Update on Grayson:

We have been in the hospital since Thursday morning. Grayson was staying with my friend while I had a counseling appointment and he vomited 3 times in the hour I was gone. Enough. I just can’t do it any more.

My friend drove us to the ER. On the way, I started throwing up and couldn’t stop. Stress, anxiety, stomach bug? Who knows. Unfortunately, I was too sick to be with Grayson the rest of the day. Thankfully, my mom and Ryan were there to be with him.

The ER doctors kept saying it was a stomach bug. Finally, my mom got one of the doctors to listen- this has been a recurring problem for weeks, he’s underweight, has always had eating problems, and has a list a mile long of other issues. They agreed to keep him overnight for “observation”.

Ryan stayed with him Thursday night but he got sick in the middle of the night. He’s still at home now trying to get well.

Yesterday, he was finally admitted to the hospital as an inpatient. I felt well enough to come up yesterday evening. Lots of doctors, lots of questions. GI consult- mentioned swallow study, upper GI study, possible NG feeding tube.

Today has been rough. He cried from basically 6 am-noon. It was obvious he had a bad tummy ache, maybe from one of the 3 new medications he’s on- one to tighten his stomach so he can keep food down. The doctor does not want us to feed him anything by mouth until the swallow study, which won’t be until at least Monday. So he will be getting fluids through an IV, which won’t be calories that will help him gain weight. They have assured me that he can go a lot longer on just fluids than I think, but it’s still hard for me to think he’s getting nothing to eat. At least he’s not throwing up.

Scary incident of today- we were giving him ibuprofen and as I turned him on my lap I noticed his arm with the IV was swollen and hard. His arm, hand, and fingers are HUGE. The IV had slipped out of place and had filled his arm with fluid. It’s awful, and was obviously causing him a lot of discomfort because he stopped screaming when we got the IV out. Hours later, it’s still really puffy, but going down. The team should be in any minute to put a new IV in- hopefully in his foot, so he can still have one good thumb to suck.

I am thankful because we finally have doctors and nurses taking this seriously and believing this is something other than a stomach bug. I’ve realized today that a lot of what I have come to accept as “normal” really is not. Grayson does not eat, and he never has. Every bottle, every meal, is a struggle, and it’s not right. We finally heard “failure to thrive” today and yes, that’s awful to hear about your child, but it’s also a relief. Because we’re finally getting some help.

Grayson, of course, is charming all the doctors and nurses with his cuteness. We’ll be here for awhile, and it’s uncomfortable and cramped, but I feel safe and optimistic. We are going to figure this out.