Someone Please Turn on the Light

It is dark in here and I can't really see very well.  This has been the story of the last few weeks.  I didn't particularly assume that Olivia would magically get better upon her discharge on Sunday, but I did have hopes that things would normalize a little bit while we all watch her like a pot about to boil.  Monday was a great day, she was happy, giggly and eating up a storm of all her faves that she missed last week being stuck at Hope.  Yesterday was not quite a polar opposite of Monday, but definitely not as enjoyable for anyone.

When Grammy went to go wake her, she was immediately greeted by dry heaves.  I advised to start her off with some room temp water and maybe a couple of pretzels.  When that stayed down, Olivia wanted toast and had her morning meds.  No issues there until an hour and a half later when it all came back up.  The sickly cycle took a lot out of her and she lounged until lunch and then ate some pasta before asking for nap time.  At this point, I already had a call into Hope's Cardiology team and we agreed to talk again at 4 just for a progress report.

By the time I got there yesterday afternoon, she looked pretty happy and was asking for snacks.  I gave her a little more pasta and when she got bored with that, some rice.  A diaper change later and I heard dry heaves coming from the playroom.  There she was on her side heaving once more, but nothing came up.  She wanted to lounge so we did but I noticed her breathing almost seemed labored or shallow like she was panting.  Enter dry heaves again followed by projectile vomit.  Breathing returned to normal and although she disliked the process, I think she felt a heck of a lot better.  Of course all of this was after I gave a favorable report to the cardiology staff and said things looked okay.

Sats were 96-97 and BPM was 105, so all good #'s, but her tummy is clearly unhappy.  There is not a sign of excess fluid on this child.  Her tummy is flat and soft just as it should be and her eyes still indicate that she's really on the dryer side of the scale since she is getting the Lasix twice a day.  Nightly weigh-ins showed she lost a pound between Monday and Tuesday.  Brian called me over last night to tell me she was doing the funky breathing again and I looked and said to sit her up just as the gagging started.  This time, she kept everything down, but clearly the panting is what she's doing when she gets nauseous.  It makes sense, I am guilty of this myself trying to keep it in even if it would make me feel better to do otherwise.  What there's no clear understanding is why is she now having these cycles of nausea?  So if someone could please turn on the light for us here, it would be appreciated.

Today's plan of attack: continue with prevacid, hold off on Lasix until I talk with cardiology, and stick with the BRAT diet (Banana, Rice, Apples, Toast) until I feel confident that we can branch out in other directions with her poor tummy.  The girl ate Mac n Cheese in the hospital like it was going out of style so I don't know what gives now, but she needs all the nutrients she can get so I'm not willing to take any chances.