K is in for a rough time the next few months

Yes my 8 year old has a GI problem. For years, her peds had told me she had a behavior issue. However, no matter how much dh and I tried, it has never gone away. She was diagnosed at age 4 with encopresis. Her ped at the time did no tests but an abdominal xray which showed she was full of poop. We had to do enemas till she got cleaned out. At 8 she still poops in her underwear. Not completely pooping in pants but skidmarks sometimes bad skidmarks. I have been cleaning the underwear all this time. She always had poop issues. She was constantly constipated. Her first ped refused to do anything about it and told us it was normal. I don't think so. We trusted him how were we to know. He told us she would grow out of it. She didn't. At 4, we changed peds because he also misdiagnosed her asthma. Told us it was impossible for a child under the age of 1 to have it. Chose to be reactive instead of proactive. It was when she was 2, that I was able to get her into a specialist and I did it without his help. God Bless Dr. R. She said oh my. You poor things have been through so much. K has the worst case of asthma in town. It will take time but we will get her better. She said the ped had been negligent in not getting her into the specialist sooner.

At 4 1/2 we changed to Dr. B. Another ped, but this time she diagnosed her with encopresis. Behavior behavior behavior. She was started on lactulose. This was awful. Eventually switched to miralax. Still didn't work. We left her because of rude staff and the inability to get an appt.

At 5 we switched to Dr. L. He told us that she didn't eat enough fruits and vegetables. We left him because he told my underweight daughter that wore SLIM jeans that she was severely overweight. I hardly think so when she weighed 50 pounds at 7 1/2 years old. This resulted in a weight concsious kid not to eat for three weeks.

Now we are with our family practice dr. I love her. I called the office and requested to see the dr alone for 5 minutes before K was brought in. I also warned the staff to PLEASE NOT tell K or say anything to K about me being preggo. We want to wait till 12 weeks to tell everyone and K has a BIG mouth and can not keep any secret. They did as I asked. We got there and they brought me back and K stayed in the waiting room. As soon as I got in the room. D (nurse) came in. OMG, I just heard that you were pregnant!!! Girl you work quick. I just got your consults from Dr. H (endo specialist) and Dr. E (obgyn). She said your endo report was dated 11/12. Your visit with Dr. E was dated 12/26. It said your last period was 11/17 on the report from Dr. E. Congratulations and she gave me a HUGE hug and asked me a thousand questions. Was I going to see the peri (Dr. W). Did I want to find out the sex. OMG the girls were going to be so excited. It was really really exciting to have someone so happy for us knowing how most people would feel that I am an obsterical trainwreck waiting to happen. She left and doc came in.

Dr. L listened to everything and said that this isn't a behavioral issue. That this was a medical issue. K literally can not feel the urge to go to the bathroom. I have to tell her to go. I had to teach her to use those muscles to go. There is no feeling there for her. So Dr. L brought her in and asked her questions. K was totally embarassed but did cooperate and answer them. She listened to her belly and wrote out an order for an abdominal xray. Doc doesn't feel like it is hirsprunger syndrome but does feel certain something medically is not right. We discussed what would need to be done. A biopsy from a colonoscopy (OMG I NEVER want this done, how can I make my 8 year old do this???), a barium enema, possibly surgery (I told her about this which is a pull through procedure). If K truly does not have feeling there, then they can cut out the bad nerves and pull her colon down enough that she can have good nerve cells. None of this fun. She also is sending us to a Ped GI Specialist of hers that is a favorite. While there are probably gi specialists in other big city. She wants us to see this guy. So much so that she is getting him covered out of network for us.

Oh and she asked me how I was doing before K came in. Told her my bp was up already from prepregnancy baseline of 110/70 to 124/88. She said it wasn't too awful considering my pregnancy past, but will need to be watched. She was relieved that I was seeing a peri starting at 14-16 weeks.

So say some prayers for my little girl that maybe some medicine may help her and no surgery. She is only 8 and I can't imagine having to do the stuff that she is going to have to do soon for testing.