Lydia's Throat Saga

Miss Lydia has had a rough time eating and swallowing since September 21st. She was eating a sandwich at a friend's house and felt like a piece of it got stuck in her throat. She drank some water and it passed, she got up and started playing like normal. However, although she could drink with no problem she refused to eat anything else that day, and thus began our month-long drama surrounding food and meal times.

At first Tyler and I thought it was just her being dramatic or anxious about feeling that "stuck" feeling again, but when it persisted for weeks and she was refusing to eat most things (applesauce included) because her throat "felt bad, like something is stuck in it" or that food was going down the wrong tube, I took her to the doctor. She got diagnosed with constipation and maybe reflux, put on acid reflux medication, and called it good. When there was no improvement we took her to a gastroenterologist, who wanted to do an endoscopy to look in her throat and do some biopsies to check for an allergic-type reaction that he thought could be causing her symptoms.

Tuesday morning we went to Legacy Emmanuel Children's Hospital to check in for the procedure. I knew we were off to a great start when we got there at 6 am and all the outside doors were locked and guarded because there was a "Code Silver threat level 2" (which I know from work means someone had a weapon on the campus and was trying to get in the hospital.) They weren't supposed to let any non-staff in the hospital, but after deciding that I didn't look like a monster and that I'd be much safer with my small child inside the hospital, the door guard let us in. We were grateful to be inside, safe and warm.

We had some time to kill before the start time, so Lydia checked out the playroom in the day surgery unit.

Then we went back to our room, watched some PBS kids and braided her hair while we waited until it was time for her to get some oral Versed to make her sleepy so she'd be out of it when they put the IV in. This is her just a few minutes after getting the oral Versed.

This is her about 25 minutes after the Versed.

She tolerated the procedure well, although I admit I felt a little teary leaving her in the procedure room even though I put other people's kids to sleep all the time at work. I will have more empathy for those parents in the future.

The doctor came to talk to me and said aside from three small white spots at the top of the esophagus and three more small ones at the bottom, everything else looked normal but he still took biopsies to test for the allergic reaction condition.

Lydia came out of the sedation obviously groggy but she ate a red popsicle and was doing pretty well, until she quickly said "my tummy hurts!" and vomited red popsicle all over me and the floor. It was awesome. This is her post-puking.

And again after some Zofran, which perked her up. She also loved her teddy bear, which she got when we checked in and stayed with her every step of the way. She named her Carmel or Ellie, depending on when you asked her during the hospital stay. We hope she really likes that bear for a long time, because it ended up being the most expensive stuffed animal we own.

The pathology report came back and it wasn't the food allergy condition--those white spots were yeast. How she managed to get a yeast infection in her throat, I don't know. It's possible that when she got the food stuck in September she scratched or damaged her throat and the yeast (which is always in our bodies, just kept in check by normal body bacteria) was somehow able to take hold. Or it was just some freak illness, who knows. At least now we know why her throat has been bothering her, and hopefully after she finishes her medication and takes probiotics she'll be back to normal. I sure hope so; I'm sick of fighting about food!

We sure love this little lady and are glad to at least know why she's been having such a rough time lately. Of course, I'm sure that I'm not going to hear any complaints about her throat tomorrow when she's digging through her Halloween candy bucket!