Investigating

After such a positive start to September, full of new tasting experiences, it’s been such a letdown to pull the nebulizer out of the closet. Since finding the right balance with his medical formula, Elecare, and medication combination, Buffer Babies, Stanton just hasn’t been sick. Oh we’ve had our fair share of illness…He spent most of his first 20 months in this world sick with 14 ear infections, 9 pneumonias, several upper respiratory infections, a couple of croups, 3 eye infections, and constant chronic diarrhea and vomiting.

This past week was a reminder for John and I that the fight for Stanton’s health is far from over. We’ve been waiting on lab results, waiting on doctors to return from vacation, waiting on the feeding clinic in Atlanta to call, waiting for therapists to confirm that his feeding issues have a medical root vs. a sensory root….I spent the end of week calling and leaving messages for his doctors at Oschners, calling the feeding clinic in Atlanta to see what the holdup is, and researching our next step.

I’m leaning more and more to the idea that before a feeding clinic can really be successful for us, all of Stanton’s medical issues need to be resolved. I’ve met some amazing moms with kids similar to Stanton through on-line discussion boards and through God just doing what He does, connecting me to folks. As I listen to their experiences and hear the cry of each mother’s heart, my cry and fight for Stanton becomes even more clear.

All this time, I’ve googled “reflux” and “feeding disorder” in a search to find help for Stanton. This week I instead searched for “pediatric digestive disorders” and found a wealth of information I had never before come across. I found a list of the top programs: 1) Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, 2) Children’s Hospital Cleveland Clinic, 3) Children’s Hospital Philadelphia, 4) Texas Children’s Hospital, 5) Denver Children’s Hospital. So, I’m going to start at the top of this list and spend some time contacting these top rated programs. My hope is that we can somehow get Stanton in with one of these specialty centers.