Happy Over Crap

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be so happy to see poop.

Two weeks ago, after a very, VERY traumatic E.R. experience, Chloe was diagnosed with chronic constipation. Now, I've never had a problem with pooping. Of course, there's the occasional one to two days of constipation, but nothing that a slice of papaya would not solve. Sorry, was that too much information for you? :D

But of course, things are different when you're dealing with a toddler, who, doctors said, has one week's worth of poop stuck in the lower left quadrant of her abdomen. ONE WEEK! The usual question I get is, "How could you not have noticed that she hasn't pooped for a week?!?!" And here is the answer. It's not that she didn't poop for a week. She poops everyday, pero konti lang. And sometimes, she'd poop when she's with her yaya, so I don't get to see how much she poops really.

So dealing with a toddler with one week's worth of poop stuck up inside her is no easy task. First, you have to deal with her nightly cries of pain. Chloe cried herself to sleep. Sometimes, I think she fell asleep out of exhaustion from the pain.

Second, since she had lots of poop inside her tummy, I assumed she felt full all the time. So she barely ate or drank. Eh the doctor ordered pa naman for her to drink lots of prune juice and eat lots of papaya -- all of which she refused. Even water, she refused! I even considered just using a syringe to force prune juice down her throat.

Third, not only did she refuse food and water, she also refused to drink her medicine. It took two people to give her her meds. One (yaya) to hold her down, the other one (me) to force it down her throat with a syringe. I felt so evil doing it, but I knew I had to.

The whole thing was traumatic not only for her but for me too. I felt so helpless seeing her lying down the whole day, refusing to eat or drink, refusing to even watch tv. She'd just lie down and sleep for the most part of the day. I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what to do. I bugged her pedia to no end. But the pedia said, all we could really do was wait. If, by a certain day Chloe showed no improvement, she'd refer us to a gastroenterologist. We did use suppositories and even had her undergo an enema in the hospital, but the relief they gave was temporary. By afternoon, she'd be on her tummy, in pain again.

So imagine my happiness when last Sunday, after several sessions of sitting down on the toilet with her, and coming up with different imaginative stories about a lost poop who finally sees the light and find its way out of her body, Chloe FINALLY pooped!!!

I was so happy I wanted to announce it on Facebook. :D

But I knew my FB circle wouldn't really appreciate the information. So I called the one person who I knew would share the happiness with me.

I called my husband.

And we were both really, really happy over poop!!

Then I made a pupu chart, where stars are drawn for every day that she poops.



If she can fill up a row with stars, she gets a major surprise! But we do give her little surprises for every day that she does. Plus, she gets to draw the stars herself (all in shades of pink).



It's been two weeks since the diagnosis. So far, so good. Her appetite has gone back to normal. And lately she poops more frequently na. :)