Nissan Fundoplication Surgery

Because of Noah's severe reflux and now aspiration problems, it was decided that an open nissan fundoplication was necessary. Basically what the surgeon does is wrap the top of the stomach (fundus) around the bottom of the esophagus. This prevents food from coming back up so he won't be able to reflux and aspirate. This afternoon Noah had surgery and it went well. He is now in PICU still intubated and on the ventilator as he was having alot of breathing difficulties after the surgery.

Pneumonia Again

Noah was recovering well from his chicken pox, but he was still losing weight. So we were experimenting with different formulas and pumps to figure out how to put some weight on him. On day 6 of Noah's hospital stay he aspirated and developed pneumonia. So he was started on antibiotics and taken completely off his feeds because they were concerned he would aspirate again. Every time we tried to restart his feeds, his respirations would skyrocket. So on Monday the cardiologist started a central line in order to give Noah TPN (total parental nutrition). After a frustrating wait because of miscommunications between doctors, the TPN was finally started on Tuesday evening. Of course, Noah has lost more weight and is now 4lbs 15oz.

In Hospital

Noah was admitted to hospital on Thursday. He was very dehydrated from the chickenpox. They started an IV and also started him on a continuous feeding pump to rehydrate him. He is doing much better today, but he is still continuing to lose weight. He is not refluxing as bad on the continuous feeding pump, so no one can figure out why he is still losing. He has been labelled as "severe failure to thrive". So right now it is trial and error as they continue to try different types of formula and different concentrations to figure out what will work best for him. Looks like he will be there at least a few more days until he starts to put on some weight.

Chicken pox Day 4

And we thought it couldn't get worse! We saw the pediatrician yesterday. Good news, his chest is clear! But he was getting dehydrated so we are now pumping him full of pedialyte for the next 36hrs. It looks so painful but Noah is a fighter and continues to amaze me. The pediatrician said his palate must be incredibly painful because it is so wide open and his mouth is full of chicken pox.

Chicken pox Day 2

Day 2 and things continue to look worse. No one got much sleep last night. We spent the afternoon at children's emergency but unfortunately there was really nothing they could do for him. We just need to wait this out.

Chickenpox!

Well, when it rains, it pours. Life is never dull around here. On friday, Joshua broke out in chickenpox and today so did Noah. Poor little guy is so miserable and I am very concerned about him. He even has blisters in his mouth. It looks so painful. Pray that it will be a mild case and he won't have any complications. It's going to be a looooong week.

A Better Day

Noah is doing much better today. His fever is gone, and other than a little cough, he's getting back to his normal content state. He was even smiling again this morning. Thankfully we caught the pneumonia very early and things are looking much better. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Pneumonia

Last night Noah spiked a fever. He was plain miserable this morning with a fever of 102 and very pale. I was getting worried, so I decided to take him to the pediatrician. Turns out our little guy has pneumonia. He is on antibiotics now and we are hoping to be able to treat this at home. If it gets any worse we will be off to the ER. Pray that he will be able to fight this off quickly.

We are also having a terrible time with granulation tissue building up around his g-tube. Not really much we can do about that and we are told we may always have to deal with it. It's not very comfortable for him and he really doesn't enjoy us cleaning around his tube. I'm experimenting with using tea tree oil right now to clean it, but so far it's not doing much.