Elijah in the Hospital

Elijah took ill Sunday night and continued to vomit for over 24 hours. We decided Monday evening that it was too similar to our experience with his volvulus bowel when he was a newborn. He needed surgery then to untwist his intestines and we're hoping that's not the case this time. We called the doctor who sent him to Children's Mercy where he was admitted.

Update 1:00 am: we're waiting for test results. Surgery, perhaps? Eli had an NG tube inserted and will have to drink barium. He has burst blood vessels in his face from retching all day. It's also Tanner's 6th birthday today and we'll have to cancel his party tonight in Lawrence. Graham is having diarrhea, which makes 21-month-olds grumpy. Add to that the likelihood that Shannon and I won't sleep much at all tonight; it's going to be a rough day.

Update 3:30 am: Good news: the bowel obstruction/damaged tissue appears to have been temporary and seems to have fixed itself. Initial test results indicate Eli won't need surgery this time – prayers are answered! This wasn't "just a bug" but the physical cause of the bloody vomiting is gone now. Eli will not be able to leave the hospital until he shows things are working again properly but that may be sooner rather than later. We'll have a better idea by late morning.

I've decided not to call everyone (it's nearly 4:00 am) until we have more definitive news. But the tone of the doctors and our expectations have certainly changed.

Update 11:00 am: We're still waiting for the surgeon to confirm that Elijah doesn't need surgery and can go home. Shannon's been waiting all morning. Eli ripped out his NG tube while he slept but they didn't need to re-insert it. Elijah has been very well behaved through this whole ordeal.

Update 5:30pm: Elijah is home and doing great! Unfortunately our experience at Children's Mercy was most unlike previous visits. The surgeon never did see Elijah again after 4am. We waited for him for twelve hours and he eventually released us sight-unseen. We had a lot of questions but we were also eager to get home. Then as we were signing the discharge papers, the nurse made an offhand comment, "it must have been a bug." What? The surgeon had said twelve hours earlier that it couldn't be a bug. So why did she say that? It makes no sense and doesn't match what we actually went through. But we were so tired we just shuffled out of the hospital scratching our heads.

As far as we know, Elijah had an acute bowel obstruction of some kind that resolved itself without surgery. He will be at risk for this kind of thing throughout his life.