Things Are Pretty Shitty, Thanks For Asking!

Trigger Warning: as moms, we're used to talking about poop, lol. There's lots of poop talk in here. And talk about sickness and hospitals.

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My goal in this space is to keep it positive and fun, but to also show "real life". Real life right now.... sucks. There's no way to sugar coat it.

I'm going to preface this conversation by saying that I recognize our privilege, and I am fully aware that lots of families have things so much worse. But just because someone else has it hard, doesn't mean your hard isn't hard... ya follow me?

Our little guy has been really sick for five plus weeks. It started with us waking him one morning and he had vomited in his crib. We had had the stomach flu through the house a few weeks prior, so we figured that he had finally been touched by the bug, just very delayed. He seemed in okay spirits that morning... and then the diarrhea started.

Things went downhill fast from here.

He had no appetite, he was so lethargic... He was having diarrhea so severe that we were changing up to five or six diapers in an hour. We couldn't go anywhere, we weren't doing anything, he would have slept 23 of 24 hours in the day of we let him. He couldn't play, he was barely able to sit on his own some days. He wasn't crawling, let alone standing or walking anymore.

After four days of severe diarrhea and intermittent vomiting, we called 811. This is our 24hr Healthline here in Saskatchewan. We spoke to a wonderful registered nurse who assured us that it could most definitely be the stomach bug going around as diarrhea in little ones can take as long as 5-14 days to fully clear up. I definitely learned something new from her! She told us to keep him hydrated (which was literally our only goal at that point) and call back if he got a fever, started showing signs of dehydration, or the vomiting returned (it had been about 48 hours since he last vomited at this point).

Two days later we were back on the phone with 811. This time he was so lethargic he was barely responsive and showing signs of dehydration. The registered nurse was lovely and she recommended we go in to the Emergency Room just to be safe.

I was fighting a cold at the time, so Cole took him in. They said he was slightly dehydrated. If he wasn't able to drink the Pedialyte/apple juice they gave him they were going to need to administer an IV. Thankfully Cole got him to drink it up. While in the hospital they took blood and said everything came back fine. We also were given a stool sample container to fill and take in to the lab. Before they were discharged, the emergency room doctor said to come back if the diarrhea hadn't subsided in three days.

If you ever have to fill a stool sample container for a diapered child who has diarrhea (let's be honest, there was nothing "solid" about what we were collecting): get a big plastic bag (the food storage bags without the zipper seal, or a large sized zipper top one, but cut off the zipper), and some medical tape. Tape the bag to the child's bottom just below their anus, and then tape it to cover their entire bum, tacking it up on their back to secure. Try your best to position them in a way that would allow the poop to collect at the bottom of the bag. When you've collected a sample, cut the corner off the bag and squeeze it into the sample collection container.

In that three days the diarrhea momentarily improved while his demeanor and energy levels improved as well. We thought we were in the clear, so didn't even consider returning to the hospital.

Three days later things were a different story. Back to diarrhea, lethargy, no appetite. We kept pushing fluids, trying to encourage foods like crackers and bananas, etc. An RN friend said there's nothing much they will be able to do in the ER, so keep him comfortable, it will pass. Well, then the vomiting returned, out of nowhere. We went back in to the emergency room. This time, the doctor was a little puzzled. She was a resident and consulted with the other docs on the floor. They said because of the cold/flu season this year being so bad (thanks over-sanitization and masking) they couldn't 100% rule out just a really bad gastro-flu-bug, but it was bizarre that it was lasting this long (this was day 11) and this severe. She did a more extensive blood panel and sent us off for ultrasounds. She also sent us home with three more stool sample containers to collect and turn in.

Bubs was born with an ear tag. When he was born we were told that at some point they would probably want to look at his kidneys because the ears and kidneys are very closely connected when the fetus is developing in utero. It is not abnormal for a malformation of the ear to be indicative of a malformation of the kidneys, in some degree. The ER doctor requested an ultrasound also be done on his kidneys, just to be safe.

We did not hear back from his bloodwork until we saw our family doctor later that week. She said it came back "okay". The ultrasound showed nothing out of the ordinary for his kidneys (thank goodness!), but it did show "fluid filled loops" and very enlarged lymph nodes within his abdominal cavity (1.1cm+ in diameter). Our doctor suspected he had some sort of blockage, constipation, etc. so she sent us off for an x-ray (x-rays can show "fecal load").

The radiologist's note on the x-ray simply stated "severely constipated". Our doctor called us right away and we got started on a laxative and prune juice heavy regimen. This, unfortunately, only lead to more questions though as he has always been a very regular pooper (multiple times a day), had great consistency (until now), and had shown absolutely no signs of constipation. We figured, clean him out first, then ask the "why" questions after.

Our poor Bub had such bad stomach cramps, and was just so upset. We did see some, what appeared to be "older" poop (darker in colour, weird consistency), and then just more gross poops, diarrhea, etc.

We started the laxatives on a Friday, and by the following week he seemed overall happier, and a little more himself, but still had a very limited appetite, and seemed off. He woke up that Thursday with a croupy cough (of course, 'cause why not) and then had a nasty cold move in.

The following week was managing all the symptoms - poops, loss of appetite, cough, congestion, etc. It was so hard to know what was the GI issue and what was the cold. That Thursday we had our third trip to the ER.

Our daycare provider texted a picture of Bubs' diaper. Not only was it the most mucus I had ever seen, but it had blood in it.

We got to the emergency room and they took us straight in to a room. The doctor who came to see us was so great - very old-school and straight to the point.

What he told us, I thought was super useful info to know in general if you have a sick kiddo:

1. Chronic diarrhea is anything greater than 14 days.

We were on day 27.

2. If presenting with chronic diarrhea, the first things they will look at is the presence of parasites, bacterial infection, or viral infection.

The stool samples we submitted to the lab came back negative for all three, twice over.

3. Crohn's and Colitis are typically not diagnosed at this young of an age, but are not off the table. Other tests such as the test for Celiac Disease are also considered.

Bubs' test for Celiac Disease came back negative.

4. If there is no infection presenting, then they look at the bloodwork to see if the inflammation numbers are elevated.

Bubs' are elevated. At this age, elevated inflammation in the body is actually normal. Growing joints and bones trigger the liver to produce a higher amount of C-Reactive Protein, which is one of the three main indicators of inflammation. The normal range is 0.0-7.0mg/L. Bubs' measured at 30.0mg/L that day. This along with his very angry lymph nodes indicate a problem. Something is causing inflammation in his body and his body is not happy.

5. While an x-ray is useful in showing fecal load, you can't actually diagnose constipation with an x-ray, it has to be clinically diagnosed.

The doctor wasn't happy about the constipation diagnosis we received. He said he had a look at the x-ray taken, and to him, it didn't actually appear to be constipation at all. He said the x-ray indicated poop at one point, and then at another, and then "a whole bunch of something else" in between.

6. Because the testing available in the emergency room department has been exhausted by this point, our only next step is being referred off to the PEDS outpatient team.

In the meantime, the doctor suggested we be proactive and keep track of his diet as well as his stools.

We received the phone call yesterday for our appointment with the pediatrician so we are looking forward to continuing the conversation and seeing what our next steps are.

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Sorry, that was a lot. But having somewhere to dump everything in my brain is so necessary for me right now.

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xo. Meg