Dr.Flass

It's been awhile since I've blogged Greysens story so if you need to catch up here is where I last left off:)

Dr. Flass

In March of 2013 we made our way to Dr. Flass's office. It was just Greysen and I....and my novel of notes. I was determined that if we were gonna see a specialist, no matter how crazy I seemed, I was going to tell him every detail of the last 5 1/2 years. I didn't wanna miss a single detail that may be pertinent to a possible diagnosis or an answer to whatever it was that was causing my son to have an awful time pooping. I was really nervous that Dr. Flass was going to be a conceited know it all Doctor and I can remember asking God, "Please just let him listen and please help me feel comfortable talking to him."

When we arrived we checked in at the front desk and low and behold the receptionist was a friend of ours from church. This alone made me feel so much more at ease and comfortable.We waited in the waiting room until a friendly nurse called for Greysen. At this point I was feeling great because the staff was so nice and friendly. I'm a firm believer that a good doctor will have a friendly staff and a friendly staff works for a good Doctor:)

Once in the room, they took Greysens vitals, asked a few questions, then told us the Doctor would be right in. At this point my heart was racing and I was afraid I was going to forget all of my questions (Good thing I had them all written down! A full page of them haha). As soon as Dr. Flass came in I immediately felt comfortable by his presence. He was young looking, super friendly, and talked to me like a normal person! I really could not have asked for a better Doctor. He sat and listened to all of my concerns and never once made me feel rushed. He actually LISTENED. Most Doctors I have come across already have the answer before you ever have the chance to talk about the problem. Not only did he listen but this was the first Doctor to come up with a plan. He wrote down 4 steps he was going to take to try to figure out what was wrong.

#1 Do a Sitz Marker Study and a Gastrografin Enema . Until this point the only x-ray Greysen had ever had was when he was 1 day old. Not even when we had seen the specialist at 18 months. Such a simple step that could have given us a clue a lot sooner. This explains a Sitz Marker study and this explains a Barium Enema Xray. Greysen thought the sitz marker study was cool because he got to swallow plastic shapes!

 #2 Draw some blood and test for Celiac's Disease. I was pretty sure this wasn't the case but I was happy to let them test for anything. 

#3 Do a full bowel clean-out after all the xrays to be sure we were starting with a completely cleaned out colon.

#4 Rule-out an allergy by starting with Dairy. Greysen had to go 3 weeks on a dairy free diet. If you've ever had to do this Im so sorry. Its expensive and extremely difficult. There is dairy in EVERYTHING. Its in caramel colorings which happen to be in Red Robin French Fries. Its literally in things that you would have no idea! And then add in the fact that people in random places just hand your kids treats without asking. For three weeks I was a nut. I'm so thankful for our family that helped with the cost by buying him almond milk, yogurts, and coconut ice cream. The biggest help was when Greysen's Aunt Shani looked up some special recipes and made some things just for him. She filled the freezer with homemade pizza pockets, pretzels, and chocolate chip cookies. It meant so much to us but especially to Greysen......FYI vegan cheese is absolutely disgusting!

Before we left the office Greysen got his blood drawn for the first time. Getting your 5 year olds blood drawn is not fun. Poor guy had to be held down and bribed but they did finally get some blood. They gave him an awesome toy when we left. So now Greysen just had to wait a few days for the xrays and wait on the blood work to come back.....