Saturday, November 07, 2009

barium enema x-ray

Although I have yet to have the joy of having one, I was lucky enough to witness Siobhan having one. She has had problems with constipation for well over 2 years. She has been on one adult dose of miralax per day every day and still she has problems.

The Pediatric GI doctor recommended a barium enema x-ray to see what was going. Of course, I checked online right away to see what we were in for. What the heck?

I didn't tell her until that morning what was actually going to happen. Didn't want her to dwell on it too long (and believe me, she would have). The x-ray tech we had was very friendly, helpful and great with Siobhan. She explained everything to her so she would understand. The doctor came in and inserted a tube into her bum. From there we were able to watch on the screen her colon fill with barium. She was GREAT! They filled her up with more, more, and more. They got another bag (probably twice the size of an IV bag) and continued. Once that one was almost all the way in, she was in tears. She was moving side, front, side, back, side, etc. They were in the other room looking at something and Siobhan had so many tears coming out of her eyes. Poor baby. I called the tech in and said, she is in pain now. They moved the bag to the floor where the barium should have come out of her body and back into the bag. That didn't happen. They untaped her bum and removed the tube and I carried her to the restroom. Once she emptied most of it, another x-ray.

She did so well. I was so glad Daddy waited in the lobby. It was breaking my heart and I know it would have killed him. I told her "You did SO well." She said "No, I cried". Oh my gosh, I tried telling her how that didn't matter because she did what needed to be done. Anyone would have cried.

We took her out for a really big breakfast because she hadn't been able to eat and she was fine after that. Daddy had to take her for a follow up x-ray the next day. She was okay since it was a regular one! The tech told us to come while she was working and she would take care of Siobhan.

We haven't heard from the doctor yet. I don't know how we will proceed from here. I will let you know when we find out!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

poor siobhan. What a brave girl. You are right, Eric would have been a mess. I can't imagine how hard it was to watch. Hope answers come soon.

Andrea said...

OMG, I want to cry just reading this!! What a brave, brave girl. That would be horrible even for an adult, I can't imagine going through it as a little girl. What a champ! I have a whole new level of respect for that girl!