Health Update

Morgan's stool has tested positive for blood since she was 2 months old. Her Gastroenterologist has been trying to eliminate every possible cause of the bleeding, which is why I had to stop breastfeeding and why she is on a strict no soy, no dairy diet. Morgan had to have an Endoscopy and Colonoscopy today because nothing seems to be working to stop the bleeding. In preparation for the surgery, Daniel and I fed Morgan her last meal Friday evening. All day Saturday, all day Sunday and part of Monday Morgan was only allowed to drink Pedialyte. To top it off she was given medicine to flush out her system resulting in a 2 am bath this morning because the poor thing completely soiled herself and everything in her crib. Morgan, who is an extremely easy going, happy go lucky child spent hours this weekend crying because she was so hungry and didn't understand why we weren't feeding her.

Daniel and I took Morgan to Children's Hospital this morning at 6 am. She began her hospital stay with an enema because the nurse was concerned that Morgan wasn't fully flushed out. On top of being exhausted from getting up so early and not sleeping well the night before Morgan was starving so the enema situation was more than she could handle. She screamed like nothing Daniel and I had ever heard before. The Anesthesiologist came in and spoke with Daniel and I before I had to hand my baby girl over to a nurse who walked her back to the operating room. Of course I cried and felt really guilty that Morgan stared into my eyes which were full of tears before she was taken away. The procedure/surgery was only supposed to take about half an hour so I had adrenaline pumping through my veins by the time a little more than an hour had passed before the Anaesthesiologist came out to let us know that Morgan was fine and would be waking up soon. Dr. Davis, Morgan's Gastroenterologist, came out next saying that she was able to do the full Endoscopy but wasn't able to do the full Colonoscopy because she just couldn't get the camera through a tight angle in the colon. Still, she said that everything looked good in that the only thing found was to be some irritation of the lining of the colon known as Colitis. Biopsies were taken to determine the cause of the irritation and we should have lab results by the beginning of next week.

I know there are so many other parents out there who are going through so much more than us but just sitting there worrying about how your little girl is doing and what the doctor was going to find was nerve racking. Every 20 minutes or so a doctor would walk out to the waiting room and yell out the name of a patient. You'd see two nervous parents jump up, fumbling to gather their things so they could go hear how their child was. My stomach jumped into my throat every time this occurred as I nervously awaited the news about my own child.

Of course Morgan is fine and the news about what was discovered is a relief. I find myself getting stronger with every obstacle we face. I'm learning to let go and worry less. Worrying only wastes the precious moments we have on this earth with our loved ones. I have a friend who is a big worrier. She was just recently diagnosed with cancer. She said she constantly worried about the "what if" and she said that she realizes now that it was all for nothing because the "what if" happened anyway.

Morgan really is tough and not only surprises me but surprises her doctors. There's been so many little instances like this last Monday when I took her to the hospital to get blood work. The toddler before her screamed as if he was getting his arm cut off and Morgan barely whimpered when the needle was stuck in her arm. She then proceeded to give the Phlebotomist a huge smile while her blood was being drawn. Today she let the doctors poke and prod, take out needles, etc. without a whimper. The only thing that seemed to bother her was the Enema and who could blame her! I just want to thank Morgan for being so strong and for teaching me how to be stronger too! Mommy is so proud of you!

Below are some recent pictures.