more tests

Tomorrow morning Sophie is going in for some more GI testing.  She still has a very limited volume of how much she can eat at one time and still spits up sometimes.  (Like tonight at supper, she had two bites of cracker and then a big emesis, even though it had been 2.5 hours since her last snack and 2 hours since her medicines--basically, her stomach should have been empty by then.)

We are going back to Cook Childrens and the GI doctor that she saw the first 1.5 years of her life.  He is going to do an endoscopy and then a reflux test.  Basically, he wants to see if the two valves at the entrance and exit are working properly.  During the endoscopy, he will use a camera to observe the exit of the stomach to the small intestine and make sure it is not too restricted.  He will also change out her g-button while she is sedated.

Then for phase II, they will do a pH probe study.  Basically, they run a small tube up the nose and down into the esophagus, just above the valve at the top of the stomach.  She has to wear it for 24 hours :( and it continually monitors acid levels in the esophagus to see if any acid is refluxing up out the top of the stomach.  The tube connects to a little device she wears that records the readings, and every time she eats, drinks, coughs, lays down, cries, etc, we have to push a button to note some external influence on the values.  She had this done when she was an infant, and it's not much fun for anybody.

But hopefully, it will give us some kind of facts to deal with what is going on.  The doctor seems determined to figure out how to help her, so we are optimistic.  What happens after this obviously depends on the findings.  If it's a restricted exit, he will do a procedure where the exit is stretched with a balloon during the endoscopy, like they do with angioplasty for blocked blood vessels.  Otherwise, he might recommend meds or other treatments.