The Last Week

Last Thursday we had an appointment with Colin's pulmonologist to go over blood results and talk about our next step from the bronoscopy.
   I was nervous going into the appointment because a lot of the tests we had done were for CF. So we get to the appointment and are called right back. (The nice part of having the first appointment after lunch)
  Very soon after we got in the room the doctor walked in the door. This set off a red flag for me, because we never see the doctor first. We always see a resident who talks to us and examines the kids and then the doctor comes in.
   So he comes in and first words out of his mouth say when did the excma start? I told him that we had been battling it for about 2 months and I wasn't sure if it was an allergic reaction or eczema. He said it was definitely eczema and that it was an easy fix he would prescribe a new med for us to put on Colin.  He wanted Colin to soak in the tub for 20 minutes a day and then put the medicine on him and then vaseline to keep all moisture on his skin.
  I then start to talk about the cough. He says well let me examine him, because I think the cough has to do with the findings that we have. That made my heart race. My mind is going to CF or some other horrible illness. So he examines Colin. The whole time Colin is coughing every minute or two.
  So we sit down after the exam and he says, so we knew that there was strep A in his lungs but he also had other multiple bacteria in his lungs. All the blood work came back normal so we don't have any immune disorders we are worried about but I want to admit Colin to the hospital for 2-3 days. In that time we will put in a picc line and he will see an infectious disease specialist. I also want to get an ultrasound of his spleen.
   We were allowed to go home, pack our bags and we were to head back to the hospital between 6-7 that evening.
   So on the way home I am making phone calls left and right to try to get the daycare covered, trying to inform family members of what is going on and so forth.
   We get home and I get a bag packed, close up the daycare and eat dinner.

Colin and I get to the hospital about 7 and get checked in down at admin. We were then told to go ahead and go to the 7th floor. So we got up there and were shown to our room.

Thursday night all that happened was intial vitals were done, talked to doctor, IV was put in and meds were started.
On Friday he had an ultrasound done by 8:30 am. He got his picc line placed and later in the afternoon we talked to the infectious disease specialist. She wasn't too concerned with his condition and said she wanted to see another 14 days of oral meds after the 14 days of IV and talked about surgery for his cleft if this doesn't work long term. We also saw his pulmonologist.
  Friday afternoon Colin took a late long nap, when he woke up he felt warm and was more lethargic than he had been.
By Saturday morning he was running a fever and was told we would not be going home that day. He was swabbed for RSV, Flu and other viruses. It came back that he had the Influenza A so we were started on Tamiflu.
 On Sunday he had to prove that he could/would eat and drink okay and also have wet diapers and we finally got to go home about 5:00.

He has gotten better everyday we have been home and is coughing the least I have seen in over a month. His nose is also starting to clear up. I'm really hoping we have a few weeks of a healthy boy.

We have lots of follow up appointments and at those we will get a game plan for going forward.

I would have never dreamed that I would be giving my son IV antibiotics. But they seem to be helping and I'm so greatful that we do not have to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks for him to receive this medicine.