Settling Down?

Daddy spiked my hair!
Ty loves these jammies and always wants them both to wear them. They like to play with Dad's hats too.

Tyler and Andrew both really like books. Tyler will occasionally read to Andrew.

They're so cute together!

Tyler's new smile. He had a good fall last month and completely knocked out one of his teeth and chipped two others. He looked beat up for a few days, but is getting along fine without the tooth now. He'll just have to wait until the adult one comes in.

Well, the last month has been much busier than we anticipated. On Jan 18th, Drew went in for dilation. We've gotten pretty used to the process, at least I have, and don't think too much of it anymore. Ryan went with me this time. On the drive up there I kept feeling like this time was different, but ignored it as just wandering thoughts. I was wrong.

Things went the same up to the point that I get to go to the post-anesthesia unit and be with him after the procedure.

Usually when I get onto the unit I can hear Andrew screaming. That day he was quiet. When I got to his bedside, he had oxygen going and his breathing was very rattled. The nurse was on the phone explaining to another nurse that Andrew had refluxed during the procedure, and inhaled his bile into his lungs. (This was a shock to me, because the surgeon had just told me 20 minutes before that things had gone well, and hadn't mentioned anything of this. Maybe it happened after, I don't know.)

When the nurse got off the phone she explained more to me and said that we would have to stay at least 4 hours for observation. They were concerned that he would develop pneumonia, and wanted him off oxygen and doing well before we went home.

Andrew did great once he woke up and was off oxygen. We were about ready to go home when he fell asleep again, and his oxygen percentage dropped. He had to be back on the oxygen to sleep. When he woke up again, he did even better than before. He dosed a little more, and was holding his own. By this point we had been in recovery 8 hours. Ryan and I were very ready to go home, and confident that Andrew would continue to improve. I let the nurse know that we were ready to leave. She was hesitant, but with the approval of another anesthesiologist we went home.

Andrew did fine the first night and the next day home. When I was putting him to bed the next night though, I noticed he was breathing VERY fast. I counted, and he was breathing about 65 breaths per minute. I called Primary's (by the way we're talking 11pm by now) and the nurse said that 40 breaths was fast, so I better take him to the ER.

So I bundled him up and off we went to the hospital in Price. Of course, it was snowing and the roads were covered, but with my heart pounding, we made it there. I unbuckled him and realized that he was now breathing a normal rate. Ugh- now what? I went inside and sat in the waiting room without registering, just to watch for a while. I was eventually the only one there and a nice nurse came and checked his oxygen level. It was 96%, which is good, so we went home. The next day I could tell he wasn't feeling well. I had sent Andrew and Tyler up to Brower's while I taught piano, as I usually do on Wednesdays. Half way through lessons Lisa called and said that Andrew was having a hard time breathing again, and was throwing up. So Ryan and I drove him back to the hospital. This time we registered. Drew's O2 level was still in the 90's, but since it was our second time there the nurse recommened we see the doc. The doc ordered a chest x-ray, which showed pneumonia. She asked where we would like to have him treated at, and Ryan promptly said Primary Children's. I ran home and got Tyler and clothes for all of us, and then rode in the ambulance to Salt Lake. Ryan and Tyler followed behind, with Grandma Shell and Grandpa Steve behind them. It was snowing again, but we still went fast. Three hours is a long time in the back of an ambulance with your sick baby strapped to a gourney. Luckily he slept the whole way.

Short version: Tyler wasn't able to stay with me, because of H1N1 restrictions, so he stayed at Grandma Nina's. Andrew did not have bacterial pneumonia (which is what was initially suspected because of the problems during dilation). He had rhinovirus, which causes the common cold for most of us. Andrew received IV fluids the first night we were there, and then pedialyte through his G-tube. After two days, the doctors said we could go home. Andrew was still not his healthy self, but I was confident we could take care of him at home. He always has a really hard time with colds, so that part was not new to me. He didn't have any problems breathing while we were in the hospital, so we went home Friday morning.

They did do another test with x-ray and determined that he had scar tissue in his lung that was not letting the air back out of his lung. (Was it the right or both? I can't remember now.) But just said that they would use a scope to look at it during his next dilation. No pneumonia.

The weekend went smooth and Drew was doing OK. Tues he had a pretty persistent cough, but it was dry. Wednesday it was a little more wet. Thursday it was more wet and bothering him more. He was coughing so often that he was having a hard time sleeping. Friday I took him to the doctor. She perscribed an anti-biotic, just to make sure there wasn't and bacteria growing in his lungs, and gave us a machine and perscription for breathing treatments.

Well, I did the first one when we got home, and he seemed pretty comfortable for a few hours. I was supposed to do the treatment every 8 hours, but after 4 hours he was having a hard time breathing. So I did another one. It helped for about an hour. By then it was 8 pm and he was breathing 60 breaths a minute again.

I called our surgeon, cuz he's really nice and gave me his cell phone number. He said we better get him back to the hospital. We risked it and drove ourselves there this time.

You can get into the ER pretty quick when you walk in and tell them you're child is having a hard time breathing. Once you're in it's still long though. They finally did another x-ray and put Drew on oxygen. Once again they took samples for testing to find out what was causing his trouble.

The x-ray just showed extra air in his lungs, thought to be caused from the scar tissue. This time he stayed in the hospital til Tues. It was confirmed that he had rhinovirus, again. He was on O2 all but the last 18 hours or so. Mostly he slept, and threw up occasionally. He always throws up when he's sick because of his reflux. It makes the nurses pretty nervous, but I assure them it's totally normal, and they let him stay on G-tube feeds.

Sunday Ty knocked his tooth out. Monday was my birthday and I woke up with the flu. I couldn't stay with Andrew while I had the flu, so Ryan stayed with him while I spent the day on the couch at my mom's with Tyler.

Quick version again: Tues we went home. Wednesday Ty had the flu. Thurs we went for follow-up and found out Andrew had double ear infections. We chose not to use anti-biotics, in hopes of keeping his immune system growing, and used essential oils to treat instead. It took another week, but Drew finally came around to his normal self again. He had the runs for 8 days, I think because he's also cutting teeth.

Ryan had the flu Super-Bowl Sunday.

Anyway, we are all happy and healthy once again. Hooray!!

Ryan has been selected to go to Texas for a training on a new area of work Neilson's is starting. He'll be learning how to test pressure relief valves. We're really excited for this opportunity for him.

Tyler is getting more anxious to get outside these days. We're all looking forward to warmer weather.

Andrew is starting to pull-up to stand and is starting to make sounds for words. He had lost his appetite for a while there. He hasn't gained weight for 4 months, and lost while he was in the hosptil. He suddenly has constant hunger now. Hopefully he'll gain weight now. His throat is narrowed again (it's been almost 5 weeks since dilation), so we're going for another dilation Monday. I'm hoping this time will be smooth. They will be looking in Andrew's lungs with a scope, so we should get some answers as to what is going on in his lungs.

Hope you and yours are doing well. We're glad to be home and feeling more settled again.