Needless to say, lots has happened in our lives the past week and a half. First (and least importantly), we sold our car and bought a van. Dameon has been wanting one forever and I have been resisting one for...um...ever, but there she is in our rainy day driveway. I must admit, the extra space does have its perks, but I still like driving our Pilot more. For now.
In other news, Henry is on the mend and acting more and more like himself. I took this picture on Tuesday before we were discharged from the hospital. He was finally napping until another nurse had to come in to take his vitals. It was so crazy and scary how quickly his illness worsened. Last Monday he started in with just a little bit of a cough. On Tuesday night we decided we would take him to his pediatrician the next day before heading out of town to visit my grandparents. She was sure it was just a little cold and said he didn't even seem sick...and we agreed! She swabbed him for pertussis as a precaution, told us the results would take about a week, and sent us on our way. Then on Friday night things started going downhill. We had taken him to the mall just to walk around and get out of the house a bit (big mistake) and on the way home, we noticed he was breathing a little weird. We decided it was probably just caused by his stuffy nose, so we got home and put him to bed. I checked on a him through the night and he seemed fine. In the morning he was definitely coughing a little more, so we decided I should take him back to the clinic to be sure we were staying on top of things. The doctor heard him wheezing right away and decided to swab him for RSV. While we waited for the results, he had us give him a ten minute nebulizer treatment. Thank goodness my dad was there to help me (Dameon had to be out of town with the jazz band) because Henry HATED it. The RSV test quickly came back positive, so we were sent home with a nebulizer. I asked the doctor if he thought we might end up in the hospital and he said he didn't think so because Henry looked so good. By Sunday night, we thought Henry was doing great. He was playing and acting like normal, just coughing a little, having a bit of a runny nose, and handling his neb treatments like a champ. On Monday morning, Dameon brought him in to me to nurse right before leaving for work. Henry wasn't too interseted and was whining quite a bit. I could tell he felt warm, so I took his temp. It was 103.6...definitely the highest it's ever been. Within the hour, he was asleep again, which is also rare for him. When he was awake he was whining with his eyes just kinda half-open and he was breathing in a way I would describe as rapid and shallow. Around 10:30 I called our pediatrician's office and the nurse said she could hear Henry on the phone and felt he was in respiratory distress. She said we needed to get him to Blank Children's Hospital immediately. I called Dameon at work and he was home about 30 seconds later. We drove very fast to the hospital and I sat in the back holding Henry. He was asleep and breathing quick little breaths. Scariest thing we've ever experienced. We spend about three hours in the ER where he had chest x-rays, IV fluids, breathing treatments, and tylenol (which he immediately vomited) and the doctor told us we could be in the hospital for two days or a week. It all depended on how he responded to the various treatments. They also put him on oxygen right away, which helped his puls-ox dramatically. I think it was about 3:30 when we got to our hospital room, by which point I couldn't hold it in anymore. The nurse proceeded to use a machine to suck out Henry's nose. He was gagging and screaming and I just cried while we held him down. She also told me I shouldn't nurse him in the hospital, which sent me into an internal panic attack...but that's another story. It was a very long night with almost no sleep for anyone and lots of concern that Henry was dehydrated and not able to get rid of all the built-up mucous. The final diagnosis was RSV which had turned into atypical pneumonia. BUT once we were finally able to get him his antibiotic without him throwing it up right away, he really turned a corner. On Tuesday, he was feeling so much better and showing us glimpses of his normal (adorable) personality again! He got off his IV and off his oxygen and was maintaining good numbers all on his own. We were able to be discharged around 5:00 on Tuesday evening. He's doing great at home, taking his medicine with ease, and catching up on sleep. Thanks to the luxury of facebook and hospital wifi, we were able to see the many messages of support from family and friends. Thanks a million for your prayers!!!
Finally, I couldn't wrap up with post without saying a bit about my grandma. She passed away on Friday and I miss her so so much. Her visitation was Monday night and her funeral was on Tuesday. That was at the exact time of Henry's hospital stay, so sadly we had to miss everything. As soon as Henry is healthy again, I will visit my grandpa. The service was videotaped so I'll get to watch that, as well. I'm in the process of compiling my (many) favorite Grandma memories, which I'll include in a separate post. This is probably my most favorite picture of the two of them. They were married for 67 years! 67! I love them.
