Tummy Troubles

Today was rather uneventful compared to the last couple of days.  Our biggest challenge today has been dealing with lots of vomiting and retching and more diarrhea.  Annie continued on pedialyte today at 50cc/hr, and although she tolerated it well overnight last night, today she wasn't so lucky.

She got a two hour break from her pedialyte this afternoon after another retching episode, but then shortly after starting it back up again Annie started retching and we drained more fluid out of her g-tube than what we had put in since her two hour break.  We're beginning to have concerns about her gastric emptying.  Tonight we're running her pedialyte at 35cc/hr in hopes that we can get some rest tonight.

Tomorrow we'll try her on a very slow rate of half-strength formula.  One train of thought is that the denser formula with more bulk will better "wake-up" her GI tract.  But on the other hand, the calories and bulk may make the retching worse. The only way to find out is to try it.  So we'll start her on half-strength formula at 20cc/hr tomorrow and keep our fingers crossed!

Today we made the switch from zosyn to ertapenem, which is the second antibiotic that Annie will be on for a year.  Annie's labs looked great today as far as her electrolytes go... sodium at 145 and potassium up to 4.1 now, with creatinine continuing to drop at 0.43.  Things are heading in the right direction... now Annie just needs to start making any amount of progress with her feedings!