"A Narrowing of the Bowel"

We had an appointment for an Upper-GI with small bowel follow through this morning @ 8:30 am. Going into this I had no idea how involved it would be. We arrived @ 8 am for registration and Ayla was downing the Barium by 8:30. The pediatric radiologist was the one performing the test which made me very happy because I could pick his brain. We took a series of scans with breaks in between to watch this liquid move through her digestive system.

The first few were really irrelavent so we talked through those, I learned that he did his residency @ UF Shands and I told him about why we were having this test done...and he told me more than once how amazing it was to see Ayla. When he was in school in the late 70's he had learned about the Kasai (procedure that Ayla had on her liver) and it was a pretty bleak prognosis. And she was literally a real-life miracle sitting in front of him.

(that's our little Righteous-Oak, giving Hope to everyone!)

After that conversation I felt very comfortable with him through-out the rest of the scans. About the 4th scan we had is when I saw his eyes grow and I knew something was wrong. He began to point out "an area of concern" the image showed a large loop of bowel that was balooned out and then a smaller area that "narrowed."

There was that word I feared so much!

He took many more shots and felt confident thats what was going on. He explained that's probably what caused her most recent blockage. That over months of only liquid getting through it would completley block.

He also mentioned another issue of lack of motility. Which to us means things aka: "poop" doesn't move through her digestive system as quickly as it should. The barium that she drank should have not been visible after about an hour and we were still seeing it everywhere more than four hours later!

So I fear I will be getting a call from Shands tommrow, and we will need to go down again...but for surgery this time.

Yes I said surgery! My worst fear has shown itself yet again for the fourth time in Ayla's life. It's somthing I thought I could not survive but i'm sure I will. I have not yet heard from the Dr's but feel confident in the report and what I saw.

This news has come to our family at a time where it seemed things could not get worse. With Larry's Grandma fighting for her life the family is at it's wit's end.

I am grateful for the option to operate and that we have found the cause of all her pain and problems. I want her to feel better, but i don't want to watch my baby go into surgery again.

When I heard the words I hardly reacted. I feel like i'm getting used to this kind of news. And that's not what I envisioned my normal to be.

But I know we are going to get through this, I know that she is strong much stronger than her mother.

At this time it's mostly speculation on my part but the radiologist was pretty clear on the treatment for this kind of thing.

I will let you all know once I get the news of whats to come.

Please send your prayers for Mrs. Tucker, Ayla and the rest of our family as we deal with this news.