Monday, October 7, 2013

Tests, tests and more tests

Being the mystery baby, the doctors had their work cut out for them.  Someone had to figure out what was going on.  Unfortunately, to do this, they had to take blood ....TONS of blood and stool samples to see if someone could find something someone missed before.  One of the blood tests they did tested Keean for was a virus that mimics the roto virus called the enterovirus (watery stool, puking, fevers).  This test came back positive as Keean was starting to experience fevers and more frequent watery stool.  This, of course, is not good for someone like Keean and we were immediately quarantined to our room to prevent other babies on the floor from catching it.  It is very contagious.  Some of the doctors questioned if Keean caught it while at the hospital, while others questioned if he was starting to show symptoms of it before we were even admitted.  Apparently this virus can hang on for awhile. 
This, of course, had me a little hopeful that Keean was on the wrong formula when he was first born which caused the puking and trouble stooling.  I thought MAYBE we actually did have him on the right formula, but he caught this virus which caused him to go backwards and it was as simple as that.  It was a HUGE run of bad luck and once the virus passed we could go home!  A girl can hope, right?
Along with this virus, one of the stool samples showed that Keean was malabsorbing sugar.  This made sense because he was having watery stools, was gassy and had a distended stomach.  Because of this, we had to switch formulas yet again.  We started giving him a formula called 3232A.  This formula does not have sugar and is made so different types of sugars can be added in according to what the patient can tolerate.
This was not an easy task, figuring out what Keean needed was complicated.  We worked with a dietician who concocted a formula that was "just right" for Keean. You would actually be amazed if you saw what went into make up this formula.  It wasn't the typical "6 ounces of water 3 scoops of formula, put it in a bottle and shake it up" directions.  This concoction was made up of 3232A, polycose and microlipids. We used gram scales, huge jugs, droppers and scoops just to make him a bottle.  It was interesting.  It is extremely safe to say I was happy they mixed it up for us when we were at the hospital. 
Because of the malabsorption and the virus we were unsure if Keean would get to have his biopsy.  It was August 14.  We were switching formulas, yet again, we had a baby who was losing weight, yet again and we wanted answers.  The only way to do this was to have a biopsy done, but in order to do the biopsy he had to be fever free and feeling well enough to get put under.  I did the only thing I could do and I asked for prayers.....lots and lots of prayers. 

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