Not So Fast

While Tristan may not love the hospital bed, Charlie thinks it's the bomb-diggity!

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Tristan is six weeks out now, and for the most part it's been a good week. He did well with his Occupational and Physical Therapy visits, and they continue slowly adding more to his exercise regimen. He has one wound that still hasn't completely healed - although it's slowly getting better - but we're hoping to be discharged by the RN next week as we feel we can handle the remaining care.

The biggest win, and subsequent setback, this week was Tristan's diet. He is bone thin - literally - and finding a way to feed him without pain and nausea has been my number one focus. You may recall that he had an allergic reaction to the Prilosec (we're assuming it's that and not the iodine contrast from the CT scan) and was unable to continue taking it. I did some research on the Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) and found that people who have allergic reactions to Omeprazole, the main active ingredient in Prilosec, are often able to take Lansoprazole or Rabeprazole without issue. Prevacid contains Lansoprazole, is sold over the counter, and had great reviews from both short-term and long-term users so I decided to try that (since Tristan still isn't interested in seeing the GI Specialist).

Tuesday was the first dose of Prevacid, and after waiting the required 30 minutes we gave him his typical breakfast of eggs, avocado slices, a roll, and some Greek yogurt. He's generally able to eat small amounts of these items with some pain/nausea, but nothing severe. This time, however, he said he didn't feel anything weird or painful after eating. I'm not gonna lie people...I literally did a fist-pumping happy dance! My immediate thought was "What's the highest calorie non-dairy foods I can start cramming down his gullet?!?"

Wednesday and Thursday we continued with a lot of the "safe" items we'd been feeding him but added a ham and avocado sandwich, a Premier Protein drink, and a few other "exotic" items to his diet, and he did really well. I thought for dinner we could try Sushi, one of his favorites, if I stuck to the simple and non-spicy items. After all, he's been successfully eating rice, shrimp, and avocados almost daily. I ordered from Aji, a great place in the Highlands we discovered when my uncle and his wife were in town, and brought it home for us all to enjoy. Tristan ate a few different items and seemed to enjoy the taste pretty well, but the enjoyment didn't last long. Within an hour he was doubled over in pain, and an hour after that the vomiting started. To say I felt like a colossal jerk would be a gross understatement.

He continued vomiting until after 1:00 a.m. and still had stomach pain into the late morning. We had to reschedule his eye appointment today and go back to the plain basics for food. With the Prevacid, bananas, rolls, and rice he's done fairly well today, but we're definitely a bit gun shy now. He got very little sleep last night and will need a good night's sleep and a fair amount of food to recover. While I'd love to provide him with more variety in his diet, it looks like it'll be a while before that can happen. While bones can heal in six week's time, the organs clearly heal at a much slower pace and we'll need to move slowly to match them.

Wishing you all a good weekend and hoping you can enjoy the sun/rain/hail/snow mix we're getting. There's a little something for everyone!