Last night was a good night - Jonathan finally kept food down the entire time. The NJ tube that is going from his nose past his stomach and into his lower GI tract is doing its job. He's getting calories now without having to use his stomach.
Overall it was a slow day with nothing but a few labs (blood drawn) and an ultrasound on the schedule. However, it was another big day in terms of results and progress. The prior blood work that was sent for testing of a few other viruses came back negative. The blood work done today all came back normal except for his liver...however, his liver values had dropped by more then half of what they were yesterday. They are still slightly above normal, but they showed that he's rapidly recovering from whatever nasty "funk" he picked up at the Children's Museum 10 days ago. The fact that it took him this long on an IV and feeding tubes in the hospital confirms without a doubt that he needed to be admitted.
Around noon we had the ultrasound. Everything came back normal...liver, gall bladder, kidneys, bladder, etc. Obviously that was good news, so we were able to disconnect the IV. As of right now he's getting all of his fluids and calories from the NJ tube dumping it past his stomach. He's getting 120% of the calories he needs, just because we're playing catch up. He should tolerate it. He's already gained a half pound since we brought him in, so we should expect to see a decent jump in the next few days if he's "eating" this amount continuously (40 ml/hr, or 32 ounces of 24 calories per ounce per day). Speaking of, the food pump just went off and I started it up again. You know you've been in the hospital a little while when you know how to run the automatic feeder and IV without any assistance. So far we haven't needed the "main line" and are no longer taking Reglan. Both of those are good things. I read up about Reglan last night and that doesn't sound like something you want to be on for very long.
Tomorrow looks like a rest day. We'll continue feedings and maybe do another round of blood work (no news on that yet). The next big day will be Wednesday. I think we'll get our answer that day. We're going to stick an endoscope down his throat and take a look at his esophagus and stomach for signs of irritation, etc. They'll probably also do a biopsy of those areas to test the tissues. Those tests should help us determine if there is any damage and if there are signs of allergies. In what we assume will be the "final act", it sounds like we are also going to do the stomach emptying tests on Wednesday. After that, we'll be done unless something comes back abnormal.
So, based on what we have left, the culprits of the larger issue could either be one or a few of the following (which, by the way, are what we've identified as the leading suspects on our own too):
1) Reflux
2) Food Allergy
3) Delayed Gastric Emptying
4) No GI issues, it's a combo of low breast milk supply and behavioral/attention issues
Honestly, I think that the most likely outcome is number three (and a little of number one as a side effect of number three). If so, that will probably require a minor surgery and more time in the hospital. If not, we'll likely have the button put in on Friday and probably go home that day or Saturday. One thing is for certain: we're going to be here the rest of the week and our stay in the hospital is going to hit the 10 day mark.