Edit: See post at end.

He's lost 11oz in 9 days and is back down to 12lb 6oz and borderline dehydrated so they put him in the hospital to make sure he doesn't slip any further. May or may not postpone our visit to the specialist next week - will have to see.

Not sure how long we'll be there. Am at home right now grabbing stuff but will be there until at least tomorrow.

Thank God for hospital Wifi [and great docs ]

Carol

Will be thinking good thoughts for you, Carol, and hoping that things come right for you and the family soon.

LabRat

Carol, I'm so sorry to hear about this. I know how tough that can be. Don't worry about writing or giving feedback until your little one is safe at home, but do touch base and let us know how he's doing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, kind lady.

Aww! Poor little guy. I hope everything turns out OK.

/sends hugs and good thoughts.

I'm sending my thoughts and best wishes to you and your little one, Carol.

Ann

I am sending good thoughts and wishes for a speedy recovery for the little guy!

Carol, your family is in my prayers as always. I hope he starts feeling better soon.

Carol, hug and good wishes to you and your family.

Mona

My best wishes to you, Carol. I'll be thinking about you guys.

JD

*hug* I'm praying for the little guy and you lady!

I can't imagine what you're going through, but know that we're all with you.

Oh dear. I hope they get him stabalized and going the other way soon!

Carol, my prayers go out to you and your family. <<<hugs>>>

Hey everyone!

I talked to Carol on the phone this morning and the little guy is holding his own. He's gained a few ounces, but is real tired - getting poked and prodded everytime he dozes off....

The wifi service is out at the hospital and Carol asked me to give you all an update. Hopefully, it will be back up later today.

Hey guys . Wifi is up and running again!!!

WOOHOO!!!

They took him off the IVs and are going to see how he does today. He hasn't really eaten anything since about 5 this morning, but they think it could be because the IVs were ready to stop so we'll see how that goes. He's running a bit of a fever, but his diapers are better so...

We're hoping to go home this evening [which means I'll be there in time for MLs next post - unless she surprised us and posted last night - haven't looked yet], but it may be tomorrow.

At the moment, we're still on for the clinic next week, but the consensus here with the nutritionist, doc and ourselves is that he's just not getting enough calories/fat and so the best option may be to nurse less and do things like pediasure [higher cal/fat per ounce] and more table foods etc. We'll know more on Monday about the clinic etc.

Anyway - thanks to everyone! We appreciate it!

Carol

Carol, My son had reflux, asthma, etc. when he was a baby. This was 20 years ago, but what they had me do was put rice cereal in his bottle of formula. I would get cross cut nipples so the thickness could get through. I'll tell you, this sure did make him heavy. Not fat, but we never had a weight problem. He was on formula until he was 2.
I hope the little guy can start putting on weight soon.
Sue

Carol so glad to hear that things are not as bad as you first feared. Here hoping the little guy keeps improving!

We're here for another night.

/watches inbox hoping she can convince ML to take pity on her...

His intake today has been awful. Hasn't eaten much of anything at all. I've NEVER seen him refuse food before and he refused to nurse, refused a bottle of pediasure, refused applesauce [but wanted to play with the spoon ]. They're going to restart his IVs momentarily because he just has no reserves/wiggle room/whatever so...

Hopefully, we'll go home tomorrow, but in the meantime WIFI is working again .

Carol

We're here until at least tomorrow. Doc says his liver [?] tests show that he's definitely still fighting a bug and as long as he is, they want to keep him here and give him the support he needs to do so without dehydrating etc. Currently, the plan is to go home tomorrow, follow-up with our doc on Monday, then head to the clinic on Tuesday where they may decide to keep him for a couple of days to run tests and such and support him some more if he needs it while continuing to fight the bug or whatever.

Anyway - there you have it . At least the wifi is working .

Carol

Carol as hard as it is to have him in the hospital I am sure that it is a relief to have him getting the best care.

Came home yesterday. Blood drawn this AM. Doc appt in a couple hours. No clue if I'll have internet till I get back and not sure when that'll be.

Some of his blood tests have been coming back way off. Mainly some of his liver tests. One of them [don't ask me what it is ] has to do with liver function and bone growth so it's typically 'pretty high' in infants etc because they're growing bones. It can also be high when fighting an intestinal/stomach bug. When he was in the hospital in Nov. it was 1200ish, which was high, but not horribly so. This week it's stayed in the 6000 range and hasn't been coming down as he gets better [which it SHOULD if it was high as a result of the bug he's fighting]. Some of his other liver tests are off too, but that one's by far the worst apparently. That's one of the [several] tests they're rerunning today. *IF* there's something wrong with his liver, it could explain why he's not growing as well as we'd like as well as why he had such a hard time fighting this bug [4 of the other 5 of us had it and the longest was 4 days for me - he's closing in on two weeks]. This weekend's on call pediatrician thinks that they may well want to keep him for a few days for observation and more tests to see what happens to those numbers as he gets better - or just in general - but we'll have to see.

Anyway - thanks all. Will be in touch as I can...
Carol

Gosh Carol... reading the things you are going through, I can completely sympathise... it's so hard.

