And...we're still here

Don't ask me how she does it, but she manages to smile even through the puking!

Wow. It's been 11 days since we "stopped by" the ER. And we're still here. McKinley isn't really showing many signs of getting better and the Dr's are still baffled. The CDiff does not seem to be the cause of her sickness as she has continued to throw up constantly regardless of the antibiotics she's been on for the infection. And now the latest news is that she has RSV. She is soooo congested, it sounds like the worst cold I've ever heard! She's having a harder than normal time breathing due to the congestion, but has not needed oxygen so far. The Dr's aren't sure if she contracted the RSV at the hospital or if she had it before she got here. They're currently going with the theory that she had the RSV prior to coming to the hospital and that the virus caused an ileus. An ileus is when the bowel decides to shut down and not function. This would explain why she has very little stool output, no gas output, distention in her belly, leakage around her g-tube and throwing up. Unless they are suctioning her stomach through an NG tube, and draining her g-tube, she throws up large quantities of mucus. It's basically like she's pressurized and she'll explode if we don't get the stuff out another way. So, for the past 11 days we've been suctioning and venting her stomach. The mystery has been that even though we're doing that, she's still been throwing up. With suctioning her stomach you'd think she wouldn't have anything to throw up anymore, but somehow she does!
Having said all that, it has officially been 24 hours since she last threw up! She seems to be in much better spirits today, and I'm praying this means we're on the road to recovery. Tonight they have turned off the stomach suction and clamped her g-tube so I really hope she doesn't start throwing up again!
She's also started to act hungry for the first time which is amazing to me since she hasn't eaten in 11 days, but I'm hoping that's a good sign.
Thank you for all of your prayers.  We feel so loved and would not make it through this without knowing that so many people love our McKinley and are praying for her.  We're praying this hospital stay doesn't extend much past the two week mark!!