A major setback :(

Pumpkin and I went to Anchorage today for her check up with her GI doc.  It was perfect timing because she has been going downhill fast.

At the end of July Pumpkin contracted strep throat again.  Just as she was finishing her amoxicillin for that she had a bad sinus infection so she took another 10 days of an antibiotic called Omnicef.  By the time these 3 weeks were over, we were hoping that she'd bounce back, but she didn't.  She did get over her throat and sinus infections, but she didn't get her appetite back which went away with the illness and antibiotics.  Over the course she lost 7.4 of her 20 lbs she had gained in the previous 6 months :(.  She had been up to 90 lbs, but now is back to 82.6 :(.

This morning frightened me a little.  We got her up early because it takes 3.5-4 hours to get to Anchorage from here and had to get a start by 6 am.  As we were gathering our supplies for the road, Pumpkin tripped on her pillow and then had a seizure (not sure which happened first).  This really got my attention, because she had not had a seizure for over a year.  When her nutrition is good, she doesn't do this...

Anyway, her GI doc thinks the recent illnesses flared up her Crohn's and wants her back on either enteral nutrition or prednisone.  Pumpkin doesn't do well with enteral nutrition - she won't go out of the house with an NG tube in.  She is too self-conscious.  She also is not wanting the MICkey button, but this may have to be in the works if the prednisone doesn't turn things around.

We start tomorrow on the pred and call the GI doc next Thurs or Friday.