The Rose Tinted mum

Before Billy was diagnosed with GORD’s there was two main side effects, the diarrhoea and less obvious the heartburn.

Unknowning to us, the heartburn was shown by over drinking and an unneeded investigation into diabetes.

One night before bed, Billy started to tell a story about the mice that lived in his tummy.

These mice were friendly, generally relaxed and like to sleep most of the day.

But some nights when he’s getting ready for bed, the mice would wake up and start to play in his tummy.

Some nights, his tummy would just ache.

Then other nights, the mice would really play and run about, which was uncomfortable and hard to ignore.

Billy showed this by tracing a line with his finger from his tummy, to the trachea and stopping under his chin and back down again.

Then sometimes, his finger would wonder from the central line towards the expanses on both sides of his body, called the lungs.

As, I watched Billy, his face winced, when his fingers ran over where the trachea joined the lungs.

As he hovered his finger over this area, he said ‘Me drink.’

Then signed intuitively with two hands clasped together and pushed in a downwards motion from his breast bone to his tummy and said ‘Stuck’

‘Like food being stuck?’ and he said ‘Yes’

This light bulb moment, transferred a habit into an explanation.   

Billy’s analogy has been widely told within clinics and the words ‘Are the mice’s back’ has become a verbal prompt within our lives to describe reflux.

Remember you may not feel strong but you are.

Love

The Rose-Tinted Mum