Gastric Emptying Scan

Matthew and I journeyed to TCH for his gastric emptying scan with nuclear medicine earlier today.  His GI suggested this because Matthew has been throwing up solid foods.  I had all but convinced myself this would be a waste of time, because Matthew doesn't throw up baby food or milk, and well, we've had a good run lately with very few Matthew surprises. 

Today started early, with Matthew being awoken at 5:45a to a spoon of baby food in his face.  He was NPO (nothing by mouth) from 6am on, so we tried to get as much food in him as we could in that 15 minutes.  By his 11:00 appointment, he was tired and hungry and had become quite cranky.  He finally was able to take the radioactive formula at 11:45 and he sucked it down so fast I thought the bottle would invert upon itself.  Poor sweet Matthew, little did he know that the injustices were just beginning.  Next they strapped him to the table with fabric tape.  He couldn't move anything but his head.... for 90 minutes.  For the first 10 minutes, he screamed.  For the next 5, he screamed a minute and sucked on his paci a minute. For the next 5, he screamed a minute and sucked on his paci 2 minutes.  Then he fell asleep for the next hour and 10 minutes of the test.  I thank God every day for his sweet disposition! 

Next, we headed home and awaited the call from GI with the results.  I expected the test to come back "normal" and we'd go to the next test.  What was I thinking?   Of course, Matthew has delayed gastric emptying.  At his age, his stomach should empty in 60 minutes.  Matthew's takes 150 minutes.  There is a medicine the GI recommends to aid in motility (making the muscles move the food through faster), but our pharmacy doesn't stock it (so they have ordered it) and it is an off-label use of a name brand antibiotic (so our cost is quite pricey).  When we found this out, it was already 5pm on a Friday. We are planning to call the GI Monday to see if there are any other alternatives.  We hope there will be and that something that will work for our sweet baby Matthew!