mystery pains

Poor jacob. Last year, Jacob missed quite a bit of school (you are allowed to miss 17 days legally....he missed 16) mostly because of stomach pains and nausea. We finally had to do formal testing on him at the hospital last Winter. The testing was awful for him--he did an upper GI test, where he had to drink Barium (chalky white liquid that contains Barium) so they could x-ray the process, to see if he had a suspected ulcer. I was in there with him, and as he choked down the barium (over and over) with tears streaming down his cheeks, I had every motherly instinct to want to just pull him out of there. Knowing full well at the time that we had to do this, and that this procedure was absolutly MINOR compared to the horrifying procedures other little children need to endure to diagnose or cure an illness. Anyway, the test was inconclusive, as they didn't find anything to explain why he was having repeated stomach issues. The doctor prescribed generic PEPCID and after a week, the symptoms went away and haven't revisited to the extent of what they were until now.

For the last week and a half, Jacob has been having severe stomach pains (burning sensation, accompanied with nausea, on and off). It has been the worst at night, and soccer practice/games, and sitting still in school has been very difficult to endure. I didn't realize that this was the same thing as he had last year, until yesterday....because I was thinking he was just fighting a bug or something. I have been giving him gasX, trying TUMS, heating up the ricebag at night, asking about his bathroom habits (wondering if he had an intestinal thing, or possibly was constipated), etc. And have basically been telling him to hang in there, thinking it would pass in natural "virus" time. Last night, he started complaining of also feeling "lightheaded" and hot, while the pains were quite bad. Finally--(duh)--a lightbulb went off in my head, that these were the same symptoms as last year. I looked up "ulcer symptoms" online. And of course, the top symptoms were burning pains between the breastbone and naval (where jacob has the issues), nausea or vomiting, (he hasn't vomited, but has felt like it a few times), and the giveaway "lightheadedness". So, last night, I gave him a PEPCID (can do this once a day, at night) and realize I need to call the doctor now. Now--I am praying that poor jacob will not have to go through another round of testing....which he says was the worst experience of his life.

I am asking for your prayers for him, that we will be able to manage these mystery pains with PEPCID once in a while when needed. This would be the easiest way to take care of occasional symptoms, if this is what we are dealing with. (Last time, it only took four nights of taking these for us to notice marked improvement....and then no symptoms until now.) Also, pray that he feels better soon, as he is miserable, and is missing a day of school today because of it. (To his credit, he has functioned with these pains since Tuesday of last week. And since I was a dummy.....we really haven't been doing much for it, because I thought he just had "the grippers". ) Ulcers are also related to a specific type of bacteria.....so antibiotics are normally prescribed also (but the specific triple attack of three different types might not be an option due to jacob's allergy to any type of amoxicillan). Anyway, of course, we just want this to go away.