Well, things have been....interesting.
Putting Caleb on an appetite stimulant still doesn't sit well with me. I did speak with my pediatrician about the appetite stimulant having depression as a side effect. He assured me that the one he prescribed is a histimine (or anti histimine, I can't remember!). He said that anti dpression meds are out of the scope of a pediatrician so they don't every use/prescribe medications in that area if they don't have to. That takes some of the worry out of this possibility for me. However, I really and truly do not believe that an appetite stimulant is the answer. The kid is hungry. He TELLS me he IS hungry. He just WON'T eat! It's mind boggling for me.
I went back into the pediatrician's office last week to disucss all the options with the pediatrician. At this meeting we went over all Caleb's labs. His liver & kidney function are normal. His mono check was negative. His iron is good. His thyroid is good. His white blood cell count is normal. The only thing out of the ordinary was his glucose level (217). Dr. Clarke said that he really just thinks/hopes that something went wrong with that lab since everything else was normal. He did say that it is possible that it's super early diabetes. I did tell him that there is diabetes in both of our families - but, it's always been onset in much later years, not childhood. I also mentioned that my sister was hypo glycemic. I asked if we needed to be checking his blood sugar regularly to rule out diabetes. He ended up sending me home with a glucose monitoring kit. It only has 10 strips to check with and to get more we need a presciption, but it gives us a start and an idea. He explained that we need to check his blood 1-2 hours after a high carb meal. I explained that I had started a food journal for him. He seemed happy that I had done that and said that when I had at least a week's worth of entries that he wanted me to bring it in for the dietician to look at. At this point I did already have a week's worth of entries, but since we are now checking blood sugar, I'd like an additional week's worth of entries with the blood sugar checks noted by meals to get a better view of things. I asked if the appetitite stimulant would effect the blood sugar readings and he told me that he wanted me to wait to start the appetite stimulant (good). So, for now, we are just continuing on as normal and checking his blood sugar 1-2 hours after a high carb meal. So far his numbers have ranged from 81-129. A "normal" range is 80-120.
I have been speaking with just about everyone about what's going on. I'm all for any input. I know I don't know everything out there and people on the outside of the situation may have some ideas that I don't and haven't thought about. One of the guys at work asked if he had been tested for a parasite. I hadn't even considered that. I called the dr.'s office back today and asked about whether that was a possibility. I have never had to deal with a nurse as rude and snotty as the one I did today. I was not happy by the time I got off the phone. I had originally explained what was going on with Caleb, labs, etc. I asked if his white blood cell count had originally been checked. She told me that it usually is in one of the main labs that's run. I told her I realize that but it was never mentioned so I wasn't sure. She told me, "Well, they won't tell you if it's normal, they just say everything's normal." I proceeded to explain to her that I had sat with Dr. Clarke and went over all of his lab results and white blood cell count was never mentioned so I wasn't sure if it had been checked. I then asked her if it was possible that he could have a tape worm or some other parasite. She told me, "Well a tape worm will usually make you eat a lot more, not lose your appetite." I had to be patient at this point. My friend that I had spoken with at work said his mom was a nurse for 15 yrs of his life. That sometimes if the parasite doesn't like what you're eating it can make you sick so you don't want to eat even though you are hungry. My line of thought is this, "Let's rule out all the really easy obvious stuff before we send him off to PCMC Failure to Thrive Clinic, k?" So, I explained again that I understand but I'd still like to know what Dr. Clarke thinks. She told me that she'd leave him the msg and that when he responded to it they would get back to me. A few hours later she called me back to tell me that yes, his white blood cell count had been checked and yes it was normal. Then she tells me that in order to check for a parasite, a stool sample would need to be taken, etc. I proceeded to ask her where I needed to pick up the stuff for the stool sample. Apparently, this caught her off guard because she goes, "Oh. Well I'll have to let Dr. Clarke know that you want to test for that so he can put the order in." At this point I decided I didn't care too much if I was nice and polite any more or not. I told her, "Yes. I want to test for that. I'd hate to get to the Failure to Thrive Clinic at Primary Children's and have them tell me that it's just a parasite." That pretty much shut her up. I got a call earlier tonight to tell me that I could pick up the stuff for the stool sample so I went and picked it up.
So, as of right now we are
1-Keeping a food journal
2-Checking glucose levels after high carb meals
3-Waiting to do a stool sample to rule out parasites
I still need to
1-Call the Petersen Wellness Clinic
2-Call a foot zoner
3-Set up a meeting with the chiropractor to discuss the issue with him & get his input
So, we are making slow progress, but progress none the less.
