Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

It feels so good to be home!  5 days of staring down hospital walls is enough for me to take.  To think I did 10 days of this 3 years ago... how did I not go crazy!

Lucas did so good through the night and stayed completely off the oxygen.  Dr. Bennett came in this morning and gave us the run down of everything we need to do once we get home.  He needs to stay on his Asthma medicine (2 of them) for the next few days and then maintain for the rest of the winter.  He'll also be taking a steroid for the next 3 days.

I had them take his O2 stat right before we left and it was at 91.  Not great, but good enough to go home.  It will continue to increase as he also gets over the wheezing and coughing.

He was very excited to leave, but now that were home, I think he's missing the x-box and the freedom to play  it whenever.

Just as I pulled into the driveway this morning, the hospital called and told me I had left my phone charger.  So back to the hospital I went.  Just couldn't get enough of the place!  Good thing we were at the hospital in Payson.

Keys to Survival

Did you know that there are a few key elements we need to survive??!!  Oxygen, Food and Water (and pooping).  I guess Lucas wanted a little refresher course because he has to do all of these before leaving the hospital.   

1.  Yesterday they took out the IV and now he's on his own to drink enough fluids.  He's struggling with this a bit, but was so excited to finally get the IV out that he promised he would drink lots.  Water: Check

2.  Saturday evening he finally pooped.  Yeah!!  (He's going to be so thrilled I mentioned this on the blog!)  He's been going pretty regularly since.  Poop: Check

3.  He had little appetite when we first arrived and had hardly eaten anything the previous couple of days.  That's improved quite a bit!  He loves their hamburgers so that and cereal are about the only thing I can get him to, eat here (Although after about 4 hamburgers he's says he can't eat another!).  Food: Check

Side note:  My appetite would never increase if I was depending on this hospital's food...yuck!  But seriously, what is it that stinks so bad about the little serving/warming plates that they bring.  They smell the same in every hospital and they REEK!  If I ever decide to invent something it's going to be non stinky serving plates for hospitals.

4.  IN goes the good air, OUT goes the bad air!  (Did anyone else play that game when they were little???)  This has been his biggest struggle.  He does good and then it'll drop again.  Today he's been without oxygen most of the time and it's stayed in the 88-90 range.  He had a nap today and they had to put the oxygen back on because he kept dropping between 84-86.  Tonight though he's been staying the 90's awake.  I think we might be headed somewhere in the right direction.

This morning he woke up with a really bad headache and threw up twice.  Part because of the headache and part because of coughing.  They ordered another chest x-ray which just showed signs of Asthma.  They've decided to treat the asthma pretty aggressively with steroids, albuterol every 4 hrs, and flovent.  They gave him an oral steroid, even though I told him he throws them back up.  Yup... 30 seconds later up came all his breakfast.  After that he had to have the shot in his arm.  He wasn't to excited, but whatever works!

So here's the skinny on what he had.  The viral study came back positive for Viral Pneumonia, the Human Metapneumovirus to be exact.  (Just found this out today)  Apparently it's been going around and most likely it's what all my children had.  He just had it a lot worse and it triggered his asthma.  So what about the x-ray that showed the bacterial pneumonia??  Well, he was given heavy doses of antibiotics... Amoxicillan & Zithromax to be on the safe side.  But, it could have also been a partially collapsed lung.  According to the doc, they look similar on x-ray.  Now that the viral test was positive, they stopped the antibiotics and are focusing on the Asthma.  Make sense??  Well it's taken me a while to wrap my brain around all the back and forth diagnosis's.

Here there always making him cough and telling how it's such a good thing.  Guess I'll have to be more patient when my children have coughs and stop telling them to "STOP COUGHING"!!  But it's so annoying!! :)

So he's sitting at 95-96 O2 and coughing less.  Maybe tomorrow...

Hospital Love

Lucas has a thing for hospitals and making sure we use our insurance to the fullest!  It has now been a little over 48 hours since he was admitted to the hospital here in Payson.

It started back on Tuesday when I decided to keep him home from school because he woke up with a bad cough.  Kody had been coughing the week before and I figured he must have shared with his brother.  Wednesday was even worse and his eyes were really really blood shot.  That evening I finally took him to see the doctor at the clinic.  Because it was after hours, we didn't see our regular doctor.  He checked him out and decided that due to an infection his asthma had flaired up and was making him extremely wheezy.  The checked is oxygen stats and they were around 87.  I had instructions to take him the Payson office where this specific doctor (Dr. Bartholomew) would be working the next day just so he could test his O2 stats again.

Blood shot eyes at the doctors office Wed. night

Thursday morning Lucas woke up feeling fine.  If it hadn't been for doctors orders the previous night, I might have sent him to school.  I almost didn't end up taking him to get tested because he seemed all back to normal although his color was a little off. I dropped Kody off to preschool and the rest of us headed to Payson.  The nurses checked his oxygen and I was shocked to see it at 84.  They tried different fingers and everything.  84 is to low!  The immediately consulted the doctor who was doing rounds at the hospital.  He called up to pediatrics and within a few minutes we were on the 3rd floor getting all situated.

