The Scoop on Poop

I have never inspected so much poop in my entire life.  TMI?  Over the past couple of months, Lily has had visibly painful bowel movements.  It became apparent that every time she needed to go, she was tensing up and screaming bloody murder.  We took her to see the doctor and after an exam, determined she had a small tear which was likely causing the pain and quite possibly anxiety about going.  She was prescribed an antibiotic cream and we were instructed to apply it for about a week.  If things weren't getting better, we would call back.

A week went by and her tear had healed but her screaming had not.  After a few different calls with her doctor and nurses, we decided on a few dietary changes - reduce dairy aside from milk, increase juice, pump her with fruit and prunes.  She wasn't showing any signs of constipation (still going at least three times a day) and there was no blood or mucus in her stools.  It didn't seem like an issue that needed immediate attention.  Mike and I were still kind of convinced it was all in her head - she was simply afraid to go and was trying to hold it in. 

So we proceeded with the dietary changes and she downed one maybe two containers of prunes a day.  You would have thought her poo would be running out of her (literally) but it wasn't.  The last straw for me was after an episode of going, she was covered in sweat from exerting herself.  I called the doctor again and we were referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist at Helen DeVos Children's hospital. 

It came as a shock that we wouldn't be able to get an appointment until August - MAYBE.  I was appalled when the referral nurse told me she didn't have any available appointments through July and that she couldn't schedule Lily for an August appointment because their scheduling software only looked out two months in advance.  I couldn't even get her on a cancellation list until she had a scheduled appointment.  I'm sure the poor girl deals with screaming parents quite often when they hear this kind of news so I took it easy on her.  I became more and more frustrated as I learned that there were several patients ahead of us to be scheduled in August, that they couldn't advise on possible solutions since she wasn't a patient, and that unfortunately (but probably fortunately) Lily's symptoms weren't that severe compared to other kids. 

As soon as I hung up with the nurse, I was back on the phone with Lily's pediatrician.  We were advised to switch to soy milk and start her on an over the counter stool softener.  We've been messing around with her dosage and in the last couple of days have finally seen softer stools but have still been getting the screaming.  Last night might have been the start of a break through.  She screamed for only about 30 seconds and was then completely fine.  Mike and I are pretty confident that it's all mental - she feels the urge and associates it with a one time painful event and she freaks out.  We've been reading quite a bit on Google and learning incredibly scary things.  If we can rule out that there is nothing physically wrong, I'll feel a lot better.

I spoke with Lily's doctor's office again this morning.  They had called to follow up on how the latest method of combat was going.  They'll also be working to get us referred to Mott's Children's Hospital at U of M to see if we can get in there sooner.  It's crazy to think about how long this has been going on and that we still have no solution.  It's even crazier to think that a pediatric GI is in such high demand and that Lily's symptoms aren't considered severe.  Keep your fingers crossed for us that we get an appointment soon!