, we decided to put him back on before he is at a crisis point.  Now we wait for the insurance to approve it.  Our doctor has been relatively confident that it will go through okay.  We now wait and see.

Other than his intense gas pains, Alex's lower GI system has otherwise settled a little bit.  He is loving his books, puzzles, blocks and magnadoodle.  We are excitedly preparing for the holidays and hoping that Alexander will be feeling well by then. 

Blood test results

I got Alexander's blood test results today.  All of his levels were normal.  That should make us happy, and in a way it does.  It's also disappointing that we've hit another dead end.

His newest issue is these random, intense attacks of gas pain.  He had these back in February and March, but they had subsided since then.  I hope they stop soon - it's so heartbreaking to watch.

So, we are back with the default diagnosis of "it's just something he'll grow out of."

Bloodwork Complete

Alexander's pediatrician was all for the bloodwork, so I ran down there yesterday to grab the script and we were at the lab at 7AM this morning.  Unfortunately for Alex, he wasn't seen until 8:15 - that's a loooong wait for such a little, active guy.  He was extremely patient and we all survived the actual blood draw.  He checked some different baselines and ran the Celiac test.  We hope to hear the results by the end of the week.  His doctor also said that if we start being concerned that there might be internal bleeding (consistently excessive pain or disturbing diapers) to just run a diaper down and they'll screen it for blood.

So we'll see if anything shows up in his bloodwork, and just continue our watchful waiting.