Levi had been screaming more and more on Sunday, still no bowel movement, and the area around the feeding tube button looked horrendous. It was bright pink, oozing colors from tan to bright pink. We had cauterized the tissue Saturday morning, but that afternoon it was bright pink again and had grown. Same thing happened on Sunday. I had had enough. It was time to go to the ER again. I was actually hoping that he would be admitted so they would figure out what was going on with his belly, and the nurses could take care of the button for me while the tissue healed. I mean look, I am NOT a nurse, I never wanted to be a nurse, in fact I emphatically did NOT want to be a nurse. Now to have to do these things to my own child has been extremely stressful for me. I had reached my breaking point.
In the ER we went through the normal workup for Levi, which involves x-rays of tummy due to GI issues, ct scan of the head and x-rays of chest and belly to check the VP shunt, bloodwork, and they even performed a ct scan of his belly to get a better look. The x-rays showed that he has an ileus (a blockage of the intestines due to the lack of movement of the intestinal muscles). This is concerning to us because when we were in the hospital five weeks ago, supposedly due to gastroenteritis, he had an ileus. So basically his bowels have not been working for five weeks! He has not even been passing gas. Now we (Patrick and I) think the entire issue over the past month and a half is due to the ileus, which can be caused by surgery or trauma, and that he probably never had gastroenteritis. I'm pretty frustrated by that fact, because Levi has been in pain all this time, and we have all been stressed to the breaking point trying to figure out why, when the problem was staring us in the face the whole time!
The doctors explained that we have several option to try to get the bowels working again. Thank God! Let me tell you, hearing that your child's bowels have basically shut down is not easy to take! The first course of action would be to put him on continuous feeds, and give one suppository a day. That should wake up the bowels and get them moving. I was skeptical, but last night Levi had a huge bowel movement all over his bed! This morning he woke up with smiles and has been content to lay in bed and entertain himself. He has not done this since before he got sick weeks ago. I think that's a great sign! His belly is still distended and full due to so much air in the bowels. I don't know yet what the course of action is for today, but so far things are looking up. Thank you all for the prayers, and please keep them coming!!
In the ER we went through the normal workup for Levi, which involves x-rays of tummy due to GI issues, ct scan of the head and x-rays of chest and belly to check the VP shunt, bloodwork, and they even performed a ct scan of his belly to get a better look. The x-rays showed that he has an ileus (a blockage of the intestines due to the lack of movement of the intestinal muscles). This is concerning to us because when we were in the hospital five weeks ago, supposedly due to gastroenteritis, he had an ileus. So basically his bowels have not been working for five weeks! He has not even been passing gas. Now we (Patrick and I) think the entire issue over the past month and a half is due to the ileus, which can be caused by surgery or trauma, and that he probably never had gastroenteritis. I'm pretty frustrated by that fact, because Levi has been in pain all this time, and we have all been stressed to the breaking point trying to figure out why, when the problem was staring us in the face the whole time!
The doctors explained that we have several option to try to get the bowels working again. Thank God! Let me tell you, hearing that your child's bowels have basically shut down is not easy to take! The first course of action would be to put him on continuous feeds, and give one suppository a day. That should wake up the bowels and get them moving. I was skeptical, but last night Levi had a huge bowel movement all over his bed! This morning he woke up with smiles and has been content to lay in bed and entertain himself. He has not done this since before he got sick weeks ago. I think that's a great sign! His belly is still distended and full due to so much air in the bowels. I don't know yet what the course of action is for today, but so far things are looking up. Thank you all for the prayers, and please keep them coming!!
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