Who Knows??

Tuesday night, waiting for antibiotics to kick in.

This is frustrating.  Aaron was doing sooooo good!  Like AMAZING during October, November and most of December.  We haven't seen oxygen saturations or oxygen needs like these in so many years!  In fact, when he caught a cold towards the end of December, we didn't even blink. There was plenty of wiggle room to increase oxygen and just stay home.  

And then there was the ear infection two weeks ago.  The one that landed him in the ambulance.  Or at least that's what we came up with because we couldn't find anything else.  They hit him with a powerful broad spectrum IV antibiotic and he got a little bit better so we went home.  By the weekend, he was struggling again.  Monday (like 6 days ago) his doctor called in a viral panel that would test for all sorts of viruses including Covid, and infectious disease up at Primary's was put on notice in case it came back positive.  If it was, he was going to be started on monoclonal antibodies.  Because as hard as it is to qualify for that given the shortage, he totally does.  High risk for not doing well?  Yep, that's him!  Severe heart or lung issues?  How about both.  

Anyway, that all came back negative so he saw Dr. K, his ped, on Tuesday.  His ear still looked a bit inflamed and we thought we could see some drainage.  Dr. K attempted to get a sample to culture and put him on a different strong, broad spectrum antibiotic.  (The sample actually ended up being skin cells, so that was a no go.)  It actually looked like the antibiotics were working.  By Wednesday evening, he was definitely better.  Thursday and Friday were pretty great days!  

Saturday, not so much.  Low grade fever.  Saturday night was rough.  Sunday was worse.  Morning was low-grade fever, but afternoon turned up the heat.  Literally.

103.9 at one point, and that was two hours AFTER Tylenol.  Breathing too fast (40-45 breaths per minute).  And just not doing well.  I went to William and told him I wanted to bounce things off of him.  Vitals wise, logically, Aaron needed to be seen.  And frankly, my plan was to call Dr. Knorr in the morning anyway and have him seen there.  But with the higher fever (that didn’t seem to improve at all with Tylenol) and all, I just wasn’t sure.  In fact, I told him that part of my conflict was that unlike other times when I was antsy and anxious, I didn’t feel the need to be rushing in.  So we discussed it, and each of us prayed (Michael, too) about it.  He asked me to pray first, and then Michael and asked what we thought.  Michael wasn’t sure. I was remembering a friend's son had something very similar happen a few years back, but they didn’t go in (because it’s just what we do!!) and then it was too late.  And then Dad prayed as well, asking for direction on what we should do.  When he finished, I looked at him and asked what he thought.  He announced that he was going to go in and give Aaron a blessing and then we were leaving for Primarys.

Now that we’re here, we don’t know what’s going on with him.  They’ve pulled labs, done x-rays, checked ears (they’re kinda “off” but not super bad). Everything looks pretty good, except his white blood count, which is what fights infection.  It’s even a bit higher than when we came in two weeks ago.  So they’re admitting him with the plan to look further and consult with some of the specialists to try to figure it out. 

So we're stumped.  He's doing "better" right now, with both Tylenol and Motrin.  In fact, he just passed below the fever threshold to 100.0.  But then, he also usually runs low so it's still kinda a fever for him anyway.  But I guess we're where we need to be.  They'll be transferring him to the floor soon, and hopefully we'll figure something out.

This kid needs a break.  He needs to be healthy and happy again.  You can see him trying so hard, but he's just not feeling good.  I miss my happy, goofy bug.  

Prayer is the most powerful action against trials,

the most effective medicine against sickness,

and the most valuable gift to someone we care for.

- Unknown