A New Problem, Another Day in the Hospital

Folks,

If you would, please pray for Jude today.

This morning, he started vomiting, even though he's not being fed in his tummy. At first, we thought that the feeding tube in his nose, which is used to administer a medication that can only be given orally, might have been stimulating his gag reflex and causing him to throw up. Unfortunately, the vomiting didn't stop, and then blood starting coming up. The blood was apparently old as it was a dark brown color instead of the bright red color of fresh blood. We called Jude's nurse and the docs, and they resolved to watch him and keep him until tomorrow.

An hour or two later, he started vomiting again, and he wasn't able to stop for nearly an hour. Everything that came up was bloody. An x-ray was done, and we can see that Jude's stomach or part of his bowel (we're not totally sure yet) is distended to about 3 times the size it was yesterday. The plan for now, per the attending surgeon who's been following Jude this past week, is to put another gastric suction tube down his nose and decompress his stomach/GI tract. (He's actually being taken down to radiology to have the tube placed as I'm writing this.)

If you would, please pray that the causes of the bleeding and the persistent vomiting are identified so they can be stopped. Dr. Smith, the surgeon who's in the hospital today, said that if the distention in Jude's stomach and/or bowel can't be rectified by decompression with a tube, then he may have to operate. Pray with us that God would move in a miraculous way today and bring relief and healing to our little boy.