"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
--Jeremiah 29:11

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Another update

Conway has not thrown up anymore. Yay! His diaper this morning was pretty wet. Yay! It also had a very loose stool. Yay again! I don't know many moms who are excited about diarrhea, but to me, it sounds more like a virus or bug if diarrhea is involved. As much as we don't like bugs, they are better than heart problems!

Dr. Bromberg had Colleen call back yesterday and say that if he continued to vomit he would want to recheck his pacemaker. We just did a check in early January and it looked okay. Hopefully this positive trend of no vomiting continues. Thanks for your prayers.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Called the Cardio

and talked to Colleen, one of our favorite nurses. She listened to the whole story and she feels like it is not heart related but will definitely relay it to the docs to see if they agree! Whew! What a relief! She said if it were the heart, she thinks he would be throwing up with each meal and not just once a day. She got the lab work and will also forward that on. She was concerned about his dehydration too, but understands now that he had been vomiting so that was likely the cause. She said to keep an eye on the wobbly walking and if it seems like his activity level tapers off to definitely call back.

Thank you for praying. Greg said today he has been okay, just looking a little peeked.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Update from Blood Work

The nurse called me with the results of Connie's labs today. His white count is not elevated so that translates to the fact that a bacterial infection can pretty much be ruled out. That would lead one to think virus, but Dr. Davis already said he wasn't leaning that way since there are no other symptoms, no one else in the house is affected and since the incidents are so spread out. The tests did reveal that he is slightly dehydrated (surprise! Wasn't the puking the whole reason we called the doctor today?). We are trying to get more in him. Even if that means letting him drink soda (with some clear pedialyte snuck in). We got him some cherry gatorade and he loved that. His digoxin levels were within normal range but they were going to fax them over to Dr. Bromberg and if something was fishy there, they'd call us. I'm going to go ahead and call him myself in the morning, just because it will make me feel better. Tonight, please pray that Connie can sleep soundly and keep today's nourishment in him! I'm almost out of fabric softener anyway and would rather not have three loads of laundry to do at 3:00 am!

Something's Up. . .

. . .but we don't know what exactly. Connie threw up several times Sunday night and was fine yesterday. Then early this morning (3:30 am to be exact) he woke up crying and vomited several more times. This morning he was fine again and kept down what he had for breakfast. We called the pediatrician because it just doesn't seem like some sort of stomach flu bug if he's fine all day and keeping down his food and then at night throws up everything he's had all day. Something is keeping him from digesting his food and we're afraid it's that his leaky aorta has gotten worse and isn't getting enough blood to the digestive tract so that it can move the food through like it's supposed to. Dr. Davis checked him out and he has no fever, no diarrhea and no other symptoms. he doesn't feel it is a stomach bug. He thinks it might be some acid reflux and has prescribed our friend, Prevacid, for the next month to see if he improves. He also ordered some bloodwork so we headed off to Quest Lab for that. After waiting over an hour, we finally got out of there! Poor Connie did not like it one bit, but at least they got the vein on the first poke this time. They had to take three vials! Dr. Davis is checking his Digoxin levels in addition to the normal CBC stuff. We should find out later today if something is off with that. He said sometimes the heart meds can cause stuff like this. Maybe if he needs a different dose or a different med or something. I'm going to research it a bit while I wait to hear. I asked him what happens if he takes the Prevacid, bloodwork is normal and he is still throwing up at night. His answer was, "Then I call Dr. Bromberg." In other words, he would feel it was a heart issue and would be getting the cardiologist involved at that point.

I've been having bad feelings lately about him but I keep shaking them off thinking to myself that it's just been because I've been reading about a lot of other heart kids locally that we keep up with have been struggling lately and having to have interventions, etc. Whatever it is, it is in God's hands and He has the answers. We will continue to put our faith in him. Thank you all for praying.