Bye, bye Pneumonia!

One week ago Isaac and I were chilling in Room 219 instead of at home. We're so thankful God granted healing to Isaac's lungs and we're able to be home this weekend. We never imagined the diagnosis was Pneumonia and we would spend 6 days in the hospital. Such is life with kids!

Since I've said before this is kind of our digital diary, I'm recording the events of the last week here because I know I'll never be able to remember this in detail.

Day 1: Friday, February 3
Isaac woke up with a bad cough and the start of a fever. I stayed home from work with him and we hung out on the couch. He kept getting worse throughout the day/night. I called in to a nurse to talk about what I could do for his fevers that I wasn't already doing......nothing :S

Buster tried to take good care of his boy. 

Day 2: Saturday, February 4
We kept up with Tylenol (Ibuprofen wasn't really working) and cold cloths to Isaac's neck/head between cool baths. Within minutes the rags would be hot because of the 103/104 fevers. Kendall and I thought Isaac had a bad case of Influenza (it's spreading like crazy right now) and decided to get him checked out at the ER because it was after clinic hours. If he tested positive he was still in the window to get Tamiflu. I thought he'd get the Tamiflu and we'd be on our way home for more movies.
2:30p we were checking vitals in the ER. That turned into an Influenza swab (negative), Strep test (negative), blood work (nothing that stood out), chest x-ray (Thank God he sent the radiologist in to read it and he found the pneumonia!!), and more blood work. By this time Isaac's breathing was very shallow and very rapid and his little heart was having a hard time fighting the infection in his body.
4 hours later we were moving to Room 219 for our first overnight. (4 tries to get the IV in, blood taken out of both arms, and he never once shed a tear!)
It was after the kitchen closed, so we called in an order for pizza and Kendall and Eli met us in the room with stuff for an overnight. Isaac didn't want to be without Mom and Dad so Eli ended up at Papa and Grandma's house and both of us spent the night with Isaac. Note I didn't say "slept" because there was very little of that happening!

Poor boy was feeling miserable in the ER. He tried to take a snooze while we waited. 

Thankfully Dad and Eli came with our things and we spent some time hanging out. 

Sleeping arrangements for night 1: Isaac in the bed, Mom in the recliner, Dad on the "couch"

Day 3: Sunday, February 5
After being poked and prodded all night, we went through it again Sunday morning. We had visitors throughout the day and an EKG to rule out any other reasons Isaac's heart was working overtime. Nope, just his body trying to fight the infection and fevers. We realized it was going to be a couple more days here. :(  I went home to pack more clothes and things to keep us busy. Eli came with me and we hurried to do a few more chores and get back to the hospital. When we returned we found Isaac's O2 kept dropping and he'd been put on oxygen. My heart broke when I first saw him, he looked so, so sad. The night was spent not sleeping, cleaning up lots of bloody noses, and multiple trips to the bathroom. Isaac got really good at unhooking all his cords.

EKG time- it took longer to hook him up than it did to run the test. 

Check out my oxygen tube, I'm not a big fan. 

Day 4: Monday, February 6
We had some more visitors and spent most of the day in bed. Isaac's body had a hard time with the antibiotics and he developed really bad diarrhea. He kept having nose bleeds and was puking from the full-body coughs. The doctor ordered stool cultures and they came back positive for blood. Thankfully we determined it wasn't an additional infection or complication, but just from the bloody noses that drained down instead of out. During the night Isaac had enough of everyone. It was the first time he was feisty and he refused to cooperate for anything. He was exhausted and wanted to be left alone to sleep.

How we spent most of the day. 

Isaac wasn't impressed with the plastic wrapped IV so he could get a shower. 

All clean and eating ice cream in bed. Not something he gets to do at home! 

Day 5: Tuesday, February 7
This was the day I thought we'd finally go home. Fevers were lower and he was able to go a little while without the extra oxygen. But, soon enough he'd be back on it and the fevers were up again. It was frustrating knowing there was nothing I could do to help Isaac. He was feeling a little better and we were still stuck in the hospital. We had some fun making a video for his friends at school and loved it when Daddy took off work early to come hang out.

Still on oxygen but feeling a little better. 

Feeling good enough to pull some faces! 

Papa showed Isaac how to raise and lower the whole bed and not just the head.

Day 6: Wednesday, February 8
Nothing new. Still in the hospital. Still want to go home. Is today the day? Nope! We're getting really close though. Eli ended up back at the hospital in the afternoon when he wasn't feeling good. I called Kendall over so he could stay with Isaac and I took Eli home. He didn't have symptoms of anything but kept crying. We thought it was the disruption in routine and worrying over brother, but the next day cold symptoms started appearing. Isaac absolutely refused to cooperate for blood draws- they come way too early in the morning!!

Brother spent some time with us before school started. We didn't know then, but he'd be back that afternoon when I had to pick him up early from school because he wasn't feeling good. 

We spent time working on homework and playing cards today instead of spending ALL day watching cartoons. Believe me, this child has never seen so much screen time in his life! I'm still feeling guilty for it! 

Day 7: Thursday, February 9
Today's the day we can go home! Isaac's last fever was the night before. No nose bleeds. No puking. Diarrhea is starting to get better. Heart rate has improved and we've been able to ditch the oxygen.
We've never been happier to go home. Isaac said it no less than 10 times, "I love to be at home!" Yes, yes, yes!!!

We had to go to the clinic for me to get my flu shot, so Isaac had to mask up so he wouldn't catch anything else while we were over there. 

 

We'll finish getting better at home, thank you very much! 

Day 8: Friday, February 10
We're all feeling so much better and are still thankful to be home instead of at the hospital. Praise God for his healing hand and thanks to everyone who prayed for Isaac and Eli (and Mom and Dad- this was not one of our best weeks.....)