Day 130

It seems like every time I get excited because Holden's had a good day, he remembers his job here and adds a new mystery the next day. The vomiting is back. Ugh. I was so hopeful that the surgeries he just went through would be the end of our puke-filled days, but life doesn't work out the way I plan most of the time. Of course, we're not sure if the vomiting is caused by the same things as before his surgery. It could be due to withdrawl, or elevated liver enzymes, or the general trauma of abdominal surgery, or the weird hacking cough he's suddenly developed... The possibilities seem endless.

Back to that cough- He's come up with a new wheezy cough the past couple of days. The coughing leads to gagging, which leads to throwing up. We can't quite figure out where the cough is coming from though. It could be caused by the drainage from the high-flow heated oxygen he's been on... It takes a lot of moisture to keep that thing humidified, and you can see it dripping out of his poor little nose. That could possibly be draining in the back of his throat and causing irritation. We convinced them to take it off today and switch him out to a regular nasal canula at a lower flow, and we're hoping that's going to help him get rid of the hacking cough. I don't know if that will eliminate the vomiting, but it's one more possibility taken out of the equation.

He's feeling pretty bad again today, even though he's had a few high points when he seems fairly happy. Overall, he's just looking puny again. His color's off, his eyes have dark circles under them and he looks like a sick kid again. I hate that for him. He's not running a fever yet, even though he's been a little warmer to the touch. Let's hope and pray that this is all just part of his healing process, and not a sign of other issues.

In good news, he's still peeing. His kidney numbers are within normal ranges, and his liver enzymes have dropped. Those aren't within normal ranges yet, but at least they're trending down. His chest xray was still clear this morning, although he's sounding junky again this afternoon. Hopefully he'll be able to clear out on his own and keep his xrays looking good!

We still have a lot to figure out, and a few more mysteries to solve. But we remain hopeful that a few weeks from now we'll be able to chalk all of this craziness up to Holden's flair for the dramatic. Somehow  he keeps fighting back and clearing the hurdles, and I know that he's going to find his fight again. There are so few true heroes left in the world today, and I am so proud that my little man is among them. He constantly amazes.