Contrast Reaction

We're home. The GI study went well. Baby E did such a great job drinking the icky contrast medium and lying still for pictures. The staff were highly impressed with her.

The pictures turned out very well, and they said everything looked good. There was definitely a lot of reflux going on. I'm not sure what else if anything they saw.

We didn't use the barium because of corn ingredients (I had to really push over a period of 2 days to get them to even check the ingredients--grrr). But even the seemingly safe substitute (omipaque injection [iohexol] given orally after I personally scrutinized the package insert) apparently had something in it she's pretty severely allergic to.

Shortly after the procedure she started saying "ow" repeatedly, and then she fell asleep abruptly and deeply. It was time for her nap, so I let her sleep for a while and just checked her breathing, color and temperature frequently. She seemed a little warm, but nothing severe.

When I woke her up she kept indicating that her mouth and tongue were bothering her, sticking out her tongue and pointing at it while making raspy noises, and her face seemed slightly pale and puffy. Then she had a couple of sort of choky coughing spells. Then the watery explosive diarrhea started. That's been going on for hours now, and she is starting to show signs of mild dehydration.

She has a few little red spots on her belly, but no hives or significant rash. Her cheeks and the area around her mouth are very red and scaly/bumpy--that's not something new, but has gotten worse than it had been for the last few days.

She doesn't seem to be having throat symptoms or trouble breathing at this point--just the diarrhea and lots of discomfort. She ate a good dinner and is drinking fluids, so that's good.

We're going to be keeping a very close eye on her throughout the night.