Stomach...Ach!

Last week we had our follow up with our surgeon. We did another tummy film and an upper GI. Not Ben's idea of a good time. I know that you won't even taste anything new but here, lay on your back and swallow this nasty crap. Ben's upper GI confirmed that the fundoplication wrap and a considerable portion of his stomach have herniated into the space above his diaphragm. It took about 2 swallows for the whole room to get really quiet. The GI doc on the other side of the lead glass went from smiling and waving to extremely stern looking, real quick. During the GI study is looked like Ben had two stomachs. One about the size of a baseball or small grapefruit above his diaphragm and one fairly gas distended below. Unfortunately the only good news is that even given the large portion of his stomach that has herniated, he is considered borderline for surgery and some people can live like this for years. Bad news is that it is eventually surgical and the surgery is much more involved than the last one. This one can't be done laparoscopicly. It is a full abdominal cut, undo the wrap, reset the stomach, redo the wrap and stitch the opening in his diaphragm smaller. You know, all of the complications that Ben didn't have on the first one, well lets try again and see how we do. Especially since you were so gung-ho about giving it a try in the first place... So the plan was that as long as he stayed asymptomatic we would watch him and let him grow as much as possible. Ben was out of school today because he began complaining of stomach pain again last night. It woke him in the night a couple of times and kept him lying low today. This afternoon the discomfort increased and then he vomited. Soooo... We are headed back to the hospital for more tummy films and possibly another upper GI then a re-evaluation with the surgeon. If his tummy looks OK on the films we may just be dealing with a bug but if things don't look good that changes where he sits on the surgical ladder. Here's hoping for a stomach bug! Oh, and it seems that the dog and Ben have some sort of E.T. thing going on. She was on deaths door when Ben was in the hospital a few weeks ago but was looking pretty good until today about 15 minutes after Ben threw up. Not to be outdone she had a seizure and peed on the floor and hasn't been able to do more than walk across the room before she collapses. Really? It this how this has to go? Really? Haven't we earned the "spread out the crap storm" credit yet?