A tube in the nose, the poor boy

Nathan with PH testing nasal catheter

Nathan has often had a little cough and been “bunged up” in the nose. He’s already on special anti-regurgitation milk and takes Motilium before, and Gaviscon after meals.

Our paediatrician suspected a gastroesophageal reflux and so I took Nathan to a clinic in Boulogne (15 miles away, but an hour’s drive due to heavy traffic 🙁 ). He had a tube put through his nose with a sensor to measure the acidity level just above his stomach, and had to keep it overnight (he wasn’t particularly happy about it, see photo). A little box recorded the PH at regular intervals, and this was put into a little baby backpack so that we could carry it with him.

To stop him from pulling the tube out, he had his elbows bound – at the clinic – with the latest high tech solution: cardboard tube from a loo roll, kitchen paper and medical tape. You can just about see the one on his left arm in the picture.

The clinic phoned back yesterday with the results. He’s within the normal range for the tests, so there’s some other reason that he’s regurgitating. It could be that it will gradually fade away. In any case, the results are great news! Levels of acidity that are too high would mean special treatment and a lot of worry. I’m still wondering what it is that’s causing him to cough and regurgitate from time to time, but at least I know it’s linked to a medical issue with acidity.

7 Comments

  1. hey You’re back! We missed ya. 🙂

    Poor little Nathan…he looks very bummed out in that picture. I hope he’s feeling better soon!!

  2. Simon

    17/6/2006 at 1:53 pm

    Hi Carrster!

    Yes I’m back, hopefully I’ll be around more often from now.

    Nathan was really bummed, but he’s back to his usual mischievous self again :-D.

    -Fruey

  3. Glad you’re back and glad to hear that Nathan is feeling better. 🙂

  4. Simon

    20/6/2006 at 10:26 am

    Thanks Carrster !

    -Fruey

  5. Poor little guy. I went through a lot when I was very one. Like me, Nathan is too young to ever remember any of it.

    Glad you’re back, Fruey.

  6. Simon

    21/6/2006 at 3:22 pm

    Hi Dave,

    Yes, Nathan will forget all about his coughing and little tantrums… and we’ll reminisce about the poorly little boy :-).

    Thanks for your message
    -Fruey

  7. hope he’s ok