Pumping Iron.

While I pledged to have a more balanced blog in 2010 and fewer Bryce health posts, he's had a change in health that warrants a post.

He had some blood drawn last week at his Pedi GI appointment. They ran an autoimmune panel and checked for lead and iron levels.

Well, the disturbing news came back that he is severely iron-deficient. The range they'd like him to be in is 20-50% and he's at 12%. This is very serious stuff. At 10%, heart failure is possible, so Bryce is dangerously low.

The solution? He has to take a liquid compounded ferrous sulfate solution, 30mg, 3x/day. After 2 months, they'll check him again and MAYBE they can adjust his dose down a bit. It's so severe that they really didn't even talk about bolstering this with food.

It's just so frustrating trying to keep this kid healthy. He has such poor eating/feeding skills and now this iron supplement has to be forced down his throat for 2 months. I'm told it's horrible tasting. Great.

Not one medical professional has mentioned that with his diet, he's at risk for being iron deficient. Well, let's look at what he eats. Fruits, vegetables, meats. That's it. Iron is found in fortified grains, which he doesn't eat, leafy greens (yeah, no-doesn't eat that) and beef.

So the plan is to pump iron & re-check. And pray this horrible tasting stuff doesn't completely turn him off to food.