The journey of Owen's tummy

When Owen was a baby he spat up a lot. His therapist mentioned that he may have some reflux issues. The next time we saw the pediatrician I mentioned this to her. She put us on baby zantac. The zantac did not work so she put us on baby prilosect (a drug that has to be compounded at a pharmacy, not bought over the counter like the adult version). Owen seemed a little better, for a little while....but then he started getting worse and worse. Our pediatrician then put him on bothenical. He did not show significant improvement on this drug. At his worst, Owen would eat 2 ounces of milk in about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, only getting about 6 ounces of liquid for the day. Owen was also in a lot of pain any time he tried to drink and so he was put on Carafate. Both Owen's pediatrician and pulmonologist ordered two different swallow studies for him. One determined he had level 4 reflux and the other that he aspirates on thin liquids. Now Owen drinks everything thickened to the consistency of honey. Even with this change he was still doing very poorly drinking his milk. His doctor then were referred to a GI doctor who told us Owen needed to have two surgeries. The first is to sew his esophagus to his upper stomach and the other would be to insert a feed tube. We had to wait two months before we could see the surgeon ( a period the seemed to be forever away). However, God used this time to show us His work in Owen. At the very end of April both boys received tubes in their ears. After the surgery they were not allowed to drink anything but clear liquid, which basically meant apple juice. Owen drank 9 ounces of thickened apple juice in 15 minutes. God then planted the idea in my mind "What if Owen is lactose intolerant." So, on the way home from the hospital we stopped at Publix and bought some Lactaid. Until this day Owen remains on Lactaid drinking three 9 ounce bottles a day. Last Thursday we went to see the surgeon who cleared Owen of the need to have either of the surgeries done. Praise God - He healed our little boy and showed us the wisdom of what he needed.