Monday, August 31, 2009

Brayden is home and details

The most important detail is that Brayden is home. We finally pulled in the driveway at 7:00 p.m.

The medical details...
Brayden did have an endoscopy this morning. Thankfully he did much better with the anesthesia than he did a couple of days ago. The endoscopy did show a few things: a very small spot that looks like gastritis, lots of little red lines that are signs distress and several spots that look like bruising (I do not remember the technical name). The picture on the side is of the little bruises in Brayden's stomach. The lining of the stomach should be pretty smooth and a flesh color. It is possible that one of these bruises came to the surface and was the reason for the bloody vomits. One of the amazing things about how God created our body is that is can take pretty good care of itself; the stomach can quickly rejuvenate and heal. That is the hope for Brayden's stomach.

Since it seems as though Brayden's stomach does not work much, if at all, we are continuing to suction his stomach every four hours for a half an hour and we will continue that at home. The big equipment will be arriving tomorrow and we will have a crash course in how to use it properly. The doctors always leave you with those ominous warnings about using equipment improperly and causing damage so I will be meticulously handling the gastric suctioning until we get the hang of it. We may also be adding a couple more medications but not yet.

Prayer details...
Please pray that some how this gastric suctioning will provide some relief from the vomiting. Pray for Brayden's stomach to heal completely without further complications. And praise that he is home!

4 comments:

Abi said...

So glad to hear that Brayden is home. I will pray for his stomach to heal and for you as you have to suction it.

Wherever HE Leads We'll Go said...

Home is definitely a step in the right direction! I will continue to pray for healing and for your ease in using the new equipment.

Unknown said...

Praise God that you are home and able to sleep in your own beds. I continually pray for Brayden and for all the family! He is a precious gift!

Anonymous said...

Hi, Carrie! I have just come across your blog while visiting the I Heart Milo blog, which I just happened upon while researching something else. I saw your post about vomiting and I'd like to share a little bit of our story. We have a daughter, Madison, who has CP, and we, too, struggled with vomiting for YEARS. I always resisted a G tube because she could bottle feed, but would vomit almost the whole thing four hours later. I found a GI doctor who took my concerns seriously. She was scoped and it was discovered that she had something called Eosinophilic Esophagitis (not sure if I spelled that right) (EE) and Duodenitis (the worst they had ever seen). She also has delayed gastric emptying of unknown origin. Basically, her body treats the formula as a foreign substance and attacks. She had a G tube and a J tube placed and the vomiting immediately stopped! This is different than the G-J surgery your son has. Maddy's GI doctor explained the difference to me, but I can't recall now as it has been about 5 years). She has two separate tubes. She is fed continuously through the J tube and the G tube has something called a Farrell Valve Bag attached which allows all of the stomach acid and bile to drain out. She doubled her weight in less than a year after having this surgery! We are from Florida but took her to Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center to have the surgery because they are the top research hospital for EE. Good luck to you! I look forward to reading more of your blog and learning about Brayden!

Paula
mom2maddy2000@yahoo.com