Meredith tolerated the test well and had no problems waking up from the anesthesia, thank goodness.

The preliminary findings are:

No visible scricture (narrowing) of the esophagus, the biopsies will tell if there is inflammation or other things to be concerned about. There was some redness from the constant refluxing.

Her stomach is full of mucous which is not good. The mucous is being created by her sinuses, she's swallowing it and it's very thick and sticky. Her pulmonologist was called in and he's sure she has some of it in her lungs as well. This is the same problem that caused the Staph infection in her sinuses last year which resulted in her having a PICC Line in for 21 days of IV antibiotic therapy.

We also found out aside from refluxing from the stomach into her esophagus she's also refluxing bile from her duodenum (first part of small intestine) back into her stomach. Here's part of why this causes a problem.

Bile is alkaline and the stomach demands an acidic environment to break down foods. When bile enters the stomach, the stomach creates more acid to try and neutralize the bile. Bile and acid don't mix so the stomach keeps creating more acid which causes bloating and pressure on the pylorus (flap that should stayed closed). Causes pain, cramping, bloating, more refluxing and on and on. More refluxing up through the sinuses can trigger more asthma because it goes into the lungs and sticks like glue.

The inside of her stomach is also very red and inflamed, we are assuming that's from the bile reflux.

Current Treatment Plan:
Breathing Treatments every 4 hours until Monday with chest percussion therapy each time to help dry up the secretions and loosen it from the lining of the lungs.

Antibiotics

Robitussin to help thin the mucous

Prevacid to reduce acid

Reglan to empty stomach

Back to pulmonologist on Monday

Thanks to everyone that sent emails and prayers to us, they mean more than you know.

I was insanely sick last night and I'm very tired tonight so I'm off of here and going to give a breathing treatment.

Hugs!
Angie

posted by Angie @ 4/29/2004 05:51:35 PM