The Real Catalyst to Blogging (part 1)

As you all know, this is the "Ultimate Rose" in my "Garden"

The ANGEL in my heart and the LIGHT in my LIFE!

Any of you you who have known me for a long time, know what a tough start my little angel had.

When he hit about three years old he seemed to have pretty much outgrown all the [major] health problems that he had, that [seemed to be] related to his prematurity. A few things lingered.... His immune system was not equal to that of his peers - he would catch things more easily and get sicker, than other children - but they were "normal" illnesses of childhood (not "bizzaro" diagnoses that no one had ever heard of); His stamina was not (and still is not) quite what it seemed that it should be, relative to other kids his age (to watch him, you would not necessarily know that he is over tired but there are subtle signs that I recognize); and he was diagnosed with Asthma (but that is the case with a lot of kids these days).

Overall, he had grown into a happy, [relatively] healthy, sweet, very bright, compassionate extremely personable, pre-schooler, and we seemed to be done with regular hospital visits, surgeries, and anything but typical, regular, visits to the Pediatrician.

I knew I had (and still have)

MUCH to be grateful for!

Over this past year, however, we have returned to some of those past haunts.... regular visits to [many] doctors, emergency rooms, diagnostic tests & waiting for the results, hospital waiting rooms, post recovery rooms, worry, concern, (sometimes some [slight] fear).... All places I hoped neither of us would ever have to visit again.

It all started (although we did not know it at the time) last March ('07). We were out to dinner one night and in the middle of eating, Zachary said, "Mom, some thing's" stuck." I figured something just went down wrong and it felt uncomfortable.... no big deal. I walked him through the steps to try and clear the food that felt "stuck", which resulted in him vomiting. Many hours later he still could not swallow anything. Every time he tried -even water - it came up.

Worried, I took him to the ER. They - no big surprise - found nothing, and said that he had probably just irritated his esophagus. It made sense with his symptoms (and my background doing Dysphagia (swallowing) Therapy) and I really didn't give it much of a second thought. Until, 8 or nine months later, when it happened 2 times -less severely - in less than a week. I still was not overly concerned. I figured that he was probably just eating too fast, or not chewing well enough. But, it just so happened that we were in the pediatrician's office, for something, shortly after these (minor) episodes; so, I asked her if it was something I should be concerned about.

She felt that it was significant and referred us to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. That referral, it turned out, would be the beginning of the journey on which we have now embarked......