Glow Baby, Glow!

Upper GI with Contrast

Tooday was fairly uneventful, as far as the last few days have gone I suppose. Jerry had an upper GI with contrast done today. Basically, they filled his belly via his feeding tube with 300 ml of barium and then watched as he digested it. Sounds simple enough, except that the entire process took four hours.

First they watched as the barium filled his belly. Then they rolled him on his left side to expedite it moving into his small intestine. An x-ray was then taken once every 15 minutes for the first hour to track the liquid's progress. After that, it was an x-ray every 30 minutes until the barium was finally dumped into his large intestine, which can take anywhere from 2-3 hours.

He was such a champ about it, going from gurney to x-ray table whenever they told him to. And not knowing that the test would be that long, I took nothing down to entertain him, except me. And I learned that I can be very entertaining when the situation calls for it! In the end, there was lots of head rubbing and back scratching to keep him patient. Me, not so much. I was pretty much done.

Back up in his room, Michaela anand Ben were waiting to take him to the playroom on his floor to get out some of that pent-up energy.

His feeding tube of a milder formula of the Pediasure was started again as well. The GI doctor said that him throwing up from it last night was not a reason to quit trying, as our main goal is to get some calories in him and weight on him. His nurse even let him have some orange juice this evening.

We have not heard directly from the neurologist yet, but did overhear the day nurse telling the night one during shift change that Jerry's MRI was normal and showed nothing that would be responsible for the vomiting. So that's a relief.

And while we don't want their to be anything wrong or found persay, we know there has to be a logical explanation for the massive weight loss and vomiting and do pray for a definite resolution.

Tomorrow, we will get the results of today's upper GI and Jerry will also be scoped while under anesthesia so that his esophagus, gall bladder, liver, and thyroid can be examined and biopsies taken of each. They are also going to run tests on all of his enzyme-digesting abilities, as that could also be a culprit inducing the vomiting. They are being as thorough as they can be to get to the bottom of his issues and for that we are very grateful.

We did switch rooms today. We were in room 828, which is the Scripture reference to one of my life verses that says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." All things...not just the feel-good, happy, comfortable things. All things happen for a reason. And it's usually for a bigger purpose than we can or will comprehend this side of heaven.

Today we were moved to room 818. Romans 8:18 says, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." In other words, that suffering is chiseling away at our unfinished hearts and minds to someday reveal hearts and minds more refined and conformed to the image of Jesus. So it's all about perspective. And all things considered, we are very, very blessed.