Studies

We had a bit of snow up here.....then rain, then ice and then a bit more snow. You've just got to love this New England weather. Good thing Ellie loves the snow.

Ellie’s output out of her ostomy is still high. It has been high since before Halloween. Antibiotics for bacterial overgrowth didn't work and she is showing no signs of yeast over growth. One other possible cause of her high output might be that food is no longer able to go down her colon and instead everything is going out her ostomy. We assumed that she was not pooping any more because she was dehydrated. But it could be that it is the cause not the effect. The connection between the small and large bowel could possible have gotten smaller. Or that the layout of her bowel has changed. It could be that the problem is mechanical not medical.

So last Wednesday Ellie had a contrast study done on her colon to see if there were any kinks or narrowings of her colon. Everything looked great with no problem areas. They said that she had most of her colon, and that it looked great. Nice and big and the same size as her small bowel, a big change from the micro colon she used to have. Good news, but still no answer to our problem.

So tomorrow we head in for a contrast study of her ostomy with Dr. Jennings. Hopefully we will get a better look at the connection between the two bowels. Then on Friday we go in for day surgery so that Ellie can have her bowels scoped. They will pass a camera down from above so they can take a look at her small bowel. Hopefully they will be able to take a sample of the liquid at that time to test for any over growth. Just to cover all our bases. Then they will take a look at her colon.

So hopefully by this weekend we might have a better idea of what we are dealing with. Or not. But we have to try. She still looks great doing great, but she still needs extra hydration every three days.

Okay, after all that, if you looked at Ellie you would never know that anything is out of whack. She has taken to singing. Sometimes you can recognize the song and other times you just have to sing along with the babble. Also, Sadly Gib and I have also realized that Ellie has better rhythm and is a better dancer than either of us. This can be seen in the video clip below.

I was waiting for her to start twirling the swifter around like a baton. And those are baby legs that she has pushed down in a very Flash Dance style.

Other good news, the 22nd will be Ellie's friend Christian's one year anniversary of his liver and small bowel transplant. He looks fantastic and is doing very well.