Cohen Update

Here’s the latest on CoCo.

Around new years, Cohen started to have some issues spitting up. It started slowly but the more we fed him the more he spit up. We were concerned, and at his second checkup the doctor referred to it as “throwing up” and ordered a special X-ray to see if he had reflux or if he had a problem with his GI system. This is called Pyloric stenosis and is kind of rare, but it does fit a lot of his symptoms.

In the interim though, Cohen got sick. An ear infection, and a respiratory infection. For the past week he has had to take antibiotics 2x a day and do a Nebulizer treatment 3x a day. This is no big deal of course, except he is 7 weeks old. This also meant a delay of the Upper GI test. His breathing got to the point a few days ago where he shared in the great George tradition of Emergency Room visits. Needless to say, I was quite proud. But here’s the thing- while our pediatrician is local, we have had such bad experiences with Pocono Medical Center that Beth took him all the way to St. Luke's. Which meant no one got much sleep.  They checked out his breathing, and all was OK ~ a viral infection and a frog in his throat, and they sent him home and we stopped using the wood stove. Side note- want to help us pay our electric bill????

So a few days passed and the “spitting up” now has turned into full on projectile vomiting. He eats, like he is famished, then vomits a lot of it up. He is still gaining weight (can you believe he is 11 pounds, 2 ounces already?) but still…this is not a good thing.

When we returned to the Doctor today we felt that he “looked sick” – and the doctor felt that we not only needed to quickly schedule his GI test but to get a chest X-ray to check for phenomena, and have a sample of his mucus examined.

Fun fact: Beth and I have full on flu bugs right now, Cohen is obviously up a lot, and Garrison has decided he will only sleep a few hours in his room alone before he needs someone with him. Sorry if we sound bitchy when we answer the phone or email.

So what now? Well we are continuing the breathing treatments and antibiotics. We had the chest x-ray and mucus sample taken today. Assuming that comes back OK, we will have the GI test tomorrow morning (shout out to Kristy for hanging with Gar so we can both go!)., and they will have him swallow some barium and then do some photos. If it isn’t Pyloric stenosis then it’s most likely reflux, just coupled with a lot of other issues. If the diagnosis is positive, that’s when things get trickier. That situation will require him to have surgery, a Laparoscopic procedure that would permanently repair the troubled part in the stomach. It doesn’t seem to be a very dangerous procedure, but would require a few day stay away from home.  And by away from home, we mean at least an hour away for a place that would perform the surgery.