Thursday Update: Lots of Testing

A lot has happened today. Overnight they bumped up the pedialyte to 20cc/hr, but Annie did not tolerate that, so we went back down to 10cc/hr, but today she hasn't been able to tolerate that either. So fluids into her tummy have stopped. She is still vomiting. Still having diarrhea. She also has been in a bit of pain last night and today, although it is very intermittent. This is the first pain she's had since she was admitted.

Today Annie's WBC is up to 27, which is higher than when we first started the antibiotics, indicating that either the oral antibiotics aren't staying down (very possible), or there is a bigger infection in her body besides the UTI (very probable), or both. So they are switching to IV bactrim. We, along with the urologist believe that her UTI and possible kidney infection are only secondary to a bigger underlying problem. The big mystery is that she has no fever.

We spent the afternoon in radiology getting several tests done. First Annie had a renal sonogram, followed by a spinal x-ray and chest x-ray, then an upper GI study--they insert barium in her stomach under x-ray to watch the flow of the barium through her stomach and into her small intestines. As expected, she vomited it all up on the table. She vomited in her room just before the exams, again in the elevator down to radiology, and again during the renal sonogram. She also had a really hard 30 minute seizure induced by a nurse who startled her awake suddenly.

So far from these tests, we just know that the duodenum is not rotated and everything looked good on the upper GI. The initial images from the renal sonogram look good, but we're waiting for the report from the radiologist to see if there are any indications of a kidney infection. We got x-rays of her back to check that her spinal rods have not become infected. If so, they would have to surgically remove both rods in a major surgery. If the x-ray is inconclusive, they'll do a CT scan of her spine. The chest x-ray is to check for pneumonia, especially since she vomited on the OR table yesterday without her airway protected. But we don't suspect she aspirated because her O2 sats are great. They also drew a blood culture to check for infection in her blood.

Once these results all come back, if nothing is conclusive, we'll start exploring neurological possibilities. Any increase of pressure in her brain would cause vomiting but probably not that high of a WBC. So Annie continues to be a mystery. I'm so ready to just find the problem so we can move on with treatment and get her feeling better! All of your love and prayers are very much appreciated!