Gastric emptying

If you want to see evidence of how important our stomach is to our quality of life, look no further than Charlotte Harris. As we all know, Charlotte has had lifelong problems with her stomach that only worsened after transplant. Since her transplant, Charlotte has been having difficulties with her electrolytes. This has caused her to require lots of electrolyte supplements. We had a family meeting with all of Charlotte's specialists to talk about MIRAGE syndrome and how to solve her electrolyte mystery. For some reason, her body is not able to maintain them like they should. GI suggested we do a gastric emptying scan and a GI scope to see how her stomach looks since transplant. So, Charlotte had a scope and another gastric emptying scan to look at how her belly absorbs and empties food. In May, her scan showed that she had severely delayed emptying and her stomach was not moving food at all. Her current scope and scan showed that her stomach....wait for it.....IT IS NORMAL! Laura's jaw nearly hit the ground when she heard it. The doctors laughed too because they couldn't believe it either. This is the first time in Charlotte's life we have ever heard that her stomach is normal. So, the doctors are slowly starting to transition her feeding regemen from J feeds to G feeds. This will allow her food to be absorbed better in the main part of her stomach. Also, they are going to slowly switch her formula from a very complex formula for children with severe GI issues to a NORMAL pediatric formula. This will also allow her to get better nutrition. Charlotte is also on a long term antibiotic for her recurrent infection. The antibiotic dose will be complete next week. This is a good thing for her stomach. However, we hope that the infection is completely gone and will not come back like it has in the past. Since Charlotte has started to get food in her belly, she has been the happiest and most active we have seen her since transplant. Here's to a life a enjoying all the wonderful foods that the world has to offer!