I needed a place to type about my recent experiences (Warning: Long Post, Painful experience involving my son)

Hospitals suck, generally, but I'm glad you had a stellar experience with the staff. Here's hoping you get out of there and back home where everybody belongs.

Dude. Dude. Dude. You sound like you handled it about like I hope I'd handle it. I can't deal with anything medical with my daughter, I really can't. My brain, while ordinarily wired reasonably well, turns into a pessimistic asshole when it's about my girl.

I empathize completely and am so glad you were well taken care of. He's a handsome boy with parents that love him... he's set for every success. Best of luck!

Ok. So, my wife read all of your posts, and she's very thankful for all the good wishes! It's nice to see such a great community! I'm picking out posts in the hospital room, Alexander is sleeping.

spider_j and ColdForged: We've had a couple small scares. They're all important, believe me! My best advice is when you start giving your kiddo medicine, write down the dosages with the time you gave it. The ER Docs and Specialist Docs were really happy to have that info. As in "We so rarely get this kind of information. Most parents are so vague!" It, per the PA, really helped with the diagnosis. Also, if you have to, you can give Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen at the same time. Phentonyol can also be given alongside those 2, but that's at a hospital (it's a narcotic)

Growat: That would scare the crap outta me! I'm glad your kiddo is doing ok.

Ghostship: I hear good things about Canada's healthcare. Unfortunately, here in the USA, none of us amuricans wan' free healthcare, and we'll yell about it! Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better team of doc's, nurses, specialists. They've all been wonderful. The ER nurse from last night is up in the Peditractic Ward today, so she's coming in and checking up as well Alexander remembers her so he smiles and waves.

farley3k: Truer words were have hardly ever been spoken. I can take a lot, but having to work with sick kids...I'd break. They are all angels. Thank you for the compliment!

I was just so glad to hear that things were going well there by the end! I hope they keep it, and I will keep you and yours in my thoughts. Give your wife a hug from me, and take care of yourselves.

wow, my thoughts are with you and your family.

athros wrote:

farley3k: Truer words were have hardly ever been spoken. I can take a lot, but having to work with sick kids...I'd break. They are all angels. Thank you for the compliment!

Sadly as your son moves into more mainstream care (well that part isn't sad that will be great! When doctors start keeping you waiting, when they don't remember the specifics of your case...those actually become good things!...anyway) you will find that mainstream care is noticeably worse in almost every respect. Still the trade off of a healthy kid for less stellar care is worth it.

Goodness gracious, what an experience! You handled it like a champ, way better than I'd manage. Sending your little family e-hugs and keeping you all in my thoughts. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly from here, and no more scary stuff like this in the future!
Also, bravo to the team of doctors and nurses, it seems they did a wonderful job. Even if they got grilled by your family a bit. (Having multiple nurses/doctors/radiologists in my family, I know the feeling well.)

I also had to skip forward a bit as I was reading, sooo happy to hear how well things turned out. You and your wife handled this as well as anyone ever could, and it sounds like you had a stellar team working on him at the hospital. Geez, scary stuff. Keeping you guys in my thoughts as you all recover from the shock and as little Alexander recovers from the surgery. ((((hug))))

*hugs* never underestimate the value of a good hug. Feel free to pm myself or Robear. We have walked a similar road with Dr Incurable on more than one occasion. Sometimes just having folks there to do the little stuff helps more than words can express. I am sorry I live a time zone away. Would be happy to help you with the little stuff or come and just sit with you.

edit after seeing pics. What a handsome boy! Glad to hear everyone is doing well.

Wow, that was incredible. I'm glad that everything seems to be on the upswing and I hope your little dude gets back to being his normal self soon.

Momgamer, dthind, SillyRabbit, Ego ManThank you very much!

farley3k: I agree. I'll take the healthy kid. However, if a mainstream doctor acts like that, I find another. My best vote against crap doctors is to move on.

St.Hillary: funny enough, once I realized they were having problems expressing the procedures in laymans terms, it got a lot friendlier. When the nurses in my family got here, and started asking questions, they then translated to me and my wife which was a relief. Good times! They have all since come by and explained it in laymans terms, in their own words to be sure we understood.

EDIT: missed a there

Glad to hear the happy ending. He's a handsome little man, that's for sure. As a relatively new father of a ten month old girl, this was really hard to read. It may have gotten dustier in this room than I expected. I should probably do something about that.

plavonica wrote:

Glad to hear the medical team did such a stellar job! Thank goodness for modern medicine and the dedicated people who practice it.

