Max dodges another bullet

Max saw his gastroenterologist, Dr. K., today. I had made this appointment back in the early part of August, just trying to grab the first available, and not really knowing what Max's reflux would be like at this point. Dr. K was very pleased with Max's progress, and in fact told me that in reviewing his notes before our appointment, he thought we would recommend a fundoplication (where the stomach is wrapped around the esophagus to tie it off) and G-tube, to give Max relief from his reflux. But, on hearing about Max's improvement in terms of fewer reflux symptoms and better eating, Dr. K. said we shouldn't go down that road.

The plan is now for Max to get a total of about 800 cc per day; and 600 of that needs to be milk or formula. Max will continue for the foreseeable future to get 540 cc through the pump during the night. And during the day, we make up the remainder with formula and other foods (including watered-down food in the bottle). The idea, of course, is eventually to get rid of the NG tube. We'll see how much more Max can take in during the day. He may still need a stomach feeding tube at some point in the future, if it looks like he is just not able to take in enough during the day for the longer term. We return to GI in about a month for a reassessment.

Max weighed 17 lb, 12 oz today, and was 28 inches long. (He was 17 lb, 4 oz on Aug. 24 and 18 lb 2 oz on Sept 10. Each of those three measures, though, were on different scales.) Max's height now puts him at about the 18th percentile for his actual age (up from about the first percentile earlier this summer), and above the 50th percentile for his adjusted age. All that stretching he's doing must be helping!