Jake's Junk

Well. Boys are not as forthcoming as girls. I know this. I understand this. It still surprises me! Jake came to me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that for a few WEEKS he has had gastrointestinal problems. WEEKS of diarrhea, extra frequency and blood in the stool is not good. I'm not sure why he hadn't thought to mention or discuss this.... So, we went to the regular doc in December. He was pretty laid back and said that we should give it 2 weeks to resolve itself. But this kid is missing school because he can't be sure when how soon he will have to "go" and how long it will take when he does.... I called back after a few days and requested the referral to the specialist. The nurse was surprised that the doctor had said to wait a couple of weeks. She called back and we were in to the specialist in 2 days! And that appointment was yesterday.

We found out that he is bleeding internally and it's not so simple as the frequent "going" causing some rectal bleeding. The doctor (pediatric gastrointerologist) set up some tests and procedures to figure out where the bleeding is coming from and why. Jake has to have LOTS of blood tests, stool exams, ultrasound and an endoscopy. The endoscopy sounds rough--scheduled for 1-20-10. He will be under anesthesia and they will take a probe with camera down his throat and look at his upper g.i. tract. Then he will have a colonoscopy to check out the lower g.i. tract. He said he will do biopsies of various areas in case there is something not visible. But he mentioned Crohn's Disease several times. We're all a little nervous. The ultrasound can thankfully be done before school tomorrow. But he will miss a day for the endoscopy and it's the LAST possible day he can miss for this trimester.