Today was Lacie's endoscopy to confirm a diagnosis of Celiac Disease. Lacie is my six year old grand daughter who I am raising. She is bright, funny and at times cantankerous. But she is mine and I am so proud of her. She happens to have some amazing abilities, but also has some significant challenges. Besides her fair share of bumps in the road,
she has moderate to severe classic type Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Hashimotos Thyroiditis, Asthma, Ketotic Hypoglycemia and has a pending diagnosis of Celiac Disease. She is both strong as steel and as frail as a butterfly wing.
For quite sometime she has had some digestive issues and doesn't seem to be growing well. She is also anemic and tends to be very pale and just looks like she isn't all that strong. So her pediatrician sent her to see Dr. Panopolous, a pediatric GI doc. Test were ordered and her Celiac Panel came back positive for Celiac Disease.
Today she had an endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis and to see the condition of her esophagus and stomach. On our way to the hospital, which is an hour away, my car overheated and I ran late getting to the hospital. Lacie was on clear liquids yesterday and hadn't eaten or had anything to drink all morning. She wasn't feeling too great (later they took her blood sugar and it was 42 which is low). Once in we were immediately taken in to register and within moments she was shown to a room.
That is when her wonderful nurse and Sara, the child life specialist took over. Lacie was just a little nervous, but she was very caught up in telling anyone who would listen, that it was her birthday tomorrow and that she was going to be seven years old. Her excitement over this fact seemed to diminish much anxiety she had about the procedure.
She WAS a little concerned, however about getting a "pokie poke". She knew an IV was involved. So Sara asked Lacie if she wouldn't mind helping her give Joey the Giraffe an IV. She used Lacie's giraffe plushie to explain the endoscopy and together they gave Joey and IV. Lacie helped with the tourniquet and then pretended to push in the medicine into the IV once it was "established.".
When shortly afterward it was time for Lacie's IV...she didn't even flinch. Sara got out the prize box and Lacie got to pick out two toys...PLUS she gave her a really nice Elves Lego Set for her birthday. While she waited to go back into the O.R. Lacie watched Scooby Doo on a portable DVD player and then played a game on an IPAD.
The anesthsiologist came in to talk to me. Because Lacie's blood sugar dipped they gave her an IV with Dextrose to bring up her sugar level. And also with her history of asthma they decided to intubate her. As they were giving her the medication to put her to sleep we all sang Happy Birthday to her. She fell asleep with a little furrow in her brow and the slightest hint of a smile on her lips.
All went well and before I knew it she was in the recovery room and a little out of it but in great shape. Dr. Panopolous said that it looked pretty good in there, but she had to send the biopsies to the lab before we knew anything.
Soon we were on the road heading back home. We stopped to get a chocolate milk shake which she drank with relish and she ate some refried beans from Taco Bell. They said she would be sleepy most of the day ... NOT! She was rearing to go all day.
I am beyond grateful to the staff at Sutter Health for the care they gave to my little one. What could have been a very frightening experience was made a very easy (and safe) for this little girl....and her gramma.
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