Day 24 Update

Sam started pedialyte through his NG tube at a rate of 5ml/hour for four hours yesterday around noon.  He did well for those first four hours. The nurses are able to suction out through the NG tube to see how much he hasn't digested, and he only had about 2ml left, which is good. 

The nurse increased his feeds to

10ml/hour until 6:30 this morning when he started throwing up, and then the nurse suctioned about 7ml, so she stopped his feeds. We waited until the doctor did rounds this morning to reevaluate. The doctor decided to consult with a GI specialist--they think his stomach and intestines are not working efficiently enough on their own, so they started Sam on Erythromycin to increase the motility in his system. 

The nurse started the Erythromycin at 12:30 today, and then restarted the Pedialyte at 1:00. The GI specialist said the IV form of Erythromycin works more quickly and lasts longer than the oral form, but only the oral form was available at the pharmacy at the hospital. Well, Sam threw up several times this afternoon, so they stopped his feeds again. The GI specialist decided to give Sam four doses of the Erythromycin to get his system working again before restarting the feeds.  The nurse said it does take some time for the medicine to start working, and just like any antibiotic, you have to take a couple doses before you notice its effects. The last of the four doses will be at 6:00 AM tomorrow, and then they'll begin Pedialyte again. 

The tentative plan is to work up to where he tolerates 10ml/hour of Pedialyte, and then switch over to 10ml/hour of breastmilk, and then once he tolerates that, start feeds by mouth. 

My parents and the girls came to visit today. We played in the children's waiting area for a while, went to supper, and then hung out at their hotel for a while. 

The girls are really missing Sam and don't understand why they can't see him. I'm ready for all my monkeys to be together again!

We're praying for more steady progress tomorrow.