Brian pulled him from the sleep study and took him to Hopkins ER. He was admitted and put on BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), which is like CPAP used for adults with sleep apnea (Hi, Nana! We're looking at you!) or kiddos with other respiratory issues. The only concern with the BiPAP was the amount of air being pushed into his lungs to help him breathe would also introduce air into other parts of his body because the BiPAP is forced through the nose and not directly into the lungs. For this reason, we knew the increased air would have an impact on his stomach, causing issues with his feeds. Since he had a Nissen fundiplocation, a procedure to tighten the esophagus and decrease the amount of acid and bile coming up, he would have greater difficulty burping or getting the air out of his stomach. At that time the only options were to do oral feeds, which we knew was impossible, or switch his feeding tube to be a GJ tube. The GJ (G, gastric= stomach and J, jejunum= second part of small intestine) would be more like his ND tube (n=nasal d=duodenum, first part of small intestine) and we knew he tolerated that well. It would, however, mean another sedation and potentially some time in the PICU.
First day on his home BiPAP, check out that giraffe print!
Fortunately he did okay with sedation and we were able to return to the regular floor, which is much more comfortable than the PICU. If you've ever spent any amount of time in an ICU unit, you'll know what I mean. So many rules. So many providers. So many alarms. So many really sick kids. And, the worst part for us, no bathroom in his room! I'm sort of joking, but sort of not. It sounds super ridiculous, but it's a really inconvenient part of the floor. That and no food allowed in the room, and you know I love to eat.
This dude was so cute on Valentine's Day in the hospital.
So, since
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