15 December 2009

A Peanut Won't Eat

I know you've been losing sleep, wondering how Peanut is doing, so here we go (yet again). You knew that he couldn't chew food, right? I told you that, yes? I'm sure I did. So anyway, since the boy is over two and is still eating baby food out of jars, several doctors decided he needed intervention (not that kind; the alcoholic intervention will come later). So after months and months of hating on the insurance company, he got approved to go to Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. This is a fairly well-known hospital in Baltimore that was started in 1922 with the sole purpose of treating children with severe medical disorders. They have a feeding clinic as part of it for kids just like Peanut. Most of the kids in the feeding clinic are kids who have been on a feeding tube their whole lives and are just now figuring out solid foods for the first time. A few are like Peanut, who have food phobias due to various factors, usually severe food allergies like he has. Six doctors observed Peanut in various rooms/environments and/or a live-feed video. They finally concluded that he likely has all the tools he needs, he just doesn't choose to use them. Great. Maybe now when I tell people that he is so fricking stubborn he would rather starve himself to death than eat something he doesn't want to, they'll believe me. He literally will starve himself. And when I say literally, I mean it the right way, not the way stupid people use it.

So the good news is that they think over the course of several months they'll be able to coax him into chewing something. He'll have to go once a week every week for possibly up to a year or more, but they're fairly confident it'll happen. The bad news is that the doctor in charge of this whole feeding clinic team of folks says that Peanut has the most severe food allergies he's ever seen in his career. Mind you, this is a doctor who works in a hospital designed to treat seriously medically-hosed up kids. SO COMFORTING. So given that he's on that end of the spectrum, who knows how long it'll take to get him to eat. He still gets most of his calories from the hypoallergenic formula they put him on after his hospital stay when he was six months old. They've tried to switch him to other things designed for kids his age (because they need more calories than the formula has to offer) and he refuses to switch. Refuses to the point of simply stopping eating until we switch him back. He's skin and bones already so they said no more trying to force a change for now.

I mean, can you believe the sheer STUBBORNNESS of this child?? What the frick is with my kids anyway?

So, you know, if you'd like to pray for little Peanut or just send good thoughts his way, they'd all be greatly appreciated. Fricking kid....

15 comments:

Serin said...

I'll send prayers AND good thoughts! Poor guy and poor you, that has to suck! Any signs of allergies with SweetPea?

Abby said...

Many thanks, Serin. SweetPea had some difficulty with the regular formula I had her on at first. I switched her to one that was slightly more broken-down and she did much better. I'm hoping it's just an underdeveloped GI tract and not allergies.

greta said...

hmmm, your kids stubborn? no, i just don't know where they would get that from... :)

you know i'll be praying for you for sure!

Heidi said...

Yep, we'll keep Peanut in our prayers, but as for the stubborness, blame it all on your husband. I blame my kids's lack of patience and psychotic temper tantrums on my husband all the time.

Karie said...

Prayers headed your way. Good luck with that boy. He could teach my oldest a thing or two about being stubborn (though I devoutly hope she never learns how to be MORE stubborn--one of us wouldn't survive the experience).

Stephanie B said...

I love how you can find humor in any situation. I'm glad you posted about him, I've been wondering how he was doing. Also, thanks for the school picture - I can't wait to show it to Lauren.

Janie said...

ok I start this comment by saying 99.999% of the time I am a big eye roller with food allergies. well allergies in general. they just annoy me because 99.999 percent of the time people who have them are annoying germaphobes.

But dude, I am so sorry Peanut is going through this. It sucks. I worked a rotation in a food clinic in my OT days - and boy they did some crazy stuff, oral stimulation, vibrating toothbrushes, and other naughty sounding things - and mostly it just pissed off the kids.

So here to to hoping they don't piss him off too much and he's chewing on jerky soon.

Abby said...

Thanks for all the nice comments, folks. I hope he eats something soon, too. An essentially all-liquid diet isn't much for putting on the pounds.

Janie, I get what you're saying about the germaphobes. I used to make fun of the same folks. Well, before Peanut nearly died in my arms that is. I would do anything to keep him alive, and unfortunately, with the severity of his situation, it means sticking him in a bubble and asking everyone who comes into contact with him or things he might touch to wash their hands first. I hate doing it, but I'd rather piss off some friends than lose my son's life. It's not something anyone can really understand until they've been through it with their own child. As I said, I used to make fun of those freaked-out parents, too. Not anymore.

Kristin said...

We'll keep him in our prayers for sure.

it's just lisa said...

PT every week huh? Do you need help with the girls? I'm avaliable. We will keep him in our prayers too. You are doing such an awesome job with your kids, Abby!

Jody said...

Wow! Sorry to hear about that. I was hoping for more of the growing-out-of-it and less-allergic type of news. Sounds like you're at a great place that can really help! He'll be in our prayers!

Gwennifer said...

It's nice to know that there are some kids out there more stubborn than me :]

Just kidding. I'll be sure to pray for your sweet second born.

elesa said...

I suggest teaching him NOT to be stubborn anymore. Really, I'm surprised you didn't think of that already.

And I hope it gets better faster than you expect it to!

Leslie Green said...

Abby, once I'm back and have my car I'd love to help you in any way I can. That's the benefit of being too lame to work, I guess. I'm not too lame to ride along and help or to occasionally babysit, so there's that. With love, Me

Bonny said...

I second the offers for help--let me know if there's anything we can do.

And as for your comment about annoying people by asking them to wash hands if they're going to be around Peanut--it's not annoying! We'd all like to see him live as well.

We will definitely keep Peanut in our prayers.