Reading a card from his good buddy Mason

He was put on oxygen and given a breathing treatment.  When the doctor came in to check in on him he also ordered an IV since he was extremely dehydrated and his color was was not good.  He oxygen monitor kept going off so they kept increasing the liters.  By the time they got it above 88 he was at 4 liters. (What ever that means!)  He had a chest x-ray done, lab work & a viral nose study thing.he

For some reason I wasn't thinking this was super serious and thought we'd be here for a little while and then head home.  HA!!  The x-ray came back clear so it was determined that he had probably a viral pneumonia that also triggered an asthma flair up.  Over the next little bit they worked on lowering the O2, but eventually they'd have to turn it back up.  He slept off and on and played a little Xbox.  When he was sleeping his O2 monitor would go off quite regularly.  They did breathing treatments quite often, but sometimes I felt that they didn't do anything.  Jed slept with him that night I went home with Hadley.  My sister had been watching Kody an Ryker that afternoon and evening.  Hadley was starting to sound horrible and junky and didn't sleep very good that night.  Jed says he was up a lot more with Lucas, but I'm not so sure! :)

Xbox keeping him company

Friday I came around 9 with the kids to trade Jed.  He took the day off work and stayed home with Kody & Ryker.  Lucas seemed to be doing about the same.  He had had several breathing treatments through out the night and had continued to cough a lot.  About 11 that morning the doctor came in to check on him.  He was really struggling with his oxygen stats so they tried to put a mask on him.  He freaked out big time and started crying and yelling that he couldn't breathe.  I'm not to fond of the mask either since it gives a feeling of claustrophobia.  But the nose tube wasn't cutting it anymore so we had to do something.  Right after that he spiked a 103 fever and kept crying and saying his head hurt really really bad.  By the way he was acting, I was pretty sure his head was going to explode.  This was the first time I got really nervous.  I'm so grateful that the doctor happened to be here during all of this.  Another x-ray was ordered, more blood work, and a heavy dose of Motrin was given.  He was on fire and I felt so bad.  They wouldn't let him leave the room, so the x-ray team brought up the portable machine and did it right here.  I was given a roll up tape and tubing and rigged up a make shift blow-by that I taped to his pillow.  This way he didn't have to wear the mask, but he was getting more than just the nose tube.  He had to keep it right next to his mouth, but it worked for the majority of the day and as long as he didn't move, his stats stayed ok.  The doc sat down with me after things were under control and said he had a very serious lung infection and would need to start antibiotics.  He had gone down to look at the x-ray and was pretty sure there was a start of strep pneumonia in the left lung.  The radiologist ended up reading it the same way.  I felt so bad because he just kept looking at me with tears in his eyes saying he wanted to go home.

This picture is hard to see, but it's the make shift O2 thingy I taped to his pillow.

Jed and our friend Brett came a little while later to give him a blessing.  By this point that meds had kicked in, he had slept, and he had done a complete 180.  It was crazy to say the least.  I couldn't believe that just a couple hours before he looked awful.  That night he felt much better but still struggled with the O2.  It was starting to maintain a little bit more so they lowered the liters and he was okay until about 3 in the morning when the monitor kept going off again.

Hadley's been his cheerleader

I came in about 7:30 this morning to relive Jed so that he could go to work for a little while.  Brett and Jen helped us with Kody and Ryker for a few hours today!  Today has been the best day so far.  He's been weaned to 1 liter and as stayed around 92.  He has an IV antibiotic every 8 hours and 1 by mouth once a day.  Hopefully whatever decided to take up residence is being evicted pronto!!  I'm hoping maybe tomorrow is our lucky day.

My parents are coming down today to get Ryker & Kody for a few days.  They'll be in heaven and it'll be nice to get Lucas back on the healthy side.

Thank you for all the prayers, calls, concerns, and love!  We really really appreciate it.  We could not ask for better family and friends.

P.S.  For some reason I can't seem to remember to bring my camera to the hospital.  Horrible phone pics will have to do for now.

My Christmas Senses Book

Today Lucas sat down and made a book on the 5 senses of Christmas.  I thought it was too cute not to post.  We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas

 My Christmas Senses Book, By Lucas Illustrated

 Christmas tastes like gum drop and oranges.

 Christmas feels like snow and presents.

Christmas smells like cookies and hot chocolate.

Christmas sounds like love and joy.

Christmas looks like presents and lights.

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween, the kids got to dress up a few times.  After spending time on costumes, I'm grateful when they get to use them more than once!  Some of the pictures below are from the trunk or treat also.

Lucas was our Glow in the Dark Ghost.  He had a bunch of light sticks pinned to his clothes underneath.  It looked pretty cool.  By the end of trick or treating Halloween night, the sheet had seen better days!

 Glow in the Dark Ghost

Kody wanted to be a Rodeo Clown.  He absolutely loved his costume and we did paint his face for Halloween.

