Back to the Hospital

Over the weekend, Dear Son remained lethargic and continued to have watery, loose stools every one and a half to two hours. He was exhausted and was unable to get out of bed. On Sunday, his abdomen seemed rather hard after his feeding and I contacted the Pediatrician on call thinking that his abdomen did not seem normal to me. They told me it was probably fine and we agreed that I would call in the morning and come in. A few minutes later, he vomited his formula rather forcefully so I called the Pediatric Neurologist at Big Academic Medical Center and he said to bring him to the hospital. Dear Son would vomit another five times in the next hour.

They admitted him on Sunday and the Attending Doc (Peds not Peds Neuro)admitted they probably released him too soon. They treated him for dehydration and I was fortunate to catch it early. They stopped all feedings and he has been on IV fluids only. Today, we began adding some things back and are checking to make certain he does not have a stomach motility issue along with the virus (There are motility issues related to his genetic mutation.)The Attending mapped out a plan however there was a snafu with the nursing staff today so the plan did not go as written. (I had to work today so I was gone for a few hours and when I returned I noticed that things had not gone as directed.) I had hoped he would be released tomorrow but we'll see. A stool sample was obtained previously however the results are still pending. While it is doubtful that would change the direction of the care, it would be good to have the confirmation.

A few years back, he had issues with a too large feeding tube that blocked the stomach opening and recently he switched to a larger size, although it was still a low profile balloon. We are trying to get that reviewed so we can rule that out.

While most likely, it was simply gastroenteritis, we need to err on the side of caution. Because of the vomiting, I wanted to get some confirmation first that the volume or amount of the feeds he was getting was fine and secondly that the volume or rate that it goes in is not too fast. For example, was there a problem that there were too much fluid in the stomach because it was pumping or going in too fast or was it a motility issue of the stomach not emptying or finally was there any kind of obstruction. I mentioned those to the Attending based on Dear Son's history and she agreed that we needed to rule some things out.

I will attempt to keep you posted although it is very difficult since I have very limited internet access and the access I have is rather clumsy at best. I am hoping there aren't a lot of errors in this post since I am only able to get a partial view of the screen and can't see the entire text.