20 Oct Update
I’m so sorry we didn’t get a post up yesterday. We couldn’t get the journal to work. We even took pictures that we tried to post, but even that wasn’t working. Keegan’s room is on the back side of the hospital, so we get very little cell reception for the sprint card. We’re still here though!
Yesterday Keegan did a bit better. The hives have been completely gone since yesterday around midday, and he hasn’t had a bad diaper since last night around 8pm. He held his head up for about 10 minutes at a time throughout the day, and he sat up on his own twice, even made a slight effort to play a little. He is now down to 16 pounds even. That should start coming back up once his TPN drip starts. He had trouble sleeping last night until about 2am, but then he slept well until about 7am. He hasn’t been quite as chipper today. This morning, he had the pic-line put in. To clarify, that is a larger IV line that goes in at the crook of his elbow and snakes into the larger veins near his heart. This makes it usable to take blood for labs and administer larger volume through the line, specifically the TPN. That required anesthesia, so he’s been pretty fussy and tired today.
The plan is to start TPN this evening and try some pedialyte tomorrow if he’s still tolerating everything else well. Then, he will be on a clear liquid diet for 4 to 6 days to let his stomach heal after being raw for the last several months. We are praying that Keegan is willing to try his bottle again. He will remain on TPN with the pic line until he is able to start formula by mouth again. Dr. Fixler said this morning that he would like Keegan to stay here at the hospital until we are confident he will eat on his own with no adverse reactions, just to be safe.
He’s pretty tired today, but we may try to make it down to the playroom this evening to decorate some pumpkins. We’ll have to wait and see! We’ll charge the camera back up and start posting more pictures soon. Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers for Keegan. We are so grateful for your kindness and compassion during these times. God continues to lift Keegan up and bring him fighting through the hard times. We are grateful for His unending love and mercy.