Whittaker has had some congestion for as long as I can remember. In mid November he caught his first cold. I thought it unusual because none of my other children ever had colds as infants but they also weren't such small babies as he is. Although he's not a tiny baby, in comparison, my other babies were in the 90th percentile for size and Whittaker was in the 10th. Even not feeling great he has been a good little guy. Plays contentedly, loves to be held and snuggled and rarely ever cries.
At his last well child check up his weight took a dip into the 5th percentile. Doctor wasn't too concerned since he hadn't been feeling well and he wasn't showing much interest in eating solids yet. We pushed the eating a little more for the last month, but I was wondering if he was gaining with all his eating since he wriggled out of his pants on a daily basis. We decided to take him to the doctor's office just to have him weighed.
Our weight concerns were confirmed with the nurse plotting out his weight and discovering that he was not even on the charts anymore. He hadn't lost weight but because he hadn't gained weight over a month's time his percentile was below 0. These weren't the results we wanted. Without having made an appointment, an available Dr. was called in to evaluate him and look at his chart. This began a series of events that kept us hopping for the last two weeks.
First a urine sample, an interesting proposition on a 7 month old. Essentially a little baggy was taped on to collect the sample. Then we were sent for a blood test. We were also prescribed acid reflux medication. We were instructed to keep a detailed food intake, sleep documenting diary for the weekend and then to follow up with the Dr. on Monday when we would have some results.
At the lab, the veins weren't easy to locate so the technician used a heel prick and after 40 minutes of holding Whittaker down and squeezing his leg, we had enough sample. He was unimpressed with us. His urine sample had leaked into his diaper and we would have to start again. We could do it in the morning. whew! We were all exhausted after the tense blood draw. We returned the next morning but had to wait 2 hours while Whittaker took his sweet time giving us a urine sample.
Monday the results proved.... nothing conclusive. His weight gain over the weekend of pushing high caloric formula, food and constant nursings was 2 ounces. As we were in the doctor's office I was nursing and we mentioned that he was sweating while he nursed even though he was only wearing a onesie. The Dr. took note of that and asked us to kiss him when he was sweaty and determine if it was salty. She also sent us for an x-ray of his heart and lungs.
If the blood draw had been torture, it was just to prepare him for this x-ray device. They straddled his legs over a bicycle seat, then raised his arms above his head and enclosed him in a plastic case to hold him rigid for the x-ray. He didn't like that. But it only lasted a couple minutes and we were done.
The follow up with the Dr. revealed that his heart was fine and that his lungs had some mucous in them. He had another cold. Runny nose, red puffy eyes... We discussed possibly that he was allergic to the dog or cats, that he had hay fever... but the lungs said otherwise. This also ruled out what we had originally thought was a lactose intolerance. Yeah, I can eat dairy again!! The urine culture results showed some bacteria, so a new sample was needed... this time a catheter was tried for a pure sample. His hypospadias condition wasn't as much of an impediment as we had thought and he cooperated instantly, after peeing on the nurse, and the wall.
A nebulizer treatment was prescribed for clearing out his lungs. Kissing his sweat had been salty so she sent us for further tests. A sweat test and another blood test. Off to Primary Children's we went.
The sweat test was rather painless. They hooked up some electrodes over a medicated gauze to his arms for 10 minutes. He played happily with a rain stick. The electrodes and the medication were to stimulate his sweat glands.
Then they removed the electrodes and medicated gauze. His arms were red and blotchy. Clean dry gauze was then placed on the arms and wrapped in plastic first and then in fun orange tape to keep them in place. We then bundled him up in his clothes and outside winter gear and set about keeping him content for 30 minutes while the sweat collected on the gauze. Easy.. I nursed. He always sweats when I do that and all this bundling would ensure it!
Once all the extra wrapping was removed the sweat soaked gauze pads were sent for evaluation.
It was time for another blood draw. This time they managed to get a vein to cooperate, however there wasn't enough blood for the test from the first draw so a second would be needed. Finding another vein wasn't an easy or pleasant task. They were very nice about it, not wanting to over stick him. They used a special red light to look through his arm and try to locate veins before poking him. All well in theory. Three pokes and we had enough blood for the test. Of course.... I'm the one who was light headed and needed to sit with my head between my legs.
We have an appointment with a Gastro intestinal specialist, and an appointment with a physical therapist for his slow gross motor development. (He only rolled over last week, and has just managed to lift his head while on his tummy and is not yet sitting.) Not overly slow, but with the weight issue combined they've sent us for evaluation.
So the diagnosis....
We know he doesn't have a urinary tract infection, no strep throat, no ear infection, no acid reflux, no heart conditions, but no weight gain still after a week and no answer as to why. So we continue to diagnose. We'll get results from the sweat test and the blood draw next week. In the mean time, we feed him and encourage him to sleep and feed him some more. We giggle with him and applaud his rolling over and lifting his head.
