Pyloric What?

The other day I was perusing an issue of Men’s Health, when I read of the importance of hard abs for attracting the ladies. Well, thinking that I want Cullen to be the heartthrob of his upcoming daycare class, I immediately got him on a workout program with the hopes of him forming a six pack to show off on the first day. The intense sessions led to the over-growth of one of his muscles. Unfortunately, it was the muscle that connects his stomach to his intestines: a condition known as Pyloric Stenosis.

All kidding aside, Pyloric Stenosis is a condition which occurs predominately in first born males between the ages of 4-6 weeks. The Pylorus muscle that connects the stomach to the intestines becomes overgrown and seals off the exit point for food to pass through, thus starving the child of much needed nutrients. With the food unable to pass through into the intestinal tract the stomach basically tells it, “if you aren’t going out that way, then you’re going the other way.” The result is projectile vomiting, which is how Lisa and I noticed that something was amiss with young Cullen.

About a week ago, we began to notice that Cullen was spitting up everything he was eating. While we knew that babies spitting up after eating was a pretty normal activity, the force and volume of these spit-ups did not seem normal. On Thursday afternoon, Lisa decided to have him checked out. With Cullen falling in the demographic and possessing the traits of someone who has P.S., our Pediatrician had him undergo an ultrasound. The procedure confirmed that Cullen indeed had P.S.

Unfortunately, the only way to correct this abnormality is through surgery. We were assured by the doctors, most importantly my Uncle Dick (a radiologist, who coincidentally was at my parents house waiting to meet Cullen when we found out the news), that this was an extremely safe procedure and not to be overly concerned about it. While this helped lessen our fears, the last thing you want to hear is that your five-week- old son is going to be put under and operated on. So, with extremely nervous parents by his side, Cullen was admitted to the hospital.

Cullen was operated on early Friday afternoon and, as promised, it was a rousing success. We spent the next day and a half in the hospital while he recovered. We were discharged early Sunday and are now thankfully under our own roof. Cullen is doing great and more importantly is eating, digesting and processing everything normally. There is little doubt of this as we now have an increasing number of dirty diapers and a decreasing number of Dad’s dirty shirts.