So Livi's 18 mo wcc came up today with her amazing doc Dr. Duffy and I had a couple of questions about toddler life:
• how to introduce more meat into her meals (if this girl could survive on veggies and fruit alone she totally would.. Which isn't a bad thing haha just not super protein-rich)
• how to prep her for her baby brother's arrival
• and if her little pokey back was ok. She's got this tiny nub on her back when she leans forward that one of the spinal columns sticks out a little more than the rest. I wouldn't even care/bother to ask about it, but when I was in middle school and the "nurses" were checking for scoliosis, they had to check my back twice because I've got a slight curve in it.. Which makes my hips hate life.
So anyway, among the regular chit chat, when my doc checked her back, he laid her down on the bed and was checking her spine along with her tummy. He asked me if her stomach was always tense like that and I was really confused. Granted, she was screaming her head off, but I've never noticed her stomach feeling hard.
So after the rest of the checks, Dr. Duffy said he wanted to run an X-ray to check on her tummy as well as the spine. I didn't think anything of it, said sure, and the MA came in to give Liv her flu shot.
She hated life, naturally.
They wanted her in a gown for the X-ray so I buttoned her into their adorably huge gown and had to take a picture..
Mean mommy I know.. Poor thing.
So with a screaming Livi on my hip, Micah and I wandered through the office to the X-ray room. I couldn't go in the room because I'm pregnant so Micah had to take Olive from me.. Which brought on a fresh round of screams and tears.
My heart broke just a titch having to listen to her cry from the hall and be unable to hold her. :'(
Once she was out of there, & done with that torture, we went back into the room and got her dressed. Dr. Duffy came in looking a little stressed, but it was a Monday so I didn't really think much of it.
He then shows us the X-ray and starts explaining what is going on with Livi.
Her stomach is being distended because of gas, but not just a little.. It's pushing all the way down into her large intestine, which is totally backed up with poop.
That's a super horrible pic because I didn't want to ask to take the pic.. They typically don't let you anyway.. So it's awesome quality.
But if you can see, there's a white blob with the white line that separates her stomach from the intestines, and it's pushed way huge. It's supposed to be very small and black (empty or full of food) but hers pushes past her ribs and into the large intestines. And if you can see, the dark swirls is her large intestine full of poop.
Dr. Duffy was scared because at first glance, it seemed like a big mass, a big tumor. Big scary C word potential. So he called the pediatric radiologist at Primary's and had him look at the X-ray to give his diagnosis. Amazingly and thankfully it is only air and poop.
I'm sure Olivev will kill me for posting this when she's older, but I had to share my incredible gratitude towards this news. We went into the doctor today for a well check up, a happy visit with a healthy child and could have received so much worse news. To even think or consider what our steps would have been if the X-ray showed a tumor.. World changing. More X-rays, blood work, ultrasounds, surgery, chemo, radiation... My little baby, my world, would have to undergo so much at such a young age. But that isn't in her future. She just needs to clean out her system with a little help from Miralax and keep living life the same. With so many people that I read about, hear about, and actually know going through big health concerns and surgeries.. It just makes my heart swell with gratitude and brings tears to my eyes that we don't have to undergo that trial and hardship. I'm not saying our lives will are trial-free or that we don't have hardships, but that in this instance we had God's hand watching over us and protecting my sweet baby from that pain.
I'll be holding miss Olive extra tight tonight.
xoxo
Mandi
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