I've heard tidbits from a coworker about an ill grandson, but not very much beyond illness.
Last night, he had commented on awaiting tests, in infection being cultured and that triggered a more in depth conversation.
My friend and coworker told me that the baby had Hirschsprung's disease. A quick Google refreshed my memory.
I remember it from a chance overhearing of a case back when I was in training as an SF medic. I was familiar with imperforate anus, to the point of recognizing the symptoms and radiological signs. I remember all manner of other issues corresponding to birth and misadventures in development.
A simple explanation is that our bodies essentially have a second brain, although substantially more limited in function than the great mass on the top of our necks. That brain operates the digestive system, offloading that work from the true brain we think with and it's distributed throughout the thorax, through the abdomen. It makes our esophagus propel food into our stomachs, it controls the stomach movements, the peristalsis of the intestines and the colon.
In Hirschsprung's disease, development of the ganglia and nerves along the intestines to the colon halts part of the way, leaving the colon to fill and enlarge.
Follow me below the orange digestive system for more on the symptoms and treatments, as well as a great need.
The collection of waste in the colon, without being able to be expelled creates a condition called megacolon. If that sounds bad, yeah, it is what it sounds like, the colon fills and fills and fills, becoming quite large and it could even rupture.
Thankfully, with baby Lennox, that didn't happen.
Treatment is typically a colostomy, sewing the functioning part of the colon to the abdomen, testing for the extent and areas that lack nervous stimulation, then removing the non-functioning sections and joining them to functional areas and eventually re-attaching the colon to the rectum.
On rare cases, the esophagus can also suffer in the same way.
Approximately 18.6 in 100000 children are born with Hirschsprung's disease, per a 1984 study performed in Maryland. It's more common in male children than female children (4.32:1) and the rate is much higher at 1 in 5000 in Japan, so the United States is fortunate in that regard. 9% with Hirschsprung's disease also have Down syndrome.
Baby Lennox was born on May 29, 2015 after an uneventful pregnancy.
Forty eight hours later, his life became eventful, he stopped eating and he hadn't produced meconium or stool.
I recall quite well the requirement to determine if the baby has passed meconium or stool within 48 hours, this is one of several conditions that can prevent bodily waste from being expelled from the body.
In the case of baby Lennox, he was found to have three obstructions that were eventually cleared. He was scheduled for colostomy surgery at age three months, however over the course of the night his condition deteriorated and a colostomy was performed, along with some other treatments that stabilized him.
While charity supports the hospital, assorted other costs are rising and the family is beginning to experience financial stress and when the baby is finally able to be released from the hospital, regardless of insurance or governmental assistance, costs will rise and rise.
The family as set up a GoFundMe site and is asking for donations. Due to that conversation, I've created this diary to help the family out.
Please help baby Lennox, I've done this at the risk of my anonymity, as I've never been able to ignore a child or family in distress.
Mon Aug 31, 2015 at 11:32 PM PT: One thousand dollars one hundred and five dollars have been raised, thanks to my fellow kossacks for the help. The family goal is five thousand dollars, which would help to cover travel expenses to visit the seriously ill child. The family lives in Maryland, a bit below Baltimore, the baby is in the Alfred I. DuPont hospital for children in northern Delaware.
I drive that distance every weekend to visit home and take care of things there, the drive home is around twenty minutes past that and the drive beats the shit out of my wife and myself. Two hour drives are not long for our future!