My Mother’s intuition beat up your medical degree

My Mother’s intuition beat up your medical degree…

Today we had an appointment with a pediatric GI for my youngest. A month ago he had a bunch of lab work done (stool and blood) in preparation for this appointment. My son has always been skinny, so skinny to a point it has always bothered me and about 3 years ago I became convinced that he must have a parasite. The doctor’s said I was just being a worry wart that yes he was thin but I am also thin so it’s genetic. Needless to say, they never listened to me. Of course, they also didn’t listen to me when he was 6 months old and I knew something was terribly wrong. It wasn’t until 3 1/2 years later that they finally said your right and he was diagnosed as Autistic along with several other disorders.

So here we are today. This morning I went to go pick up the lab results. I don’t have a medical degree but anyone that knows me knows how I LOVE to read, so I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to reading lab results and medical notes. Right there in black and white was the scary truth. My son has several intestinal parasite cysts. What’s even worse is I have never heard of this parasite.

So we go ahead and go to the GI. I give her the results. Come to find out this parasite doesn’t “live” here in the U.S., In fact, it is extremely uncommon to see anyone in the U.S. have it. She said she would have to talk to her parasite specialist (I forgot what she called her) to find out a way to treat him for it. He has apparently had it for a while. So for all those doctor’s who told me I was a worry wart, how about you just kiss my butt?

Now on to the reason we came to see her. The blockage in his tummy that we can’t get flushed out. She said because he is still blocked up even after months of traditional treatment, we are going to have to be more aggressive. So my son will be admitted into a hospital soon for 3 days where he will have a tube stuck down his throat that will deliver a steady and very powerful medication to flush his colon out. Once we have his colon clean and have gotten rid of the parasites, it is a long (she said several years) process of getting his colon to shrink back to normal. Maybe then we can get rid of the pull-ups and I will have a fully potty trained little boy =)

I am very nervous and worried not just about the procedure but also this parasite. I am sure we will be hearing from the CDC on this one. Which is just fine with me. But how did he get it? He has never been to another country. Then the hubby brought up a good point. Could this parasite have come home with his Dad from Iraq, during his first tour there? She said it was a possibility that she would check with the specialist so hopefully, we can track down where he picked it up from. Right now the best we can narrow it down to is Georgia.