Last night went smoothly, only one poo thank goodness and no fevers. Jason was looking great, his colour was back and his energy levels were much better. I was still a bit sceptical as to whether we would go home or not because at one stage he started gagging again and then fell asleep next to me with a temp of 37.5. So things weren't looking positive then. Having had enough of hospital food I decided I could NOT eat one more portion of it so decided it was now or never, I was going to gap it to Spar BEFORE the paed arrived. It was either take the chance or quickly pop out and get some food for me and for Jason. I really didn't think we were going home. I was thinking "just one more night". We still didn't know what was wrong with Jason and I thought maybe Dr. S would wait for the test results. As it turned out when I got back to the hospital Dr. S was there. His words to me were "I was going to let you go home". My heart SANK and I said "what now?” He said "no he is going to send us home, he has some results". In my head I was guessing that typically there was nothing. BUT to my huge delight the test for the tick bite was negative but the test for the bacteria was POSITIVE. Hooray we had a positive result!!!! I could have run around doing cartwheels down the corridor. My son is sick and he is actually sick for a REASON.
Jason has been tested positive for bacteria called Helicobacter Pylori. Quite a mouthful yes. I am trying to figure this all out myself through researching. I have found a very nice webpage which is specific to kids for those of you that would like to read all about it. Click on the below link.
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/stomach/h_pylori.html.
A lot of the information makes sense to me. As they say the infection seems to run in families. Bruce has had it and I am sure Bruce's father has had it as well. The H Pylori bacteria can live in your stomach for years undetected until tested and treated. In kids, symptoms of gastritis may include nausea, vomiting and frequent complaints about pain in the abdomen. However, these symptoms are seen in many childhood illnesses. I have NO idea how long Jason has had it as he has never been tested for it. Also Jason does not feel pain and we therefore don’t know if he has had a painful stomach. My guess is the nausea and gagging is related to the stomach pain and reflux. When we were admitted the back of his throat was inflamed and red. My guess is reflux! I am HOPING that once we kill this bacteria it will solve a lot of Jason's symptoms of chronic diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting. The treatment is two antibiotics and an antiacid for 14 days. I am not sure that this is the answer to all Jason's digestion problems but I really hope so!! I haven't been able to discuss this with Dr. P as he is away but we have polygam in 2 week’s time and hopefully I will get some answers. I am a great one for researching so I will do my research as well.
I am just thrilled that we managed to pick this up. I hate to think what if we never tested for this? We would have gone home with this bacteria only for the symptoms to return. This bacteria would have been in his stomach for years. So for now we kill this dam bacteria and take it from there. I am not sure if this has been responsible for the 5 years of diarrhoea, nausea, gagging and vomiting. I guess time will tell.