The tests in life are different. I felt like I was in the middle of taking a great big test, but I was completely unprepared. I must not have been paying attention in "class." I don't think I even took this class. Where are my notes anyway? This must be what test anxiety feels like.
The tests they needed Christopher to take didn't require any studying, but they were still difficult and uncomfortable. It was difficult and uncomfortable for me to have to watch him take these tests. I wanted to trade places with him, take the tests for him. I'm so glad he doesn't have a lot of memories about much of this. In fact he has told me that it must have been harder for me than for him. Did I mention that my son is one of the most amazing people I know? It's true!
The GI doctor ordered a bunch of "re-take tests." Apparently, he didn't pass the first time. They did more blood work, ultrasounds, and another upper GI. That last one proved to be a bit tricky. Christopher was not interested in drinking any of that chalky formula they needed him to drink in order to do the test. He flat out refused. I guess they've "crossed that bridge before." They had an answer for that. It was called an NG (nasal gastric) tube. If they ever tell you that you need one, run! This is a tube that is inserted into the nose and threaded down into the stomach. As you can imagine, it's uncomfortable and there is lots of gagging. I hated watching them do that to my baby.
Once the NG was in place, they fed the chalky substance into his stomach through the tube. This was all done under a type of x-ray called a Fluoroscope (spelling??? I'm not a doctor.). Then we waited, and waited, and waited some more. In Christopher's case we could have waited until he was 18! What was supposed to happen? What was this test supposed to tell us? The white, chalky stuff was supposed to move! It was supposed to move from his stomach and down through his small intestine while we all watched on the x-ray machine, but it wasn't a very exciting video. Nothing much happened. It was the worst movie ever!
While we waited I filled my time with coffee and a book. I thought you might enjoy these home movies instead. Don't worry they aren't long, like 20 seconds each or something.
Christopher ( he's the short one doing all the talking) has quite the little personality on him, doesn't he? He has always been such a character. I'm so thankful that God gave Christopher a way to live, so that I could get to see his humorous personality. Now, back to our story...
I tell ya, this x-ray thing had to be one of the longest, most boring movies in the history of movies. I joked with them that all we were missing was the popcorn and a Pepsi. I think they appreciated the levity because they all seemed very surprised and perplexed that this was taking so long. The chalky stuff wasn't moving at all. It just sat there like a big lump.
Other patients were starting to pile up in the waiting room, so they had us wait it out in the hallway. Every so often they brought us back in to check to see if there had been any movement. Nope! We went back to the waiting room, the hallway, and then back to his hospital room. We kept waiting, and they kept checking, but nothing moved. Finally, they gave up. They sucked the stuff back out of his stomach through the tube, and sent him back to his hospital room. I think he flunked the test!
Did I mention that he was screaming and crying for much of this test? He didn't like the NG tube at all and kept trying to pull it out. He had an even bigger problem with the "test material" in his stomach, so he cried until they took it out. All in all, it turned out to be a very long, very loud test!
The GI doctor didn't think Christopher flunked the test at all. Instead, she said that it proved there was something wrong with his stomach. For some unknown reason it wasn't emptying. His transit time was virtually zero.
It was valuable information that could help us to help him. I guess we weren't such bad "test takers" after all.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can pray like this:
More tomorrow...
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