How a Mystery Diagnosis Helped Me Discover an Everyday Miracle Cure

The fact that his stomach did not work ironically had my stomach in knots. For weeks, I had watched this infant fade away. Although many other doctors were taking care of him, I was intimately involved. His stomach was no better than a flaccid plastic bag, yet prior to this mystery illness, he was healthy for his first four months of life.

Now, not only did his stomach not function, but he was not tolerating the nutritional supplement that was being fed to him through a tube that went through his small nose, and traversed his throat, esophagus, and limp stomach to reach the second part of the intestine. This supplement seemed to be triggering his body to reject nutrition. He poured out diarrhea and became dehydrated — truly failure to thrive.

It’s a “Puzzlement”

I spoke with his mother, running out of options. We discussed how to tell his seven-year-old sister that her baby brother was not likely to make it. I lost sleep contemplating his illness and my failure to help him. I had treated so many people and saved so many lives, yet I felt ineffective, weak, and as useless as his paralyzed stomach.

So many books I had read, so many journals. I had passed so many tests with flying colors. Where was all this knowledge now?

Then it hit me. Dumping syndrome. I had read it in medical school, considered it in my general surgery patients in internship, and monitored for it in my head and neck cancer patients receiving tube feedings through similar tubes as this infant that had me baffled.

A Diagnostic Theory

I called his mother, the excitement of hope trying to overcome the fear of failure, and said one word – “Pedialyte.”

“What?” she said.

“Try Pedialyte. The tube feedings are too heavy, and they are causing dumping syndrome. It’s so obvious.”

Of course, I was speaking another language to her, as she did not have any medical background. But any mother knows what Pedialyte is. She got several bottles at the local pharmacy, then started first with a very dilute solution. He tolerated it. Then half strength. Then three-quarters, then finally full strength. He tolerated it all.

My Reward

Within days, his sallow, frail appearance was replaced with great color, cheery eyes, and that unforgettable smile. After a week of Pedialyte treatment, the heavier tube feedings were restarted gradually from dilute to stronger concentrations, until full strength was reached.

His body was now able to tolerate this, and he gained weight. The tube feedings continued for 6 months, until miraculously, his stomach began to function as quickly as it had shut down. Within several days, he went from tube feedings to eating and drinking normally, and on Halloween night, I removed his tube. He went dressed as a Dalmatian for his first trick-or-treat, face red from the tape that held the tube, but smile beaming.

I saved that child with Pedialyte. Simple, over-the-counter, life-saving Pedialyte. That infant boy is now 17 years old, a senior in high school, eating pizza, drinking milk shakes, and enjoying life. I kept track of him all these years — him, his mother, and his now 24-year-old sister.

After all, he’s my son, Arthur.

 

Arthur M. Lauretano, MD, MS, FACS

9-17-16

My book, Do the Right Thing: A Surgeon’s Approach To Life is now available on Amazon! Read an excerpt here. 

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