Rodeo Clown 

Ryker has wanted to be a Bull Rider for about 6 months.  He looked so darn cute, and the flack jacket looked awesome.  He wasn't to excited about it, but I told him the only way he's get candy is if he wore it.  (I spent too much time for him not too!)  We had his sponsor on the back be B&M Boot Repair.  The reason we have all this stuff! :)

Bull Rider

My little Halloween Girl.  I made her skirt and onesie and my mom made her hat and bow with the spider.  She was adorable!

Class Clown

This picture totally cracks me up.  Anyone who knows Ryker, knows how he loves to look out the corner of his eyes at you.  He's such a goof!

If I or Jed gets mad and says "Ryker, I'm going to spank your bum."  He responds with "very hard???"  Every  time I have a hard time keeping a straight face or staying mad!  Love this boy!

Princess Hadley

I took her to church today in her dress and snapped a few pictures afterwards.  She's so much fun and even started laughing a little.  So darn cute!

Hadley's Special Day

We blessed our Hadley Kate today.  It started off a bit rocky when Jed woke up in the middle of the night throwing up.  Not what we had planned!  We arranged with the bishopric to do it at our home after Sacrament Meeting rather than risk something happening at church.  Jed did a great job, even though he was not feeling so hot during it.  I feel so blessed to her mom.  She's an angel baby... literally the best baby ever!!  She melts our hearts and gives us the best smiles ever.  We were so grateful to have most of our family here (we missed the Call's!).  We celebrated afterwards with a yummy ham, baked potatoes and salads with some sugar cookies for dessert.

I didn't get any individuals of Hadley in her pretty dress, but I will soon.  I think I'll even take her to church in it next week.  She looks like a princess and we need to show her off! (I can say that... I'm her mom AND the writer of this blog!)

He thinks he's waited FOREVER...

but today finally came and off to preschool he went!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!  I don't know who's more excited, me or Kody!  We decided to do a neighborhood preschool this year.  All the moms will take turns teaching (I think it's 4 weeks) and it's free!  Another YAY!!!!!!!!!!!  I think he'll have a great time, and that's all that matters!

He had to take an All About Me paper with a few items that represent him.  Below are his answers (done all by himself).

My name is: Kody Jedediah Valentine
I like to be called: Kody
My favorite food is: Pizza
My favorite color is: Blue
My favorite sport is: Basketball
My favorite game is: Playing Horses
My favorite book is: Cowboy Camp
My favorite movie is: Flicka and Spirit
My favorite TV show is: Mickey Mouse
My favorite animal is: Horse
My favorite subject in school is: Playing with toys
What I do best: Ride Horses

Do you sense a reoccurring theme???!!  Guess what he took as his objects... a cowboy and a horse (and a fruit snack)!

1st Grader

This boy has been so ready for school to start.  We met his teacher, Mrs. Olson last Friday and that made him even more excited.  She's so cute and nice and she even has a pet frog.

Today finally arrived!  He woke up, got dressed and immediately put his back pack on.  We drove him over to the school, and he told me I didn't need to walk him in.  We did anyways... but maybe he had a point since I had to have 3 other kids in tow!  

When he got home this afternoon I asked him how his day was and he said "my teacher is so NICE, she let us have 3 recesses!"  I think he has a fantastic day!

Here's a few of Lucas' favorite things right now...

My favorite food is... Pizza
My favorite sport to play is... Baseball
The best show on television is... Garfield
The coolest person on Earth is... My friends
My favorite thing to learn about in school is... Math
The thing I do most awesomely is... Play with my friends
If I could go anywhere in the world, I'd go to... Grandma's
My favorite color is... All of them
When I grow up, I'm going to be a... Doctor
My current favorite song is... Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam
The book I am loving right now is... My Dinosaur Book
Three words that describe me are... Smart, Fast, Cool
When I was little, I use to... Go for walks
My favorite season of the year is... Summer
The snack I like the best is... Fruit Roll-ups
One food that I really dislike is... Gravy
My best friend is... Mason and Kyle
If I had one wish it would be... The Nicest Mom (hmmmm... am I suppose to be offended here??!!)
My best memory is... When I got to hold Hadley

Birth Announcement

Here's the birth announcement we sent out.  I can't believe I caught the picture of her smiling.  She was only a week or so old.

3 Boys and a Little Lady

I'm afraid this little girl doesn't just have her daddy wrapped around her finger, but her 3 old brothers also.  They are very concerned about Hadley and practically maul her if she makes any sort of noise.  They always want to hold and kiss her.  She's lucky to have these 3 who love her so much!  They are constantly telling me how much they do love her.  Lucas loves to show her off to his friends.  Kody loves to burp her and try to get her to sleep.  Ryker just loves to hold her... so much so that he things he's big enough to pick her up.  Yesterday he dropped her before I could get there quick enough.  Thankfully he was already low to the ground.

I am so blessed to have these 4 kids in my life.  Each second is an adventure, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!