The search for the Holy Grail

Well, we had to take Audrey back to the doctor again yesterday. That makes THREE visits in 8 days, including the first one where she caught the damn thing.

When Matt was changing her yesterday, he noticed blood in her diarrhea. Great. Like that can ever be a good thing.

He called me in there to check it out, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Nope, it was definitely blood. After a mini panic attack on my part, during which Matt called the doctor, we got an appointment at 1:30. TWO HOURS AWAY.

I did some deep breathing, took lots of Rescue Remedy (tell you about that later), and messed around on the Bump to distract myself. I also posted about it, and a couple of very nice Bumpies assured me that it was probably nothing serious, maybe an anal fissure from all the diarrhea (I know, disgusting...but not life-threatening).

So we got there, and the doctor basically told us nothing. We couldn't see our regular doctor again, haven't seen her since before the virus since we've been work-ins. I guess I can't say she didn't tell us anything, but that's how I felt when I was sitting there.

We had to bring in stool samples (fun for all, especially the nurses), and Dr. A said she'd send them off to be tested for E. coli (what the....?), salmonella, and all kinds of other similarly scary stuff. Then she said we wouldn't get the results for 4-5 days, and when we did get them, it wouldn't really matter what it was, since they couldn't do anything about it. Well, that's just great. I tell you, I'm getting EXTREMELY fed up with some parts of modern medicine, but that's a rant for another time.

The only helpful thing she said was to suggest that we use a new kind of Similac formula, made especially for babies with diarrhea. I immediately perked up. Finally, something I could do! I mean, just look at her.



How can I let her down?

So we began the search for the Holy Grail, or this:
http://abbottnutrition.com/images/CoE/products/Similac-Isomil-DF.jpg

Yeah, I know it's small and you can't even see it, but I did promise you the Holy Grail. And that's what I felt like we were searching for yesterday, the one magical formula that could possibly make my child feel better. Because when your baby has had diarrhea for 8 days, sometimes 8-10 times a day, you are desperate, my friend.

Of course the doctor was out of samples. I called every specialized pharmacy Matt and I could think of on the way home, and no one had it. In the midst of all this, Audrey had another diarrhea diaper blow-out in the car and we had to pull over.

I went into Rite-Aid while Matt dealt with the diaper, mainly because I had on jeans and it felt like it was over 100 degrees yesterday. Me, high temperatures, high humidity, and fibromyalgia = feel like crap/possible panic attack.

There was an extremely helpful pharmacist there who called all over creation trying to find this elusive formula, including the NICU at our hospital, where they'd never even heard about it. By the time I left the store, I was DONE. I'd been up since 6:30, only eaten a granola bar and toast, and it was now almost 3:00.

The rest of the afternoon was just a blur, but I did call the pedi's office again, in total and complete desperation, to see if they knew of any place where I could get it. A very kind soul there spent hours trying to locate it, and discovered Publix could order it and have it by noon tomorrow (today). Thank God.

Then last night, Matt was looking around on the Internet and found it. Guess where? At a Walgreen's right down the road from us. Holy Mother of Everything.

I swear, I'm going to lose my mind if this doesn't end soon. But the important thing is, Audrey has a bottle of this fabulous formula under her belt (or onesie), and we'll be using it for the next several days. I just pray to God that it works.