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What a week.  I want to document it for you, but also for me.  Although I can honestly say that I will not soon forget the emotion or the fear.

Wednesday morning: 

Samuel was still not doing better, after the antibiotic shot the day before.  His fever was still high and he was miserable.  The doctor did another CBC (complete blood count) and his white blood cell count was up from 28 to 30…heading in the wrong direction.  There was no visible signs of infection.  The concern at that point was meningitis.  She had a nurse walk us down to the ER, where they did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap…checking for meningitis), tried to get an IV started unsuccessfully, and did a chest x-ray (checking for pneumonia).  The doctor had told me that if the meningitis came back positive, they would transfer us to Children’s Hospital in Dallas.  It came back negative.  We were relieved.  The chest x-ray came back clear.  We were relieved.  They gave him another round of the antibiotic shot.  That time in the ER was probably the worst.  My mom came and met me before Derek got there from work.  During the spinal tap, the doctor encouraged us to wait in the hall, which we did reluctantly.  My mom and I stood outside the door and cried together.  It was awful.

They took us up to the pediatric floor, which was quite something…painted like a village, with each room separately and uniquely decorated/painted.  That night was absolutely miserable.  The baby would not let us lie him down.  And was inconsolable.  Derek went back home to spend the night with the boys.  And I spent much of the night rocking Samuel and walking the halls, talking to nurses.  More tests had been ordered (a nurse came in after I had worked for over an hour getting him to fall asleep, and said she was going to have to spray saline solution up his nose and take a sample of mucous…lovely).  I think I got 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep that night, and not at the same time.

More blood work was ordered on Thurs morning.  His white blood cell count was down to 17, moving this time in the right direction.  An infectious disease doctor came to look at him.  And noticed that he wasn’t moving or using his right leg.  The pediatrician came to check too, and decided to order an MRI to rule out infection in his bones/joints.  So a pediatric anesthesiologist came to do an IV (we were hesitant after having such a bad experience with that the day before).  It took him two times to get one, because his veins were "flat" (dehydrated).  But he was much more skilled than the nurses in the ER, for sure.  They gave him more fluids, more antibiotics and sedation thru the IV.  The MRI took about 40 minutes.  It came back clear as well, with the exception of some inflammation and fluid from the antibiotic shot, which explains his lack of use in that leg.

We were able to bring him home last night after finishing his IV fluids. 

We STILL do not know what caused his WBC count to spike.  We don’t know why/how he got so sick.  They believe that it is unrelated to his bout with chicken pox the week before.  It might be something called an adenovirus, which resembles a bacterial infection in nature.  So far his blood cultures are not growing bacteria, to indicate an actual infection.

So…

We are home.  His fever is gone.  His fontanel (soft spot) is sunken, which indicates dehydration (and is also a result of them taking spinal fluid).  But he is starting to play and "talk" to us a little and has even smiled a few times today (boy, I missed that smile!).

Yesterday, during the MRI I found the chapel and was all by myself.  I am grateful for prayer.  It is the only thing that I could rely on.  It was the only thing that made me sane thru this week.  I am grateful that all of you were praying.  I know it helps.

I have more to say about it all, but need to go tend to Sam.  More later… 

Here are some pictures.