Showing posts with label pneumonia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pneumonia. Show all posts

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Back Home and Halloween Pics

As expected, we were released from the hospital today. We still have to do the breathing treatments every 4 hours (even over night) and he's taking oral steroids and antibiotics. We're also not supposed to go anywhere until we see our regular doctor on Monday...our discharge instructions were "just chill." We were very relieved to be going home! Here's a few pictures I took in the hospital.
As you can see, hospital cribs are sort of like baby jail.

This is what happens when your bored toddler gets a hold of a box of Cheerios...there are even some in his hair. He looks happy, though, that is key!

Watching "Sponge Bob" and drinking a bottle in his crib/prison.
As instructed, we're just "chilling" at home until we get the all clear from our doctor. Marino seems to be doing well. He definately still has an awful cough and runny nose. Its also clear he is still struggling to breathe...watching him eat or drink a bottle is sort of painful to watch. The nights are the most difficult for him, so we need to keep a good eye on him the next couple nights. Since we couldn't go trick or treating, I put him in his costume and took him outside with the festive looking leaves (note: it was 65 degrees outside and humid). He was pretty happy to be outside! The rest of the day we just played, watched the Halloween episodes of the Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba (don't judge on the tv watching, please, you try keeping a toddler in the house for at least 4 days...whatever it takes to keep him happy!). My sister-in-laws Richelle and Rianne came over to keep us company and help with trick or treaters (he liked seeing most of them, with the exception of one scary vampire).









Here's a video of Marino doing his lion impression...for some reason he whispers the "roar"...not so intimidating...

Friday, October 30, 2009

Processing

It's definately weird to be back in the hospital with Marino. I find it sort of ironic that we spent so many months of his short life quarantining him and then his first sniffle of his second flu season and he is back in the hospital ::sigh:: Even stranger is that I had a dream on Sunday night that he caught H1N1 and we were in the Pediatrics Unit here. Of course, then the dream shifted to me discovering a candy buffet in the Pediatrics Unit and being mad I didn't know about it last year, but it is still bizarre I dreamed of this very thing and within a week, something similar occurred.

While it definately sucks to be here, we're getting great care. I'm very thankful the ER doctors took our situation very seriously, even with a packed ER of flu patients. Within minutes we had a team of very nice, patient people helping us. It's also comforting that we know a great many of the doctors and nurses in the Pediatrics Unit from our last stay here. One of the respiratory therapists last night even remembered Marino from the NICU. So, while it sucks to be here, it's nice to have good care.

We should be discharged in the morning, as long as all goes well tonight and he isn't wheezing terribly in the morning. We're down to 4 hour intervals in between breathing treatments, and his desats are staying in the 90s. He's also playful and talkative. We had some scary moments last night where he would try to talk and nothing but a choking sound would come out.

You know what sucks about hospitals? They're not child proof. Presumably, they expect if a child is sick enough to be here, they are sick enough to stay in bed all day. This may work with a baby or small child, but try telling your toddler to stay in a crib all day, sick or not! So, we had lots of play time today, and he just took more naps than usual. But, there are way too many things in this room Marino can't touch or climb on! We had plenty of sad faces today.

I'm really happy with how well he's doing. Last night was pretty terrifying. I know he's much stronger now than he was last year at this time, but pneumonia is nothing to be taken lightly with preemie lungs. I definately feel comfortable taking him home now that his oxygen is staying up (breathing treatments I can handle, but I don't have oxygen at home).

I am counting my blessings, but still bummed Marino will miss Halloween this year:( I was really looking forward to taking him trick or treating at a few houses, since he loves to socialize. I'll still put him in his costume and take lots of pictures to share, of course.

Pneumonia Part 2

We'll be here overnight again:( He is responding well to the the breathing treatments, but its very temporary and he still needs them every 2 hours...we can't go home until we can go 4 hours in between treatments. He was very happy this morning and wanted to play.

Unfortunately, he is very sick of the doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists already. The doctor was examining him today and kept saying "bye bye" - I guess he was ready for her to leave? Still no fever, RSV and flu tests are still negative, so they're not sure if this is bacterial or a reaction to asthma.

I'm bummed we're missing the Halloween parade at daycare and trick or treating tomorrow, but thankful Marino doesn't know what he's missing. He's taking a nap now and resting peacefully.

Updates later...

Pneumonia

This really came out of no where. Marino had a runny nose and cough on Wednesday, but nothing that seemed severe. Thursday morning he was cranky with the same symptoms, but no fever and the cough seemed to be from post nasal drip. I got a call from daycare around 4:30pm that Marino was coughing incessantly and wasn't responding to breathing treatments. When I got to daycare, he was having constant chest retractions (his chest was caving in with each breathe). With all of our prior issues, I'd never seen him have chest retractions before, so I called our pediatrician and took him straight to the ER from daycare.

Luckily, the hospital was very responsive and within minutes we had a respiratory therapist and a team of doctors and nurses helping. They did a chest x-ray, flu test, a RSV test, a white cell count and several nebulizer treatments. He responded to each of the breathing treatments, but only for a few minutes, then he went right back to the chest retractions. The chest x-ray showed pneumonia, so we were admitted. They're doing breathing treatments every 2 hours, IV steroids and antibiotics. His oxygen is also low, so they are trying to give him oxygen, but, um, have you ever tried putting a nasal canula on a 15 month old? Not so easy.

Updates tomorrow. Thoughts and prayers requested.