A trip to the hospital

Well, it had been some time for Braden to be absent from the hospital, but this trip was entirely different. For once, it wasn't a respiratory problem, but a G.I. problem. We found out that his stomach and bowels had been bleeding, only discovered after a session with his vest airway clearance system, and a dark brown discharge was coming from his G-tube site. I decided to check his residual (leftover stomach contents) and discovered they were a dark brown color, much different from the normal creamy-color of pediasure.

We took him to the ER and found he had blood in his stomach contents and stool, and so they admitted us. They believe he has a condition that will get better with time, either it is gastritus (just an irritation of the stomach lining) or gastroenteritis (inflammation and irritation of both the stomach and bowels). They put him on a regimen of fluids, milk of magnesia, and nexium. His out of the ordinary fussiness subsided some, so we believe the addition of these medications is helping.

Of course, we will keep his progress noted on this blog. Luckily, when we got to the ER, we saw our pulmonologist, who works the ER once in a blue moon, so he took care of us. We even got put into the room with froggies on the door, so we took it as a good omen.

We are back home now, and back to a routine. Please continue to keep Braden and his doctors in your prayers, so they find answers for quick healing. Thanks for the continued prayers,
The Wilsons