In the last few weeks, we have been fighting a losing battle on the weight front. When we moved home to Winston-Salem, Ernie weighed in at around 150. In the next six weeks, he dropped another five pounds, putting him at 145 at his first check up. This morning, the scale read 136--a drop of almost 10 pounds in two weeks. Ernie said the last time he weighed 136 he was probably in the 9th grade. We have upped his daily calorie count from about 1700 to 2100 to try to stem the loss, which is really sapping his energy.
We may be losing the weight battle but are winning the feeding tube war. With the thrush under control, Ernie has far less pain in his throat and can now tolerate cold foods like high calorie ice cream. The dietitian gave us a shake recipe that has over 700 calories. With two shakes plus a few helpings of pudding and a bit of solid food, Ernie ate 100% of his calories sans tube yesterday! This is the first time he hasn't used the tube in over 3 months. We feel certain now that the tube can come out on our next trip to Baltimore at the end of January.
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