Every parent has experienced the pain and frustration of having a sick kid. As a parent you would do everything that you could to make your child's pain go away. And if you have a chronically sick child, the pain is even worse, because you want to help, but your hands are tied, especially when doctors aren't exactly sure what is wrong.
For the last several years, off and on, Xander has been dealing with some stomach trouble. Because it comes and goes, when it's not happening, I haven't been the greatest about him getting looked at, but at the same time, without any symptoms, it makes it hard to trouble shoot. But for the last several months, the poor kid has been absolutely miserable. He's been struggling to keep food down and generally feeling like crap. A couple of years ago, he had a barium swallow, but unfortunately there was no evidence of anything going on there.
When his symptoms started back up, I called and was able to get on a waiting list to get an appointment - it was only 2 months out, so sure, that was going to work so well - NOT - for the pediatric gastroenterologist. Then a family friend mentioned that their child dealt with the same problem and instead of being stomach related, it turned out to be infected adenoids. Since Xander is congested like 90% of the time and always has gunk coming out of his nose, and it is often what he throws up.
I did a 180 and contacted an ENT and managed to get in significantly quicker, only about a week and a half wait and our appointment was yesterday. We met with the doctor and we talked about some less invasive options, but since we've been dealing with this for so long and have tried other things, he agreed to go more in depth. So one xray and one nasal probe later, Xander is scheduled for surgery in 2 weeks to get his adenoids taken out.
I can hardly wait because hopefully Xander will be able to start feeling better. He's such an outgoing kid when he feels good, and watching him feel sick just breaks my heart. I'm really grateful that Xander should be feeling much better soon. I realize that all things considered, his tummy troubles are minor and there are other families who are dealing with far more serious problems, but this is just one more example of things happening in my life that has been teaching me all kinds of things: patience, empathy, sympathy and more patience.
Here's to helping all the sick kids out there. I hope that you all get well soon!
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