Hospitalization #8 - Day Two

This is what my boys do when I'm not home! LOL!

(Gantt is pushing Mark around on Brett's IV pole)

Both boys were asleep when I got home, but I got to see them this morning. It was nice to snuggle and kiss my Baby G. I was able to take Mark this morning and pray with him before his day at Winshape C3 Camp started. I hate telling him "I'll see you tomorrow" just as the day begins. I went home and packed up all my stuff from the house and then came on out to the hospital.

So we still don't have a conclusive answer about what has caused this recent lung problem, but the doctors highly suspect that his Nissen fundoplication has been compromised in some way. He's been vomiting formula here and there for about 2 weeks. This is not supposed to happen when you have a Nissen, and hasn't since he got it done in May 2009. It's a surgical procedure we had done when he had to have a major surgery anyway. It's designed to increase the pressure in the lower esophagus to prevent reflux but still permit food to move down the esophagus into the stomach. Brett's stomach is wrapped completely around his esophagus. His doctor thinks he vomited some formula in his sleep then aspirated it. Aspiration happens when the stomach contents pass up through the esophagus and into the lungs. The stomach contents in the lungs can cause pneumonia.

Brett during upper GI study

He also thinks this because I told them he had a dry crusty stuff on his mouth when he woke up, which I had never seen before. Even in a healthy person there is a possibility that aspiration could cause a pneumonia, but usually not. A child who has CF is much more susceptible to that happening, and it would look like a spot on the lungs like Brett's does. It is possible he might have a virus or a general infection caused by bacteria, but we will know about that when the tests come back.

Brett had an upper GI study done today, which he absolutely hated. He's had them a few times before, but having to be totally strapped down is so tough for a baby. So he screamed for about 30 minutes at the top of his lungs. Maybe his lungs are all cleared out now -LOL! During the GI study, it appears as though the Nissen is intact. There was no glaring loosening through which the liquid barium went straight through. Obviously, though, somehow the formula IS coming up. Maybe when he puts enough force behind his coughing, etc. it is coming loose a little, but not during a simple test. Brett's pulmonologist will talk to his surgeons about that and what to do about it. Also, as I said before, Brett is presenting differently this time. His sats have stayed high and he is not wheezing, and he's not requiring oxygen! I think this is probably the first time in the hospital he hasn't needed oxygen. So for now, Brett's doc is treating it as though that's what happened, an chose a different antibiotic that is better for cases like this. The hope is that it will work and Brett will be doing a lot better in a few days, we can switch an oral antibiotic he can go home on so that we don't have to put a more permanent central line in! That would be the best case scenario. Here at least for 48-72 more hours.