Raul's New Wheels

Raul had a walker back in MA, but we hadn't yet found one here in CO. Yesterday I decided to look on craigslist, and by 9 P.M. a new walker was dropped off at the RMH for Raul! In the past few months he seems to have forgotten how to go forwards in it, but he can still go backwards and sideways. This afternoon I tied a long piece of the netting we use over Raul's bandages on the front two legs so I can pull him in it, which he really likes, and it is much easier than bending over to pull it! The other little kids were all interested in it, and at dinner I even got a couple of them to pull/push him around the dining room. After dinner we went down to the playroom for a while, and are now back in the room getting ready for bed.

Raul has had a rough few days. Since he was discharged he has not been tolerating his feeds. Lots of throw up, and lots of explosive diapers! On his birthday we went to Radiology for them to check his button, and the J portion is still in the correct place (he had spit up formula, so they thought it might have migrated back into the stomach). He has been doing a lot of the retching he did before the tube switch again, which is awful to watch. Starting Wednesday/Thursday we started tinkering with what he was getting. Thursday he got a day of just pedialyte, then Friday morning I put back in about half formula and he did fine until dinner when he started throwing up again. So Friday night it was back to pedialyte. Saturday we did half-strength formula again, and he did surprisingly well! We got in about half what he should be getting, then today I got almost all of his day's worth of formula in. I am still using pedialyte to mix with the formula instead of water though.

On Wednesday they also stopped his antibiotics to see if it would help his diarrhea and vomiting. It has definitely helped the diarrhea, but I think the vomiting was related to the feeding. We have gone from about 12 explosive diapers a day earlier in the week, to maybe 2-3! This is great, as Raul's bottom was starting to break down a lot. And to my surprise, he is still fever free without antibiotics! When he was being discharged he was supposed to have a couple more days of antibiotics left, then later that day in the outpatient clinic they changed it to four more weeks, then the next day they were totally stopped! Confusing, but so far it seems to be the right decision! We have been laying low mostly though since he is still having stomach trouble. Today we made it outside for a few minutes, and to the playroom and the dining room twice, so we are getting more adventurous!