My thoughts and hopes are with you. *hugest hugs*
Best wishes for a quick recovery. I hope everything stabilises soon.

My 1 year old son ends up in hospital almost every time he get sick as he has febrile convulsions every time no matter how trivial the illness (ear infection, common flu, etc). He has been poked, prodded, scanned... and he has also had his results come back with abnormal liver functions. So I can completely relate to the 'unknowing factors' at play. We were lucky... his liver function came back to normal (but it took over a month), and the pediatrician just thinks it was caused by the infection... but it has to be tested every time he convulses...

There is nothing worse than feeling so completely helpless while your baby is crying and you can't do anything to make him feel better... I really feel for you Carol.

Please keep us updated on your son's progress as time permits.

*more hugs, for one can never have too many*

So what's the latest? I'm hoping it's good news... sounds like you're getting good care, anyway.

{{{Carol}}}

PJ

Yeah, any news?

{{{Carol}}}

James

(((((Carol)))))

Ann

Hugs and prayers, Carol.

Hugs and good thoughts, Carol and for DS, as well.

Mona

I only found this thread today. I hope things are improving for DS and that he starts gaining soon. There is no feeling more helpless than when your baby is sick and you aren't sure what is wrong.

Prayers for you and DS from here, Carol.

Nan

Limited internet access at FIL's house... He has wifi but no clue what his password is and I didn't dare get on fic boards there .

Anyway...

We made it back from KC a little while ago. The CARE/Failure to Thrive Clinic believes that the liver test results are from being sick. They concurred with the Hospitalist/Nutritionist here in Springfield that the best course of action at the moment is high fat/calorie/protein/etc diet and follow with our docs here. As long as his weight gain is satisfactory, we don't go back to KC until Nov.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers - they are much appreciated!

Carol [who is exhausted and headed to bed - bed at FIL's house is so uncomfy!]

Does that mean you can keep him at home, instead of the hospital? Glad to hear the liver tests weren't anything scary.

And yeah, I'm always cautious about getting on the fic boards when I'm at the in-laws' house.

PJ

Yeah - we came home Sunday. This hospitalization was to support him with IVs etc while he fought of the nasty stomach bug that was leaving him dehydrated. We have a weight check later this month, another one in Sept, 15m check up in Oct then go back to the clinic in Nov.

If I could get on his wifi on my laptop I wouldn't care but not so much on his desktop... .

Carol

Good to hear you have been able to take your son home, Carol.

Ann

DS had a weight check today!

FOURTEEN lbs FOURTEEN oz!!! That's up TWO and a HALF pounds from his low point when he was sick earlier this month and almost two pounds from his one year check up the day he first started to get sick.

We're ECSTATIC!

That said... When we were in the hospital in Nov, they did a urine test that came back 'off', but the Mayo Clinic guys said that the formula he was on and this test didn't play well together. Said to redo it when he'd been off the formula for a while and we promptly forgot all about it. When he was in the hospital a couple weeks ago, they redid it and it's still 'off'.

Mayo Clinic said run these blood tests [plasma carnitine, acylcarnitines, fatty acids [or long chain fatty acids] - not a clue what all that means and googling hasn't really helped] so he had blood drawn again today. It has to be sent to Mayo so it'll be end of next week before we hear back most likely, maybe the week after that with the holiday and everything.

Anyway - that's our update!
Carol

Glad to hear that he is doing better, Carol.

I don't know what those tests are either, but I'll look them up in the lab book tomorrow at work and let you know what they say. If they are some of those tests that only the Mayo Clinic does, I don't know how successful I'll be, but I'll look.

Nancy

So glad to hear he's doing better, Carol!

As for the urine tests - well, you'll have to wait and see. But remember that it isn't serious until they've told you so.

Ann

Carol.. I'm soo happy to hear your son has gained weight and things are going well.

I've learned (through my DS) not to take the 'off'ness of results to heart, and as hard as it is, don't worry about the results until they come back bad..

The good thing about most of the testing though is that they can do different tests to check if the results they're getting are indeed correct. I'm guessing that's what the blood tests are doing..

I hope everything comes back ok *fingers crossed*.
And I hope your son keeps improving in leaps and bounds. *hugs*

I couldn't find anything on those tests in the lab book at work, but it was about five years old.

Do keep us updated!

Hugs and prayers, Nancy

Carol, I am so happy for you that your little guy is picking up weight. Hopefully all the new tests will come back fine.

Got two blood tests back and they're normal.

Not sure when we'll get the third one back... should be early this week we think.

Thanks again everyone .
Carol

Fingers crossed for the 3rd.

I know what it is like for everything to come back normal, but still have medical problems they put down as 'unexplained'.

It adds additional worry, but at the same time, knowing that the main indicator tests are all coming back normal is a good thing.

*hugs*

Hey all .

DS is doing GREAT!!! All his tests came back normal [they thought they'd given us the third one]. Two weeks ago tomorrow, he was 18lb 2oz!! He goes in for his 15mo check next week.

Check him out!

