Surgical Resident

The surgical resident came in today. I honestly thought that she was a volunteer from the local high school. Anyway, I gave her a detailed summary of The Boy's surgical history and a summary of his oncological history.



It became apparent that she hadn't really read his medical history or listened to me. She examined his belly and said, "The incisions look good!" I replied, "They should. They're more than a year old. If they didn't, we'd be a lot more concerned."

She left, studied his chart for reals, then told me that she'd get Mommy or Daddy (otherwise known as the surgical attending) to come speak with me.



Sigh. Frightened little bunnies, indeed. Scrubs is WAY more correct than we want to think.


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Grumpy and Grouchy

So, I'm reasonably certain that The Boy's getting better, because he has been a huge pain in the butt for the past 24 hours. He has been a real 2-year old, disagreeing with everything, speaking incomprehensibly, throwing and breaking stuff, and pouring juice / cereal / noodles on the floor just because he can.



He is still spiking brief fevers every couple of hours, but the intensity and duration are decreasing. The last one went up to 38.3, which is the lowest crest he's had. The cough is still present, but mostly only after or during a tantrum. (Hence Musical Daddy's theory of the congestion causing the cough, which few of the doctors and none of the respiratory therapists believe. When will they learn that I'm always right?). They took some nose and throat cultures last night. That's accomplished by sticking swabs up his nose and down his throat, and by spraying water up his nose and suctioning it back out.

That went over swimmingly, let me tell you. The last time I saw bucking like that was a rodeo in Branson.

The diarrhea is still wonderfully present - thank you, vancomycin. You're the gift that keeps on giving. That continual spray of water has given him the usual nasty diaper rash. That makes the diaper changes an adventure.



Mommy spent most of the day at the hospital with Younger Bro and The Boy, and it was quite nice. YB was quite well-behaved and fun. He's starting to be quite reactive to us and to prefer one of us at different times. He definitely recognizes Musical Daddy as being fun and giggles, which I like. He enjoys turning over from back to front and front to back, particularly when we're putting pants on him. He can do "baby push-ups" when on his belly, and he's starting to push himself backwards. I'm so excited for him to start crawling and standing! It takes work to keep up, but it's lots of fun.



Plus, YB is now grabbing everything within arm's reach, including trying to get food and drinks from us. (And MD's iPhone, which isn't going to happen.)



Last night was relatively easy. The Boy was up until 11, but he let me watch some of the Giants game before bedtime. He was up and playing at 5:30, which is etter than the previous night.


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5am Playdate

It's 5:15am, and The Boy has been awake for about 90 minutes. Fortunately, he's been awake and playing, with a truck, his stacking blocks, and Playdoh.



It's a nice change over the previous two nights. He's still feeling crappy, and somewhat febrile, and coughing too much. However, he's still The Boy, and that counts for a lot.


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What a Day...

Grandma and The Boy had a rough night Saturday night. He's been having significant breathing issues, with very fast, shallow breaths and congestion. Lots of coughing, just like my own breathing, pseudo-asthma issues. Mommy and I, meanwhile, went to a musician's holiday party for a while, then got the car stuck overnight in a snowdrift. (No harm. The car was freed in the afternoon.)



He's been spiking fevers, then returning to normal, then spiking again, all while these breathing issues are continuing. The tachocardia seems to be gone, but the machines say that he's averaging 90 breaths per minute, which isn't good.



Still, he got some good playmat time today. That's a good thing. And, I got six hours of uninterrupted (well, except for Younger Bro smacking me on top of my head at around 6:30 this morning) sleep. Also good. The whole situation is not good, although we've upgraded from scared to concerned.



I did get some great Younger Bro time today. He's really starting to want to be with me, which I like. He's giggling in anticipation sometimes, and he gets mad when I stop making him giggle. That boy still loves chewing on my fingers, and he attacks them like a cat pouncing on a mouse. It's funny watching him attack my fingers then take full-jaw chews on them.



The Wife and I went out for breakfast on the way to the hospital, and we took YB with us. He's so happy and fun... He really charmed everyone at the restaurant.



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It's Quarter to 3...

4:45 chest xray. Blargh.


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Annoying

I hate intensive care. It's the most intrusive, least restful place imaginable. Still, I feel a lot better that we're here.

The Boy is packed in ice bags right now, in an attempt to bring his temperature down to normal levels. It's still over 103, but it seems to be stabilizing instead of increasing. They put another IV line in his foot, as his port is running adrenaline into his Body to attempt to bring his tacicardia (way too fast pulse) in line. It's been up around 200 bpm for eight hours now.

Of course, his pulse drops into the 140's, and he's sleeping comfortably. So, what happens?They put oxygen blowers into his nose. Hello, 210's and a wakeful, pissed-off The Boy. I shouldn't complain - I mean, I got my 20 minutes of sleep.

I just don't want my son crying in pain and begging for juice that he's not allowed to drink.

Happy Hannukah. I'll bet Christmas is going to be awesome.

This one is scary.


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Emergency Room

Update on The Boy: we are currently in the emergency room waiting for a room upstairs in oncology. There is a spot of pneumonia on his right lung and we are really unhappy about that. More information will follow as we learn it.

I am interested to see what the rooms in oncology look like. I have heard great things about them. We are waiting for vancomycin as soon as they hook that up we are going to go upstairs.

The boy has a fever of around 103 degrees and is short of breath, so there's an oxygen tube blowing air at him. He is resting uncomfortably right now, drinking juice and watching Super Nanny because none of us know how to change channels on the television.

I am writing this blog on my iPhone using new software to take dictation. I am speaking the blog, which is really cool and a definite plus new gadget.

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