Asher has had serious diarrhea since last July. After a few weeks we took him to the doctor and found out the sickness that everyone in the family had experienced and thought was the flu was actually a parasite called cryptosporidium that was spreading like crazy through Utah County swimming pools. After a few days of puking and diarrhea, we all got better except Asher. Because Asher wasn't a year old, the doctor wanted to wait and see if the diarrhea would clear up on its own because the antibiotic used to treat crypto is so harsh. When Asher turned a year old and was still waking up every morning with pajamas soaked through and a crib full of poop, we went back in to get the prescription. Spending every morning bathing Asher and doing a load of poopy sheets was not a happy way to start the day. The treatment was supposed to work quickly, but we unfortunately so no improvements. Thus began the year-long quest to find out what was Asher's serious poop problem.
The poor child endured test after test after test. He had to have his blood drawn several times at the hospital lab and that was awful! I usually made Scott take him, it was too traumatizing to for a mother to watch. We took in several poop samples to be analyzed by the lab- which for those of you who haven't ever had to take in a baby's poop sample, the process isn't fabulous. I had to line Asher's diaper with Saran Wrap before he went to bed. When he woke up, urine soaked of course since the Saran Wrap prevented any urine being absorbed, I'd have to put the poop-filled Saran Wrap in a cup for the lab. Boy, those were fun mornings! Fortunately, none of the things they were testing for came back positive - especially things like Cystic Fibrosis and Giardia.
After waiting three months to get into a Pediatric Gastroenterologist, who looked and acted EXACTLY like the inventor played by Rick Moranis in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movie, with no helpful outcome. There was another G.I. that Asher's pediatrician recommended going to see, but she was a six month wait! But with no improvements and running out of options, we got an appointment with Dr. Harnsberger and had to wait it out.
Dr. Harnsberger was fabulous! She was actually very friendly and acted really interested in our situation. She is obviously in high demand, yet took a thorough history and wanted to get all of the information she could. She is the mother of three sons also, so I felt a connection to her immediately. She would say out loud what she was writing in her notes and when she asked me if Asher ever had stools that are actually formed, I replied I could count on one hand how many times he had in the past year and that my husband actually called me on my cell phone once to tell me, "Asher had a real poop!" to which she noted, "A family party with formed stools." After talking to me for 45 minutes, she prescribed an antibiotic that is supposed to work on the intestine because she thinks based on the information I provided he's got some bacteria that needs to be killed. We're on day three of the treatment and we haven't had any diaper explosions since. Maybe we finally found the solution. It seems so simple; I don't know why the other doctors didn't try it out. I guess that's why it takes 6 months to get into Dr. Harnsberger - she can actually solve the problem! Hurray for doctors who are caring, compassionate, and take the time to really investigate the problem. They are a rarity any more...
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