Day 22

Grasshopper is doing good today. No breathing treatments last night. He's still not back to his old self but he's doing better. The doctors haven't done rounds on him yet so he isn't nursing. He's getting breastmilk through his feeding tube. We've had some cuddle time. I'm really looking forward to coming home.

Yea for Grasshopper!

Update on the little man. They took out his tube just after 10 am. He's resting peacfully now. He's doing good. They are going to start his meds back up this afternoon. They want to wean him off cause the meds are pretty heavy duty and they don't want him to have nasty side effects from going cold turkey. He's got a little oxygen tube resting in his nose for pressure since his lungs have had regular pressure for almost two weeks. Here's a picture I took after we had some cuddle time.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray that he will continue to improve. We would like him to pass tonight (an assesment to move to a regular room) so that he can move to the 7th floor. Once there they will talk about releasing him. Home for Christmas is definitely in reach. :)

Prayer Request

There was a couple about mine and Nathan's age staying in the room next to us at the Ronald McDonald House. They had a 2 year old little girl and a little boy Grasshopper's age. They are from the Mansfield area. About the same time Grasshopper came here the Mansfield ER sent their little boy here because he had been choking. When they got here the doctors discovered that the little boy had a hole in his heart...this was completely out of the blue for them.
He was stablized and then they had to wait for surgery. He was opperated on yesterday and afterwards they were given a good report. The surgery went fine. Then yesterday afternoon the little boy died. I wasn't able to say goodbye before they left this morning. I would appreciate your prayers for this little family. The mom was really sweet and I can't imagine what it would feel like to go home without your little one.
Please pray for a spirit of peace over Grasshopper in the morning. We're still scheduled to get the tube out. I can't wait to hold him and nurse him. I'm so ready to see him awake again.

Purple Nightgown

Today Grasshopper has clothes on for the first time in a couple of weeks. They put a purple infant hospital gown on him this morning after his bath. How cute!! Only he's not a girl. :)

Update...at 4 am tomorrow morning they will stop his feed line and start IV fluids. They will switch his meds over to some different ones and get him ready to be excabated. (take out the breathing tube) They are going to do it in his room. Please pray for peace for Grasshopper. We want him to remain calm through a breathing treatment and give himself time to adjust to not being on the ventalator. We are hoping to be home in time for Christmas....my brother-in-law Sam's present isn't quite finished. Don't worry Sam I'll make sure it's done.

Grasshopper Update

Here's the latest on little Grasshopper.
Yesterday there was a cancellation in the morning so they took him for surgery at 11 am. The surgeon wanted to do scope before the procedure to see what he was working with. He found that the swelling was going down and was able to put a bigger tube in than had been in before. They put his tube back in and put him back on steriods.
They are going to wait until Thursday and try taking out his breathing tube and let him try on his own again. They aren't scaple happy here and I'm thankful for that.
Pray that my milk supply keeps up. And pray that Grasshopper will stay calm on Thursday and breath well on his own. We would love to be home in time for Christmas.
I have internet access and a computer in his room now so I can check my email frequently and update my blog.
I had some serious catching up to do on all my blogs.

Update on the Grasshopper

Friday Dec. 7.
The night before they started changing his sedation meds in preparation for removing his breathing tube.
At 11 am they took out his tube and everything sounded clear. Once he was fully awake the chest retractions, wheezing, coughing, and everything else came back in full force. He had two breathing treatments and the heli/ox combo mentioned earlier.
At 10 til noon they put his breathing tube back in and sedated him. His breathing returned to normal.
His surgery is scheduled for Monday at 4 pm.
I'm home for the weekend to attend my sister's musical and to go to our church Christmas dinner. I'm also spending some time with the kids. The surgeon gave me a rundown of how the operation will go and said that there would be at least 10 days afterwards in the hospital. So, we're looking at Christmas in the hospital. It's not what we would want but we're getting the problem fixed. I will be coming home on Christmas Eve morning and then going back to Akron on Christmas night. We should be able to cram all our festivities in that time frame.
Thank you all for your prayers and help during this time.

