Sad, But Thankful

Well folks, it doesn't look like Isaac will be home in time for Thanksgiving. He's still plugging away in the PICU. For some reason I don't think he likes this holiday very much because he was also in the hospital for Thanksgiving 2007. We did have him home last year and I'm So very thankful for that. Here's a picture of him on Thanksgiving 2008.I'm sad that he's not home, but we're planning on making the most of it by spending time with family. I do have so much to be thankful for. Every time I see Isaac's smiling face and how much he lights up for his Mama, I can't help but be thankful everyday for him!

Hopefully my next post will be about finally getting him home!

Where We Could Come Home With New Machinery

First and foremost Isaac looks absolutely fabulous today! I have my sweet, smiling boy back and I'm totally thrilled about that. He looked so good that the Intensivist almost moved him out of the PICU until he remembered that he's still on bi-pap at night.

Oops!

I spoke with the Intensivist at great length today about the bi-pap. He said that if Isaac's labs are looking good and he's still needing bi-pap by the end of the week they would consider sending us home with it. I'm trying to weigh the pro's and con's of this. I REALLY REALLY don't want another piece of machinery in the home and I'm hoping that within a few days we won't be having this conversation. On the other hand, having it as an extra tool in the house might not be so bad and could potentially keep us out of the hospital. We don't have to use it everyday, just when he needs it. STILL, I have faith that this little one will be a good boy and that he won't be needing it.

His will be done....One day at a time.

Hospital Update 11/21

Isaac is getting a better at snails pace. He still needs the bi-pap while napping or sleeping at night and oxygen while awake. The medical staff decided today to just keep him on a low setting of bi-pap all day instead of going back and forth. This afternoon he was much happier and interactive with me than he has been, so that's a good sign. He still likes to play the counting game with us and if he sees any of his "people" walk in the room he lights up and wants to play it. He has to be off of the vent for 24 hours in order to be moved from the PICU to ped's intermediate. According to my mom calculations, he probably won't come home until after Thanksgiving..bummer!

Thanks again everyone for the continued prayers.

-Colleen

Hospital Update 11/18

So I'll begin with Sunday night....

Nurse C and I arrived at the ER around midnight. After finding pneumonia on Isaac's chest x-ray, they were going to admit him to peds intermediate, but Isaac decided to show his true colors by going into a deep sleep. He was up to 9 to 11 liters and he was still was desatting! That's when I told the ER doctor that he needed to be in the PICU....he agreed. It was a long night. I went to bed at 6 am Monday morning.

Today he's on IV antibiotics and 100% oxygen. When he sleeps at night, he still needs bi-pap support. Yesterday when he napped he didn't need any bi-pap, but today he made things more interesting by dipping down to 82% on 100% oxygen (not so good), so he needed bi-pap during his nap today. The doctor has decided to keep him in the PICU until he no longer needs it.

Yesterday he was not smiling at all. He was kind-of in the zone. Today he gave me a half smile. I'll take it! I brought his chair up and he was happy sitting up for awhile watching Baby Einstein. Laying in bed all day is no fun!! That's all I have to report for now.

Thank you so much for your nice comments and prayers! They are so very appreciated!

Hospital

Isaac was admitted to the PICU at 4am Monday morning. Mystery solved......he has pneumonia. He's on a little bi-pap support during the night and just 02 the rest of the day there. I will post more later...

-Colleen

Snow And The Myserious Boy

Friday we had our first taste of winter with a little snow and Autumn couldn't wait to get her snow pants on!Personally I'm not ready to see this fluffy white stuff yet. I'm still recovering from last year when we got approximately 90 inches of snow, most of it fell in December! I still have flashbacks of shoveling. One time we even had 2 of our nurses cars stuck at our house! I ended up serving one of the nurses breakfast because we didn't know when she was going to be able to get home. One of the ladies at our agency called us "the Grove family home and hospital....and bed and breakfast."Yes, life can get interesting sometimes. So I'm praying that God has mercy on us this year and we have very little snow.

Mr. Man has been giving me some extra gray hairs lately. He had that fever on Tuesday and then it was low grade for awhile. By Friday the temp seemed to be gone. By Last night his fever was 102 degrees and he needed more o2. Today it was low grade. Weird. It's like a temperature roller coaster! Since his lab tests are showing no signs of infection or the flu, I'm guessing that he has a mixture of things going on. He's got a couple of molars coming in plus there's a bad virus going around. That's my guess. Most of the weekend he hasn't been his perky self and he's been looking just how he feels. Poor little guy! I don't even have any smiley photos to share this week. Hopefully next time!

Yesterday

Yesterday was a long day. Isaac's temp went up as high as 103.8 and he was lethargic. I almost started packing our gear for the ER, but the pediatrician's office managed to get us in that afternoon. They checked out his ears and didn't see any noticeable drainage that would signify that he still had an ear infection and the good news is they did a swab to check for the flu and he didn't have it. Whew! I also called our agency that handles infusion therapy. They came to the home last night to access his port and draw labs to check for infection. So far today when I called his white blood cell count was fine, but I'm still waiting on the final blood culture. That port is a godsend! It has saved us a few times from having to get labs drawn in the ER or having to take him out to a germ infested lab. Love it! Anyway after stinker gave us a scare, his temp has been rather low grade today..about 99-100.

Isaac's Grandma (my mother-in-law) is doing well and is staying in a new rehab facility. We saw her today since my husband had the day off for Veterans Day. She showed us her new cast that's hot pink with flowers on it. So cute! She certainly has an amazing attitude about her fall and staying there. I'm so inspired!


-Colleen