Another step back today. Our dear Ivan was restarted on feeds about 48 hours ago - a very modest 5 ml of breast milk. We were waiting for a BM to see how his body was tolerating the reintroduction of food, because from the outside he seemed to be tolerating it wonderfully. Belly was soft and he wasn't fussy or in any distress.
The stool finally appeared this morning, and there was blood in it. (Insert expletive here.) So there's our answer. The hypothesis is that his internal hemangioma must still be growing. We were hoping to cut the growth off at the pass with the propranolol, but we must not have gotten it on board soon enough.
This is not to say that the treatment isn't working. It just took a while to get the full dosage of the propranolol into his system, and in that time the hemangioma was continuing to run its natural course - which is to grow.
Ivan's hematocrit isn't low enough to require a transfusion, but that's where we'll be headed if it continues to trend down. I hate seeing him so pale, so I welcome a transfusion if it would help him feel better.
He just got another ultrasound of his belly to see what, if any, changes there are in the hemangioma. GI is also being consulted to see if Ivan is big enough to have a scope done. This would give us the clearest picture of the hemangioma and allow us to continue with treatment with our eyes even more open. Ivan is growing like a weed, even though his only nutrition is coming from TPN, but he is still pretty tiny, which may make a scope too dangerous to perform.
We are crying out to the Great Physician and asking Him to prepare a clear and direct path to healing for our darling son. Please join us in that plea.
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