Pnuemonia - Part 2

As I said before in our previous post, Sunday morning, after spending about 15 minutes celebrating Easter, we sent Cody with Grandma & Grandpa Huntsman, and we took our sick little boy to Primary Children's Hospital. I was a little nervous about taking our boy to a second hospital in just a few days, but I needed to find out what was going on with our sweet little boy.

It turns out that his pneumonia had spread into most of his left lung, and when the white blood cells tried to attack it, they over flowed out of his lung and started gathering fluid on the outside of his lung. The pressure was sitting on his diaphragm and the pneumonia in his lung was causing extreme pain, making it really hard for him to breath, and even harder to walk. (explaining why he hadn't walked for a whole week by this point!)

We were admitted and started right away on a broad series of antibiotics that covered just about everything, through his IV every six hours. Even after just a few hours it seemed like he was improving!

On Monday 4-5-10, we were told that the fluid on the outside of his lung looked like it needed to be drained to release the pressure it was putting on his poor little body, which meant our little Bo baby needed a chest tube to help drain the fluid. It was a fairly simple procedure. They took him down to radiology where they sedated him, and we got to be with him all the way up until he fell asleep. We then had to give him a big kiss, and step out to wait for him in the waiting room. Before we went down for the procedure, Bo had been playing with some little farm toys, and he had latched on to a little duck. He carried it in his little hand all the way down to the radiology department, held on to it throughout the sedation, and then proceeded to hold his little duck through the whole procedure, and all the way back to his room! The Dr. and nurses had to comment on how strong he must be, and how much he must love his farm animals to make it through all that! Even at scary times, Bo finds a way to make me laugh till my cheeks hurt! The draining started and we were told he would have it anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks!

The chest tube was about the size of a straw with a little curly pig tail at the end. They showed it to us before putting it in, but I didn't get a picture! Here is our little Bo all hooked up!

This is what was at the other end of his tube. The red stuff is all the liquid being drained from his little chest! More than I'd like to see! And the blue part is the suction part that helped pull it out. Not. so. fun.

On Wednesday 4-7-10 Bo had a PIC Line put into his arm. It was a 20 minute procedure. He was sedated again, and they ran a line through his vein up his arm into his chest. It made me so nervous at first, but then the perks way outwayed my reservations. With his pic line, the Dr's and nurses were able to draw blood without poking him, and to give him his medicine without hurting him. His IV in his hand had started to get sensitive whenever they had to put something in it, so it was nice to see him not hurt, and able to use both his hands again!

Thursday 4-8-10. Bo finally walked! It was the first time in two weeks that I had seen him even stand up on his own! It made me so happy! The restrictions he had on him to stay in his room were finally lifted, so we were able to take him to the Playroom for the first time!

He was a little nervous to get in the chair we brought to wheel him down to the play area, but once we go there, and he saw other kids, and all the toys, he perked right up!

It was a little awkward for him at first with all his tubes, and junk connected to him, and he was so weak, he just sat on the ground for a minute.

Here he is playing with the dinosaurs. He would just scoot on his bum to get what he wanted, then he started crawling, and finally, he stood to walk. It was like learning to walk all over again! He was so tipsy, but he is one determined little man! (You can see all the stuff he was hooked to in the background)

He was so excited to see a little baby. It makes me laugh when he calls everyone a baby.

They had the coolest toys! It was fun to see a little glimpse of "our Bo!" There were so many other children in there, and it made me so grateful that our problems, as big as they seemed to us, were nothing compared to what some of the other families were dealing with. Cancer, brain surgeries, back injuries, all kinds of things. Those sweet little children, who were all hurting, but taking a minute to just try to be kids. PCH knows what they are doing!

We were only in the playroom for about 30 minutes. Bo got tired so quickly, but it was so nice to get out of our room and be around other people for a minute!

Some sweet person donated all these big stuffed Moose's to the children at the hospital. Bo was so excited when they brought it in to him! I can't believe how caring and giving some people are.

Friday 4-9-10 Bo got his Chest tube out!! We were so excited to see that thing go! The poor little girl across the hall from us had the same thing as Bo, but she had been there for three weeks, and had a chest tube as well as a feeding tube. After Bo got his chest tube out, the poor little girl had to get another one put in on her other side! They were the same age, and my heart hurt for that poor little family!!

After the chest tube came out, Bo perked up even more. He was teasing me by putting two pacifiers in his mouth at the SAME TIME. He was laughing so hard it just made me laugh!

What a little joker! I can't tell you how nice it was to see some life in that little babies body again after two weeks of him being so lethargic and lifeless.

You know your baby is feeling better when he's wanting Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and doing anything he can to get out of that bed!! He sat in this chair forever playing with his animals, and just enjoying the freedom of not being hooked up to so many things!

We were in the process of getting rid of that binky when he got sick. We were down to only having it at night, but then when he got sick, I was all about giving him whatever he wanted if it would make him even a tiny bit happier!

And FINALLY we were ready to go home!! We had gathered up all our stuff, and he got dressed for the first time in a week! It was a little sad to put his clothes on him only to see that even though they fit before, they were now huge on him, and his pants wouldn't stay up. I even had to get some diapers a size smaller! At least we were going home with a baby on the mend!

He had the BEST nurses day & night the whole time we were there, and of course he won them over. Who can resist that sweet little face singing "E-I-E-I-O!" They would even bring in other nurses just to see him, and have him demonstrate their favorit animal sounds! He's just a little charmer! We could not have been treated better!

We went home with his PIC line still in, and met with home health care. They took care of us for two weeks, and they were super nice. However, I am so happy to report that his PIC line is gone, and so are the nurses, and everyone else who helped us along the way! Although he is still on oral antibiotics, and will be for another 10 days, it seems like all of this is behind us, and it's nice to be on this side of things. Nothing like a healthy dose of pneumonia to kick your testimony in the butt! I cannot even begin to express my appreciation to our father in heaven for the blessings he bestowed on our little family during this time. We were blessed with such a great family who all took turns taking care of my Cody so Cory and I were able to do what we needed to in order to continue taking care of Bo. We didn't have to worry about one thing the whole time we were in the hospital except getting our Bo better. We came home to a clean house (Thanks Kelly & Jill!) And yummy dinner! (Thanks Mom & Dad!) And a big thanks to everyone who took turns watching Cody and taking care of all his wants and needs. Lastly, I am so thankful for modern medicine and so grateful that Bo was able to be treated so quickly and efficiently and made healthy and strong. I have nightmares about what would have happened had we been those poor pioneers who not so long ago lost there loved ones to this very thing.

THANK YOU!

We love you!