It's our last month in review. - Condensed as much as possible.
March 5th 2010 - Jack develops a fever in the night. We attribute this to him cutting 6 teeth, at once. We start giving him typical doses of infant motrin. ..our home thermometer says he's 95.6 - For the way he feels that cannot be right. Buy a new thermometer - check again. 101.3 ah ha! making more sense.
Jack isn't himself. He's dazing off, won't play, definately won't eat, and he's not focusing on you when you interact with him. We've given him medicine the fever isnt breaking. We take him in right away.
Waiting at the hospital to be called into triage Jack has a siezure, in a sling strapped to Karl. He's hooked up to every machine known to man. They check his temp - it's 105.2 - we dont know if it was that all along or if it spiked in the car here
Jack has a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. I can't watch.
Released hours and hours later only to come back in the next morning for a follow up. we're concerned about his swollen/red foot that was fine prior to the ER trip. they're not worried. they say its from the blood pressure cuff that was on his leg, the swelling will go down.
It doesn't. Its gets worse in the following hours. we take him back to the ER. they are still not worried but xray it to appease us. - not broken. we didnt think it was...but something IS wrong.
(Left: Karl with Jack right after his spinal tap. Right: Jacks foot - the color isnt justified here. )
We wait to hear results on the numerous blood and urine test they'd taken from Jack. They call and want Jack admitted right away. He's got MRSA, and he needs IV meds so it doesnt spread to the bone.
We are admitted tuesday March 9th And he starts his IV meds the same day. but wait - theyve now got the urine results and hes testing positive for staph in his urinary tract. He starts oral antibotics for that. The oral meds are given twice a day. The IV antibiotic is run for half an hour - every 7-8 hours. That means they wake him in the night to stay on schedule.
24 hours later..his foot is worse. Its still just as swollen but now the red part has grown, and there is a purple tint. - 48 hours later still no change.
(Room : 317 - Isolation. MRSA is highy contagious. Everyone must scrub down and put on full suits before coming in, and then scrub down once more before leaving. -was a two part room. there was the closed off sanitation area then a door to where jack was. )
(The art work Jon created on the door, during one of his daily visits. - it made the room happier. )
The podiatry doctors come see Jack. They believe He has a sack of pus inside his foot. He needs surgery right away. until its drained the IV meds won't be effective. He goes to surgery within hours. They leave his foot incision open to let it drain. He will have to have three "surgeries" involving anesthesia within a 5 day period. One to open , and drain it. the second to clean it out again and redress it, and the third to finally close it.
He does exceptional with every surgery and hes more and more his old self. we can finally be discharged on March 16th
(Right picture: the right foot is his IV. wrapped up, taped and protected to save the possibility of having to start a new one. The left foot - Jacks dressing after his first surgery. The wound was left open to drain. )
It's April 16th And we've had 5 podiatry follow up appointments - including one today. Jack has had a semi cast on his foot, a leg brace, and currently a full plaster cast. it's been a month since we left the hospital. I' waiting patiently for Jack to be back to 100% . is today THAT day
3 comments:
I like the pics.. you must take your camera everywhere. I like the fact that even though Jack is allergic to some foods, he is still a chubby baby!! I wish I was there!
lol. he's really not chubby. i mean he is a solid kid, but not chubby persay.
and no lol.. it saddens me that you don't notice a huge quality difference between these and my other pictures. I just have a pretty good camera phone.
It's still hard even reading about when he first started getting sick. It's terrible not knowing whats wronge or what you can do to help. Then there was the siezure. I like the picture of me and Jack and the picture of him in his mitten shirt. Even seeing the picture of me and him, he looks bigger than I remembered. I guess I'm to used to him being smaller.
The pictures are small so they still look clear. You can deffently tell its not the same quality though, espechally on the less well lit pictures.
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