Accessing ‘item_status’ post meta

Hey,
I was using the following to get the key for the status

$order_items = $order->get_items();
foreach ($order_items as $item_id => $item) {
$item_status = get_post_meta( $item_id, 'item_status', true );
 .... some logic ....
if(...){update_post_meta($item_id,'item_status',2);}

}

This was returning the key and I would update the item_status index based on some logic.

The get_post_meta and update_post_meta are no longer working. Is there a way I can still access the item status on these order items? If so, how?