Day +2: Wowza!

Wowza, this day was interesting! (In mostly good ways!)

But first, here is a video from Wednesday that I thought you all might enjoy. It was when everyone piled into Kal's room and sang him, "Happy BMT Birthday" and then gave him gifts:

Now then, back to the update on Kal:

Morning started off pretty typical, other than Kal's doctors being concerned about the amount of calories he was getting per day. They said as much as they know how hard we've been trying to feed him a lot, he still isn't getting near the amount of calories he should be. They said they would first speak with the dietician first to see if she had any ideas to boost his calorie intake, such as making his formula more concentrated. They wondered if I had kept up with trying to offer Kal the bottle, and I informed them the moment the bottle touches his lips, he starts fighting me. In all reality, I thought that kid would never end up taking a bottle.

BUT, guess what?! He DID! Here's how it went down:
 

After returning from lunch, one of the doctors came in to speak to me. She told me that although the dietician could increase his daily calories, it still wouldn't be enough to have Kal at the point where he was receiving enough calories. She (kind of) gave me a choice between having an NG tube (feeding tube) placed back in Kal or to give him TPN instead, which is a gross concoction of carbs, proteins, and lipids (fat) that would go through his central line. I felt it would be best to just give him TPN instead of bothering him so much with a feeding tube again.

Well, apparently Kal must have taken that as a challenge. After the doctor left, I had the feeling I should just try to give him the bottle again, just to say that I keep trying. I also had a feeling I should try a certain bottle I had tried before, but brought to the hospital to try with him again later. I mixed a little pear baby food in with some formula and then some apple juice, to try and mask the flavor of the formula and sweeten it up a lot. He was hesitant at first, but eventually, he was sucking on it! I was shocked, to say the least! I didn't want to get overly excited about it and force him to chug it all at once, so I let him play with the bottle a lot so he wouldn't be scared of it. It came to the point that the baby food was clogging up the hole to drink out of in the bottle's nipple, and Kal was acting aggravated that it wasn't coming out fast enough! Say WHAT?! So, we had to snip the hole a few times to make it bigger, and then he was drinking it like a boss. All in all, it still took about 3 hours for him to finish everything, but it was a huge breakthrough! I just stood there continuously praising and thanking my Heavenly Father for blessing us that he finally was taking the bottle. I knew there was no other way this kid would have ever taken a bottle, except if it were from a miracle from God. Seriously.

Celebratory picture after finishing his bottle!

That afternoon, my friend who works at the hospital dropped by to chat. She even brought a gift for Kal's BMT birthday, an adorable soft elephant that hums lullabies. She is so sweet! While she was there, Jonald, my mom, and Kayelee came over to visit. Kayelee loved that little elephant and kept hugging it like it was her present. Haha!

It was wonderful to see Kayelee again. We got to go downstairs in the Forever Young playroom and eat dinner together with my mom. Every time I see her, she has grown up a little more. It breaks my heart that I can't be with her always. On the other hand, I am afraid of leaving Kal here and something would go wrong, or he'd take a turn for the worse, and I wouldn't be here to help him and give him mommy snuggles. (That's the best medicine, right?! Haha). It especially broke my heart when it was time for everyone else to head home, and Kaylee said something to me like, "Mommy, are you coming home too?" Ooohhh, my heart. Trying not to get choked up, I replied, "No, baby. Kal is sick, and I need to stay here to help him." I didn't think she'd understand what immunocompromised would mean, so I kept it simple. She gave me a long hug, and I didn't want her to let go. They soon left, and I was here alone with Kal again. As much as it pains me to be away from everyone else, sometimes these special, quiet moments alone with Kal are so special to me.

At Kal's next feed, I tried just mixing apple juice and formula equally in his bottle because the baby food in the last bottle was causing clogging issues and just stuck to the side of the bottle. He still drank 6 oz. from that bottle. Then, Jonald suggested I try straight formula to see how he takes it. I was hesitant at first, because I was afraid we might ruin all the progress we made with the bottle in the last feed. But, I guess I would never know until we tried, so we tried and he took 2 oz. of the formula straight! I seriously have no words to express how surprised I was, and still am. Wow! Another miracle!

Later that night, at his last feed of the day, I thought I might try to get more brave with the bottle and formula. I gave him 4 oz. of formula, and he drank it up in about an hour of half-playing half eating. Amazing! Another miracle! I didn't want to push it too far with the formula, so after that, I also tried giving him straight apple juice from the bottle. I figured maybe he would continue to think the bottle is good if he sometimes gets sweet things from it. He drank another 3 oz. of the apple juice! Miracle!

...And then he threw up. Hahaha. Okay, in all honesty,  had the feeling as he was drinking the apple juice that I shouldn't push him too far, as he's not used to eating this much, but I brushed those feelings aside. I was too excited and wanted to see how much he would drink from the bottle. Yeah, well, I payed for my over-ambition. Poor little guy. Sorry, baby boy! Oh well, you win some and you lose some. Literally, sometimes you lose some- all over your bed. He was happy as a clam, though, after that. It probably got rid of some of the junk that's building up in his throat from mucousitis. After we gave him a sponge bath, and I swaddled him up for bedtime, I figured I would try to at least give him the leftover 1 oz. of apple juice he had left in his bottle to get the yucky flavor out of his mouth. He finished that and then fell soundly asleep with me rocking him in the rocking chair. Hey, that 1 oz. is still a continuing, little miracle. (;

In other news, a little boy finished up his BMT process and recovery yesterday, and got to go home. The nurses lined up in the hallway to cheer him on as his dad carried him out of his room and down the hallway. They sang him a song, rang bells, and then let him ring the bell they have here to celebrate when someone is done and gets to go home. I have to admit, I got a little choked up watching this whole ordeal. It was so exciting, and sweet. I couldn't help trying to imagine that being us in the future.

Also, the little 2 year old-girl with leukemia with such a sweet mom got to leave today as well! She's finished with her process, and hopefully that will be the end of her hospital stays. There's always the possibility a fever or anything else could bring her back in here, but I'm praying she'll do great and be able to return to her family in Idaho soon. They need to stay in nearby temporary housing, just in case, until they get the all-clear to go home. Please pray for that sweet girl, her mother, and the rest of her family!

Furthermore, a two year-old girl with brain cancer next door to us got to go home for her week break today! Woohoo! She finally started to eat a little bit, and finally had a bowel movement (after 8 days... yikes).

It's funny the things we all celebrate in a place and situations like this. If you have a bowel movement fairly regularly and eat even a nibble of something, you're probably doing better than the majority of the rest of the patients here in this unit. With Kal doing both of those things so well, in addition to not having too much nausea, mucousitsis, or any hair loss yet, he basically looks like a rockstar to the nurses and doctors! We are SO BLESSED! I don't know why God has chosen to bless us so much in this situation. I know it's not because we are any better or more righteous than the other people here. I don't know how long these blessings will last, or how long Kal will continue to do so well. The nurses and doctors remind me (almost constantly) that he will get worse, because that's what pretty much always happens. I don't know why we are seeing so many miracles in this process, and are so blessed and lucky right now, but we will take each wonderful moment and each good day we have.