And a few more doctor appointments....

So many of you have been asking how Olivia is doing and I wanted to wait until we wrapped up some more doctors appointments to give a full update. Today we had a visit with her pediatric gastroentologist. He is the one who discovered Olivia cannot break down poo and has her intestines full up to her tummy, which is why she always feels full and doesn't want to eat. He is also the guy who discovered that since her food won't go down it refluxes back up and that is why her esophagus is all burned up and her back teeth are wearing down etc... So she has been on a laxative for the past three months and a special medicine to stop her reflux. We had our follow up apt three moths later (today) to see if his recommendations had made a difference. It should be noted that during these three months on a laxative and anti-reflux drug Olivia had undergone a major operation (putting her flat on her back which increases constipation due to inactivity), endured three infections post operation (again flat on her back) and had managed to squeeze in a holiday (which sitting on a plane and not getting regular sleep and junk food usually adds up to constipation even for a normal person).

So we have good news! She grew 4 cm and gained 4 lbs in 3 months. In addition, he said she would have grown more had it not been for the above complications. She is now on the charts (3-5th percentile) in both weight and height. I have noticed a difference as she has started to out grow her size 4 slim jeans that she has had since she was three- I was kind of excited! The doctor changed her laxative for the winter when kids tend to be more constipated due to less outdoor play and less water intake, and said in 3 more months we should expect to be in the 10th percentile (which is also our follow up apt time). In another year we should be up to the 25th percentile and into the 50th percentile 6 months after that. He said she will be on the laxative for at least two years and after meeting Stan he said he predicts that she will be well above the 50th percentile and that he will monitor her until she plateaus vs. stopping once she is in the normal range (50th percentile)...so this guy could be working with her even if she makes it to the 70th percentile. Who knows whats in those genes! Anyway, we will keep you posted on the progress.

In addition, she is off her preventative medicine and has no current infections so she is doing really well and happy to be off medicine after taking so much for the past three months.