Akron...Day 8

Monday Dec. 10

Due to his little nickname "Wild Man" they have given him a rather strong muscle relaxer. The sedatives were just not cutting it for him so now they don't have to give him so much of that. Every hour or so he would start kicking and moving his arms and arching his back. They didn't want him to move his tube because it would further irritate his throat. They will let it wear off tomorrow and then put him back on it for another 24 hours. Last night he developed a leak around his breathing tube meaning that some of the swelling was going down. However, this morning the leak was gone. If he can develop a leak and keep it then they might not need to do surgery. But if it doesn't come back then they will need to do the surgery. For those of you who like to look up things on line the surgery is called a cricoid split. I think that is spelled correctly. We still don't know if it will be tomorrow or on Wednesday. I'm praying it will be tomorrow because AJ's first school program is Wednesday night and I'd really like to be there for it. With the muscle relaxer he doesn't twitch at all which means mommy can kiss him a little and hold his hand and talk to him more. His temperature dropped pretty low this evening so they are doing some blood work to make sure that he doesn't have an infection. He also got something in his bed called a snuggle bear. It's like a warm air mattress that goes under him and keeps him warm. Thank you all for your prayers. My sweet friend Allison came for a visit this evening. We had fun driving to a local mall with her two girls. We had Chinese for dinner and then did some shopping. I got Nathan's Christmas present...but it went home with her so he will never know what it is. :) I got out of the hospital for a couple hours and it was a nice break. Tomorrow is our MOPS Christmas party and it's the first time I've missed the Christmas meeting since I started going to MOPS. My thoughts will be with you all.Pray that my milk supply will stay strong. So far I've been able to pump enough to keep him supplied continuously but pumping is not as effective as nursing. Pray for the other kiddo's...they have been having temperatures and throwing up and my mom and Nathan are taking care of them.

Adventures in Akron

Hi ya'll. This is my no frills update on Grasshopper.
Friday night 11/30 ER trip and diagnosed with croup. Given a breathing treatment and steriods and sent home.
Saturday night/early Sunday morning. Breathing treatment and at 7:30 am taken to the ER.
Sunday morning- Breathing treatment in the ER transfered me and him to Akron Children's Hospital in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He was put on a helium/oxygen mixture and given an IV in his forehead.
Sunday night/Monday morning- Taken off heli-ox and IV taken off at noon. He was transfered to a regular room. His dr. wanted him to go 24 hours without a breathing treatment.
Tuesday 5 am- another breathing treatment. Great day and good night.
Wednesday 5 am- another breathing treatment. Great day and good night.
Thursday 5 am- another breathing treatment. Great day and good night.
Friday 7:30 am- another. breathing. treatment. an okay day.
Saturday midnight, 4 am and 9 am.- breathing treatments. They brought in an ear nose and throat dr to look at him to see what else could be going on. They did a scope at 3 pm and discovered that his little throat is too small. Instead of 3.5 millimeters it's only 2.5 millimeters in diameter. It's call subglottic stenosis. They immediately put in a breathing tube and feeding tube and transfered him back to the P.I.C.U. He's fully sedated and will be having surgery on Monday or Tuesday. After the surgery he will be sedated for 7 days with a breathing tube and feeding tube. He's getting breastmilk in the feeding tube so we will still be breastfeeding when he's better. Once he's done 7 days they will let him wake up and nurse and then when he's stable transfer him back to a regular room and finish his recovery. Please pray that we can bring him home for Christmas. You can call my cell and leave me a message. I'll call with updates as to how he's doing. He's only on 25 % oxygen right now so he's doing most of the breathing work himself. Thank you for all your prayers.
In his regular room with the IV hookup on his forehead.
Dad and Grasshopper sitting out an antibiotic treatment in his IV with his little seal from the nurses.
In the P.I.C.U. fully sedated with breathing and feeding tube.