And so it goes

Jack is back in the hospital. He hasn't been admit for illness since June 2011after some excessive vomiting post-surgery. Before that, it was December 2010 for excess vomiting/gastroenteritis. This time, it's the flu with complications. We are thankful that he has stayed out for such a long time.

Jack has been battling a cough/cold for about a week. He vomited a large amount of mucus Monday morning and had a fever. We figured it was from his cold. We took him to the doctor to be sure he didn't have a need for medication. She tested him for the flu even though he didn't have any symptoms. She said she's had a ton of kids test positive for Influenza A without flu symptoms. She came in with his results, jaw dropped. He tested positive. The entire family was put on Tamilfu (minus Katie because she's too young). Things started to spiral around 4pm.

First, we found bile in Jack's feeding tube. Then we found some dried blood. He vomited another large amount of mucus around 7pm. And then again. And again. Then he started to vomit bile. He vomited about every 3-5 minutes from then on. I took him to the ER around 10pm when dehydration set in.

He was admitted around 3am after a couple of abdominal x-rays, two separate IV boluses, and two doses of Zofran (anti-nausea med). Dried blood was coming out of his feeding tube and also with his vomit.

He retched until 5:30am when I passed out in the bed in his room. I was back up around 7:30am. He was hot and pale; eyes sunken. We kept his IV fluids going all day. Jason came and relieved me after he took Evie to school. He spent the entire day with Jack and spent the night. I cared for Katie during the day and then picked Evie up from school. Evie picked out two balloons for jack (Elmo and Spongebob) and delivered them right away.

Gatorade was started (half oz) over 30 minutes. It was run every two hours. Jack vomited once. The fluid was upped to an ounce for the night and was run, again, every two hours. Jack did great.

I took Evie to school this morning and then switched places with Jason. We tried an ounce of formula around lunch today. Jack vomited every bit up. We took a break and tried some more Gatorade. He made it to a half ounce and showed signs of future vomit. Of course, I turned it off.

I am about to try some Gatorade again after a four hour break. Prayers that it stays down.

Jack's lips have been swollen. He's drooling like crazy because his throat is raw from vomiting so much.

Here's a pic of Jack trying to feel better. The towel is on his lap to catch drool.