Enzo was so brave for both procedures. We were expecting you to really flip out and not cooperate. But we were so wrong! He was so cooperative and so cute. I felt so bad they had to poke him too many times to draw blood and for IV's.
July 24th
For the barium, he had to drink this white thick liquid (which he quickly said 'nasty' but still drank it), chocolate pudding with the white stuff mixed in, and graham crackers with the white stuff as icing. He made the funniest faces but he did as he was told, and we were done within 10 minutes. The results were really good. They thought he might have some sort of swallowing disorder because he stores food in his mouth forever if you don't MAKE him swallow it (sorta of like a cow that chews the cud).
July 30th
Then the week after was the other procedure. Since the procedure required general anesthesia, they had a few extra steps of precaution they wanted to take, one of which is the sickle cell test. Usually, that test is performed right after birth, but I guess with him being in foster care, it either got lost in his files, or it was never done. Since he's half african-american they had to know before the procedure. So the chaos begins there....
They needed to draw blood but also wanted me and daddy to hold Enzo down. I'm thinking oh great....first, any child having blood drawn isn't going to be very happy. But Enzo having blood drawn, wasn't going to be pretty, or so I thought. But he laid there so brave, didn't even whimper! The nurse couldn't find his vien so she kept poking and fishing around for a vien before moving on the the next arm only to do the same thing. But after 15 mins of fishing for a vien, she was finally able to draw blood. Enzo was amazing! I'm not sure if he was just being really brave, or if the lack of crying/emotion is a result of multiple caregivers in his medical foster home. But regardless God was good, and I know He was holding Enzo through it all.
Before the procedure, they had to wait for the results of the test, and the doctor took us aside and told us his results were abnormal but wouldn't find out exactly why until 24hrs. So that's where the panic began. Actually I wouldn't have panicked if it weren't for the doctor acting the way he did. I didn't know anything about sickle cell at the time (I still don't know very much now) but the doctor wanted to find out right away if he was tested as a newborn and what the results were. I guess there's a state register for sickle cell test? Not sure but he wanted to call the Florida state lab to pull his lab, but the lab needed info and all we had was his biological mother's name. We didn't know what hospital he was born at and they were asking for the bio-mom's social security number. Then the state lab decided they didn't want to give anymore info because we were all guessing at the hospital name and we had very limited info even though the doctor explained that we had adopted him.
After the hour delay, the doctor moved on with the procedure and found Enzo has no lasting damage from the reflux, and nothing out of the ordinary. They still put the 24 hr monitor through his nose (thank you Lord for giving Enzo the self-control to not yank it out!). His reflux/acid levels are more active than what they originally thought, so they just upped his meds. And his sickle cell test came back and he only has the sickle cell trait (meaning he's a carrier) but he doesn't have the disease. It's not something that can on-set later, it's either you have it or you don't and it's not contagious but it is hereditary. So for now, Enzo is clear and we don't have to worry. But his children have a possibility have inheriting the trait or the disease from him.
God never gives us more than we can handle; and just like with our biological children, we can't pick and choose what medical issues come with them. God allows us to go through what He knows we need, and gives us the grace to get through it.
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