Monday, December 12, 2011

All is Well

Thank you Secrets of a Stylist for the idea to make this map in our living room a little more festive!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!  We've felt so much love these past few days and I'm happy to report, Ollie is back to his old cheerful self.

It turns out Ollie has Ketotic Hypoglycemia, which means that his liver doesn't fully function and provide him with the glucose he needs between meals so if his blood sugar level gets too low, his body goes into starvation mode and shuts down while he starts converting any fat he has stored, which was why he seemed comatose and also explains why he is so small so we'll be feeding him lots of small meals and loading him with protein before bed, and then we may have just a few of these episodes to deal with every year.  In extreme cases, some kids have to have NG tubes while they sleep, but we're hoping it doesn't come to that.  The good news is that he should outgrow it by the time he's five or six.  At any rate, his blood sugar can get so low it can cause seizures, but it's a totally different kind of seizure then he normally has so the two are completely unrelated, and it might just be the anti-seizure medication he was already on kept him from having seizures when we couldn't wake him up.  Crazy right?
In the meantime, we're supposed to do what we can to help this little guy build some fat up in his system.  My friend Kersten's dad just happens to be a pediatric endocrinologist who helped talk us through everything going on with Ollie and provided some advice to help him gain weight (Ollie is now almost up the the 50th percentile in height, but has fallen to the 3rd in weight and he can't keep a pair of pants on to save his life).  A few suggested changes for Ollie's diet: adding half and half to his cereal in the morning, adding melted cheese anytime he's eating vegetables, keeping brown gravy on hand to add to any meat that we can get him to eat, never giving him water to drink, and adding carnation instant breakfast to his whole milk which he will continue to drink well after the normally recommended age 2 cutoff.  

Things are going to be interesting around here, but this was actually the best possible cause of his low blood sugar that we could hope for and we're feeling pretty happy about the news.

8 comments:

Mom said...

Thank God you have a diagnosis - and what a plan - half and half - brown gravy - pure bliss to Ken!
HUGS HUGS to you all!

Anonymous said...

I'm so relieved that you have at least part of an answer and it's something treatable!

Larry said...

Whoo hoo on answers!

amyh said...

I'm glad you found some answers and that you can use them to form a plan. Good luck with the new diet :)

Kate said...

I'm glad it was not the worst news! I hope he gets feeling better and heavier soon. I wish I was on the fat diet--I LOVE half and half in cereal!

Danielle said...

YAY!!! I'm so happy and relieved for your family!

A diet like that is absolutely dreamy! I got put on a milkshake a day diet during my last pregnancy because I was down 25 lbs+ in the first trimester....it's HEAVEN! ;) I hope Ollie enjoys every minute of his new diet and starts growing like a weed! He sure is a handsome and happy boy!

Pixie said...

Poor baby! But I'm so glad you guys know what the problem is and are able to do things to help.

Sarah DelGrosso said...

I just revisited your blog after being away for over a month. I am so happy they were able to find a diagnosis for your little angel. I hope you are having a lovely holiday with that peace of mind. Lots of love to you and your beautiful family, and as always your home is absolutely amazing. You have such a great eye, Steph! xoxoxo