We thought Ernie was going to be on a liquid diet. But, today Ernie's nurses decided he should not take any liquids by mouth until he has his swallowing evaluation tomorrow. He can still take his pills with pudding but can consume nothing thinner.
Thank goodness we had started using the feeding tube. We are up to 3 cans per day--it takes 7 cans to provide all of his daily calories. We have to "titrate up" by one can per day, which means that he will be short of calories for a few days. We are allowed to put Gatorade in the tube to hydrate Ernie and give him some extra nutrition and calories. We are hoping the nurses are erring on the side of caution and that Ernie will be cleared to return to his Ensure and Instant Breakfast. He has done such a good job of maintaining his weight so I hate to see him lose ground now.
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