We are Home

Jared and his hospital buddy. Feeling much better!

Not feeling so good!

We are home! We got home yesterday afternoon and Jared and I were both so happy to be home. He had invasive Streptococcus Pneumoniae. It is a common bacteria that often causes ear infections and pneumonia but becomes invasive if it invades a normally sterile area, which in Jared's case was his blood. This bacteria also causes bacterial meningitis if it gets into the spinal fluid. I am so very grateful that we were able to get Jared in the hospital and treated so quickly because things could have gotten so much worse. I'm glad that his body spiked that high fever so quickly so that we knew that we needed to get him help immediately! If we had waited, the bacteria could have crossed the blood brain barrier and caused meningitis or could have started affecting his organs. We were so blessed that it turned out so well. He is doing awesome!

His nephrologist thinks that it might be best to just keep him home from pre-school and away from bugs for the next few weeks. There are so many nasty bugs around right now and he has been sick for months now and we just need to keep him healthy for awhile. I feel bad keeping him from pre-school because he loves it so much, but he has only been there 3 days in the last month because of illness anyway!

It has been a crazy month but we are so blessed to have us all home and healthy. Alyssa is doing pretty well. We think that she might still be having a few small seizures at night but nothing big and we will talk to the neurologist in a couple of weeks.

We woke up to a foot of snow this morning and it is still coming down! It has been such a dry winter that we almost forgot what snow looked like! Alyssa and her friend have already built a snowman and Tyler is going sledding with his friends later. It should be a nice day!

We are Home

Answers

We have answers today! Jared's blood tested positive for a type of bacteria that is very common and usually causes pneumonia. His body was shedding the bacteria into his blood and that is why he got so sick so fast. Luckily, the IV antibiotic that they started that night was a great one to treat this particular bug and that is why is doing so much better so quickly! As soon as the sensitivity tests come back showing that this antibiotic is the right one to treat it, we are out of here! They were hoping that the results would be back this afternoon so that we could go home tonight but it will be tomorrow morning. He'll be on oral antibiotics when we go home but we won't have to worry about keeping the IV ones once we are released. Yeah!

The sample that they took from his ear that has been draining for the last several weeks grew 2 different kinds of bacteria. No wonder why it has been bad for so long! The ENT came this morning and suctioned out all of the gunk so that the drops can actually get to where they need to be, so hopefully, that ear will get better now.

So, things are looking up. Jared has been so good and it has actually been really nice being able to spend some time with him alone without too many distractions. We've gotten a lot of snuggle time in! He is understanding more about what is going on and that has made it easier for both of us. He can understand now why we are doing different things and so I don't feel like I am holding him down to be tortured as much. As far as hospital stays go, this one hasn't been bad at all. We should be home tomorrow! Jared can't wait to see Daddy, Tyler and Alyssa!

The Fun Never Ends!

Well, the fun never ends at the our house. Jared was admitted into PCMC last night. He was great all day but at 6 pm last night he started acting like he wasn't feeling very well and felt like he was running a fever. We were at a HopeKids activity at the time and so as soon as we got home at 7 pm I took his temperature and it was 104.7!!!! He has never had a temperature that high before and he was not looking good at all. So we headed up to the ER. The whole drive up to the hospital I just couldn't help but laugh because the last few weeks have been so crazy! You either have to laugh or go crazy, so I decided to laugh! :)

The ER was packed when we got there and I was so worried that it would take forever to get him back and away from all of the germs, but apparently, if you are a transplant patient with a super high temperature and an elevated heart rate and respiratory rate you get red flagged and we were back in a room within minutes. There are some perks to being a transplant patient! :) They got an IV in him quickly and have sent out cultures of every body fluid that he has. We got up to a room at about 1 am and here we are!

They started IV antibiotics last night and he is doing so much better today. He has been fever free all afternoon and looks so much better. We are just waiting for the results from the cultures but his labs are looking good. Hopefully we'll have a better idea of what we are dealing with soon. I'm just so relieved to see him doing so much better. He was so miserable last night.

Jared is amazing. He is so strong and brave. We've had to put two IVs in already because the first one failed this morning and each time he was so good and would look at me with tears in his eyes and say, "I be happy mommy. I be happy". He has been such a trooper and handles all of this so well. I'm so grateful for this wonderful hospital and for the amazing people that work here. It truly is a special place and our home away from home. We have had all of our friends from transplant clinic stop by to visit and we know our way around. I remember the first day that I walked through these doors on the day that they transported Jared here when he was just a few days old. It was so scary and full of so many unknowns. So much of Jared's four years of life have been spent in these walls. PCMC has been an integral part of our lives and I feel so blessed that we have this amazing hospital full of amazing people that have helped our Jared in so many ways.

Well, time to get back to my Jer Bear. We are about to watch Space Buddies for the seventh time today! :) Hopefully we will have a good night and will know more tomorrow.