Today we started to feel our stay in the hospital. Stacey and I had to take frequent breaks from being in the room and watching the procedures because we were physically, emotionally and mentally drained. We aren't in a very critical situation, but the lack of sleep and constant interruptions take their toll in addition to the "standard" stress you'd expect when your little child is in the hospital. Later that day I went home to sleep (it was my turn), crashed out at 7 p.m., and slept for 12 hours.
Since Jonathan wasn't able to keep any food down yesterday, and probably because they wanted an empty stomach for the barium test, they didn't give him any food until the afternoon. Shortly after noon Jonathan and I were escorted to Radiology for our first test - a barium swallow. Stacey took a break and left to visit our other sick child, Julia, at the grandparents. They tried to get him to drink the barium with a bottle at first, and not surprisingly he wanted nothing to do with it. So, they just injected it through his NG tube (the tube he has in his nose to his stomach). Immediately his entire stomach and upper GI tract were illuminated on the screen. The radiologist took a lot of pictures from different angles and watched the live shot on her monitors. Everything was in the right place, structurally speaking. We did see a little bit of the barium back up in his esophagus, but if he's still sick that could be the reason why. Reflux still might be a possibility for his lack of eating (and hence low weight) in the past, but it's too soon to tell. There are too many variables since he's been sick. We need him to keep food down and get over his illness before we can address any of the larger questions.
After the barium test he was finally given some more food. It was really hard (especially for Stacey) to know that Jonathan wanted and needed food, we could provide it, but we weren't "allowed". Once he started getting more food on a slow drip (20 ml/hr) at 2 p.m. he perked right up. He kept all of the food down until late last night at 11 p.m. Him vomiting it up was a major bummer, since he needed the calories and we can't do anything until he stops doing that. We still haven't gotten a real dirty diaper since he's been vomiting the last five days. We're just playing the waiting game now.