Little Man Update

Some of you have asked me how D.J. is doing since I posted about his "issues" here. Since we've had a few appointments with the G.I. specialist and a few rounds of testing, I thought it was about time I give an update on how he's doing.

The doctor sent D.J. in for a slew of test - lots of blood work and stool cultures. At our appointment a couple of weeks ago, we finally had all of the test results back and the doctor feels that his initial suspicions were correct. It appears that little man Doug has an inability to process certain sugars. We're pretty sure that he's okay with natural sugars, but his inability to tolerate artificial sugar/sugars seems to be what is causing the diarrhea.

The Doc says that the only way to know for sure WHICH sugars he's intolerant to is to take a biopsy which would require putting him under for the procedure. However, since we seem to be managing the low sugar diet and seeing definite improvements with it, he does not feel that this is a necessary risk at this point in time. As it sits now, D.J. has been on a low sugar diet for about a month. Although he has had periodic cases of diarrhea, we have not had the on-going issue of 12-15 times a day with constant raw and bleeding skin. That's a definite praise in this house! We'll be monitoring his diet for the next three months. If we feel that all is going well, then we will not be doing the biopsy (for now, at least!)

We are thankful to see our little man feeling better. Who knew it could be something so simple? And to think we had him on a lactose free diet for a year!