A tale of two parties:



The first one is Aug. 2 - while he was sick [at his own party ]. That was Sat. He was admitted the next Thurs. He was probably about 12lb 10-11oz in that picture.

The second one is last Sat. Guessing 19-19.5lbs at the moment.

Now he needs to start walking so I don't have to carry him everywhere! He's getting too heavy!

Carol

Wow, that's a dramatic improvement, Carol! Yay!

PJ

Lovely to see, Carol. How happy and healthy he looks now!

Ann

Aw, that is very, very good to see, Carol.

Mona

That's awesome news Carol.. and great to see!!

Here's to him continuing along well....

I've discovered boys develop so much differently from girls, but they get there eventually.

My DS was quick with crawling, but didn't walk until much later... you just never know... now my DS runs faster than his 4 year old sister .. so it has it's problems as well.

I'm so glad that he's doing better, Carol!!!

Wow, that's great Carol! He looks more like a normal chubby baby with cute chubby cheeks!

That's great, Carol! He looks like he's doing so much better, now!

Hmm, why do I have a sudden urge to kiss those cute chubby cheeks? You can do that for me, right?

Tara

What a cute little chubbo!! I love to hear that he's getting better Carol! Thanks for the update!

Thanks so much guys!

They're doing a 'Biggest Loser' group at church and they were doing weigh ins on Wed and I stuck DS on the scale - he tipped it at 20.4lbs! That's not official by any means [was fully clothed w/ diaper, just eaten a lot] but still...

Doc appt next Wed, then appt with specialists on Nov. 5.

Carol

WOOHOO!!!!

Last year today, we put DS in the hospital for the first time. He was back under eight pounds at the time.

Today, he's almost 20lbs and has been released by the specialist we went to see this week!

He was 19lb 3oz last week at his check up and was 19lb 13oz this week at the specialist's clinic. That's up 7lb since he was put in the hospital with that nasty stomach bug in August - that's more than he gained his whole first year!

Praise God - he's doing so well. He's still a bit behind on his milestones - walking, talking etc. - but he was a preemie [30 days] and spent so much of the first six months especially just surviving that everyone's okay with that for the moment. As long as he continues progressing, it'll be okay and he is.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers/good thoughts/encouragement/etc over the last year.

You guys rock!
Carol

So glad to hear that your son is doing well!

But I have a question - are DS his initials?

Hehe

Dear son/darling son/or the D8s would probably go with Da Son.

Abbreviations. I don't usually use the names of my kids/hubby online. DD is daughter, DH is husband, DW is wife [though I don't have one of those ], DF is friend, etc.

And thanks .

Carol

Carol, I am so glad to hear that your little one is not so little anymore!

Congratulations, Carol! I'll echo a praise God with you as well.



JD

Ah, got it!

And I totally understand - I only mention the first initials of my RL friends when I refer to them on my blog. I'm not into baring it all in cyberspace, either.

That is wonderful news Carol.
I know it is such a relief when the specialists say 'I don't need to see him anymore'.

My son is behind in the talking milestone too.. but I've been told boys can be much slower than girls and to not worry until he is two.
As long as your DS is happy and healthy and loved.. those are the most important things.

I am so happy for you I can't tell you. We've shared your lows, and now it is great to hear the highs as well.

All the best,

Lisa

That's so lovely to hear, Carol!

Ann

Carol, I'm so glad to hear such good things about your DS. It sounds to me that he's turned the corner and is heading into the straightaway and accelerating. I hope you can keep up with him now that he's picking up speed!

We'll keep you in our prayers. And try to keep looking forward. God bless.

DS is in the ER...

Running 103+ [mostly over 104+] since yesterday. Little appetite. Sleeping constantly...

Getting ready to start an IV, etc.

Will update later...

So much for no hospital visits this Nano...

Carol [who thanks God for good docs and hospital WIFI...]

Ack, sorry to hear that, Carol. Will be thinking about you guys tonight.

JD

Oh, dear. I hope he gets better really soon. Thinking of you and your family...

Oh my! I just hope he'll get well soon.

Oh no! I so hope he gets better soon.

Ann

Fever finally came down with both Ibuprofen and Motrin on board. Never did start an IV but did Xrays and blood work and said everything looked okay.

Got home about 245am. I've been up for about 10m . DH let me sleep in which was great.

DS woke up screaming at 530 and *finally* calmed down with the third kind of drink I tried on him. He's still asleep at the moment. He felt MUCH cooler then and that was about 4 hours after his last dose of medicine. I did give him some Tylenol just in case. He's still sleeping now...

Thanks everyone - hopefully we're out of the woods...

Carol

That's so good to hear, Carol. Keep us posted!

Ann

*hugs*

Michael

I know I mentioned this when posting elsewhere but...

DS was sent home after blood/urine tests/xrays. They didn't find anything wrong. The fever's been gone since late Sat. night. He's still not *well* but is better. He's still sleeping more than normal and refusing to eat anything except Pediasure [which is why he has nasty diaper rash to go with it], but he's much more active when he's awake.

Thanks everyone .
Carol

I'm glad he's getting better, Carol.

Here's hoping he continues to progress with no more setbacks.

Nan