Malnutrition And Smarties

Alright, so I think it would be easiest if I give a brief run-down of each day of our visit to Wolfson Children's Hospital. A lot happened while we were there and I'm trying to spare you a really long story. So here we go.

Monday, April 6th

• Checked into the hospital around 2:30pm
• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 3 ounces
• Stopped giving Caleb rice milk immediately because the doctor said it has been doing Caleb more harm than good.
• X-ray of his hips just to make sure there was nothing wrong in there (there wasn't).
• Caleb got stuck several times so the nurses could get blood samples.

Tuesday, April 7th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 1 ounce
• Caleb got an IV put in so he could get albumin (protein). They also put in the NG tube for feeding purposes.
• The doctor thought Caleb might have a disease called Westcott-Aldridge. Three symptoms were matching up perfectly. But as it turns out, one of the blood tests was inaccurate, so that disease was crossed off the list. Good thing too. If he had it, he would have needed a bone marrow transplant! Yikes!

Wednesday, April 8th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 3 ounces.
• He was not eating or drinking anything on his own, so his health depended on that NG tube.
• Allergist came to see us and wants to do a skin test on Caleb after he gets out of the hospital.
• Doctors decided to put the PICC line in Caleb's arm. It made our lives much easier.
• Doctors were disagreeing a little bit as to how much formula Caleb should be fed through the tube. If he gets too much, his body may not handle it well because he's been eating so little up to this point. Eventually they figured it out.

Thursday, April 9th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 9 ounces
• Mom came up to spend the day with us.
• Chris and I were both sick with sinus congestion and coughing.

Friday, April 10th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 10 ounces
• We got a visit from the speech therapist who helped teach us tricks to try to get Caleb to eat on his own again.

Saturday, April 11th

• Caleb weighed 18 pounds 1 ounce
• He started to eat food on this day! He ate a few bites of some fruit puree, some noodles, and then a whole container of baby food squash! How exciting!
• Mommy got to spend the night with Laura Anne, who has been spending lots of time with her grandparents.
• Chris spent the day at the hospital while I went to the park for a break. (See post about that below)
• Caleb finally got to get out of his room for a little walk around the 4th floor. We looked at the fishies in the fish tank, and played Mario golf on the video game thingy. (I don't remember what it's called)

Sunday, April 12th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 6 ounces
• He ate two containers of baby food during the day.
• We found out his endoscopy was scheduled for Monday morning.
• He got another IV of albumin to prepare for the endoscopy.

Monday, April 13th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 2 ounces
• Endoscopy was performed.
• He drank some Pedialyte from a bottle.
• Caleb enjoyed holding a little roll of Smarties in his hand. I think it was a comfort to him. The nurses found it pretty funny.

Tuesday, April 14th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 3 ounces
• We were informed that he's still anemic even though they'd been pumping him with iron for a week. Iron deficiency can be pretty serious, so they were working hard to figure out the cause.
• The endoscopy results showed traces of reflux. It's not too severe; he hasn't been showing many symptoms. But at least we know. They prescribed an antacid for that.
• He started drinking from a sippy cup. He even tried holding the cup himself!

Wednesday, April 15th

• Caleb weighed 16 pounds 8 ounces (Doctors weren't concerned about this, but I was!)
• "Shockingly low" iron levels still. So another iron supplement was added.
• Caleb's hair started changing colors. His roots are blond! Also, we noticed his teeth are gray. Not sure why that is, but the doctors do not think the teeth are related to the rest of his problems. His hair change, yes. That is directly caused by the malnutrition.
• The NG tube came out!
• Chris and I got to have a date thanks to my mom and stepdad coming up to the hospital to watch the kids for us!
• Mommy took Laura Anne back to the house for a sleepover. :o)

Thursday, April 16th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 1 ounce (whew!)
• Caleb is drinking his new soy drink wonderfully!
• Laura Anne spent the day with Aunt Jen, Uncle Steve and Steven and Joshua.
• There was a rumor going around that we might go home Friday!
  

Friday, April 17th

• Caleb weighed 17 pounds 7 ounces
• His blood pressure was a little low and he was running a slight fever.
• PICC line came out!
• We were discharged from the hospital and after having a lovely dinner at Five Guys with some family, we went home!!!!!
  

And that, my friends was our adventure in the hospital. We are so thankful for all the prayers for our little guy. He continues to improve everyday. He's eating and drinking like a pro, and he's happier too. He still has many follow-up appointments like: allergist, pediatrician, speech therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist and the gastroenterologist. But praise the Lord that he's getting the care he needs!!