Though I meant to post more during Peter's stay at Children's, things got so busy there really was not time to post. Between rectal stool, ostomy issues, seeing doctors and nurses, and being a six-year-old who wanted to be kept busy, each day was quite packed with activity.
Peter came home this past Friday, the 26th. He is on two IV antibiotics three times a day through Wednesday, and then is fortunately done with them. He is currently back on TPN 7 nights a week instead of 4, but this should be temporary. His diuretic was increased to help remove some of the fluid weight he put on at the end of our stay.
Currently, Peter's stoma looks like it is going to be putting out much more than it initially was, and we are looking into ways to plug it up so that more stool goes downstream to the colon again. He has demonstrated that his colon does work and ideally we'd like to get as much stool to go there as possible, so that the colon is stretched enough to tolerate all stool when the stoma gets fully closed again. That should hopefully be in a few months.
Unfortunately, the decrease in ostomy stool seems like it will be a challenge to his
already tenuous fluid balance, something I hadn't really considered
amidst the excitement of getting the colon working again, hence the need to increase his diuretic now. We have removed all unnecessary sodium from his IV fluids, so his IV antibiotics are only mixed in water, and there is truly minimal sodium in his TPN (only 4 mEq in his 400 ml TPN bags).
Overall, he continues to be doing well and is his usual cheerful self. He is so excited that he is going to be home for Halloween and for his seventh birthday, which is November 1st. Hopefully Hurricane Sandy won't squash too many of his plans!
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