Poor Little Andrew

Well, we have discovered that the Zofran works wonders for vomiting, if you give it like clockwork, every 12 hours. The first night, Andrew did very well until 4 a.m. when he started vomiting again. Yesterday he didn’t throw up at all, but when I picked him up from my mother-in-law’s house, he was gagging and burping something that smelled very much like the vomit I have been cleaning for the last week. I immediately administered more medication. Last night he made it through the night OK, but that is with medicine. We have decided to continuously give him the Zofran for a few days as a preventative. I think his stomach needs time to heal, and I hope that by Monday he can be drug free. He has lost almost 2 pounds since last week.

However, while the vomiting is controlled by the Zofran, the medication also has its own list of side effects. It is a medication they give to cancer patients, after all. I believe that it is making him dizzy and giving him a headache, because he keeps hanging his head and shaking it back and forth. So now, on top of the Zofran, he is getting ibuprofen and Tylenol alternately. This makes me feel bad too, because not only is it more medication on his sensitive little belly, but it’s also making him feel drugged. He hasn’t been himself for an entire week and it’s just so sad. He's usually such a happy little guy.

Last night he was standing by the edge of the tub before his bath. I snuck up behind him and sniffed his neck (usually he thinks this is really funny). He chuckled, but even his laugh was sad. It made me tear up. The poor little thing has no idea why he has been feeling like that for so long, and it just breaks my heart. Seeing your kids sick for a day or two is bad enough, but when it lingers like this, it’s truly difficult. It’s exhausting for us as adults to deal with the illness, and so frustrating to know that there is little we can do to make it better for the kids.

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end, and not the beginning of something more serious. That's another worry that I have been having lately too. He saw his pediatrician yesterday and they will keep an eye on him for the next few days. If it continues into the end of next week, we are to go back and look deeper. I just worry that another week is a long time for such a little body to endure. Keep little Andrew in your prayers, please, and pray that this ends soon.