I will second this wholeheartedly. Science, Female Doggoes!

As a mother, I understand a little of how you must have felt. I was so relieved to hear that things turned out well. My son's also named Alex, so that added to the emotion I felt while reading this.

As someone who just got out of the hospital for complications following childbirth that turned into bacteremia, I now understand how my family must have felt. 104 F fevers, delirium, lots of antibiotics. I'm now at home (with a PICC line of my own!) getting dosed with more antibiotics for at least another week. I'm so glad that it was me and not my new daughter who had the health problem. It would have torn me up.

Science and medicine. I'm really glad I live now, not 100 years ago.

I'm glad things went well for you, and it sounds like you got a lot of support at the hospital, which is awesome.

My second child was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, and we have gone through several surgeries under full anesthesia. It never gets easier, but having a good hospital helps a lot.

God, the wait while they are under. I feel for you.

Wow, I'm so happy for you that Alexander made it through and seems to be bouncing back athros! All the best for that to continue!

Glad everything is ok. Sounds like a great group at the hospital. And a good job you've got that is sympathetic to your family needs.

So first: final update for the night. I managed to get a chance to talk to the doctor from the CDC who is working on the bacterial infection, a doctor Wendy Drummond. I asked her what the bacteria was, and she said the dreaded word: Staph. I have friends who have lost babes to it. Scares the sh*t out of me. Serious serious bacteria.

She also said that she was adding a second, narrow spectrum antibiotic, hedging her bets. One is for Staph that is not resistant to meds, the second one is for Staph that is resistant. Tomorrow, she should have all the results back, and one of them will be stopped.

Dr. Benson, pediatric orthopedic specialist, will be doing a final check tomorrow, and will likely sign off, which means Dr. Drummond will be the final say for taking Alexander home. The leg drain should also be coming out. When I left, it looked like the low grade fever has finally broken, and he was sleeping comfortably.

Rallick wrote:

Glad to hear the happy ending. He's a handsome little man, that's for sure. As a relatively new father of a ten month old girl, this was really hard to read. It may have gotten dustier in this room than I expected. I should probably do something about that.

The hospital has some seriously flaky ceiling tiles. The dust in that place is horrible. Thanks for the well wishes and compliments. Trust your instincts. Yours and your SO's (if you have an SO). All of these doctors are saying that while not medically proven, they believe in it.

concentric wrote:

As a mother, I understand a little of how you must have felt. I was so relieved to hear that things turned out well. My son's also named Alex, so that added to the emotion I felt while reading this.

As someone who just got out of the hospital for complications following childbirth that turned into bacteremia, I now understand how my family must have felt. 104 F fevers, delirium, lots of antibiotics. I'm now at home (with a PICC line of my own!) getting dosed with more antibiotics for at least another week. I'm so glad that it was me and not my new daughter who had the health problem. It would have torn me up.

We're looking at 3-6 weeks of in home visits for antibiotics. I'm really glad your daughter came through ok! Congratulations!

Aristophan wrote:

I'm glad things went well for you, and it sounds like you got a lot of support at the hospital, which is awesome.

My second child was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, and we have gone through several surgeries under full anesthesia. It never gets easier, but having a good hospital helps a lot.

God, the wait while they are under. I feel for you.

I'm hoping and praying for nothing but the best for your second child. I sketched on my iPad. First time in 5 years I've actually tried to draw. All I sketched was my boy. No pictures, straight from memory. Best thing for me. My wife paced, talked to people on the phone, and couldn't sit still. This doesn't mean I was any more patient. The wait was very, very hard.

Also: Science, hell yeah. Keep up the good work! I'm so very grateful for all the advances we have, and how far we've come.

I'm so, so glad this turned out alright! I don't think I breathed from the time I started reading to the end. The pics were wonderful - what a doll and a trooper he is! So sorry, Athros, for what you and your family has been through. It's likely that the little guy won't remember it at all in the next couple of years, right? I know that's not the case with you or your wife, but hopefully, this is the one and only serious scare of his youngest years! You two are fantastic parents. We'll be thinking so much about you!

athros wrote:
Rallick wrote:

Glad to hear the happy ending. He's a handsome little man, that's for sure. As a relatively new father of a ten month old girl, this was really hard to read. It may have gotten dustier in this room than I expected. I should probably do something about that.

The hospital has some seriously flaky ceiling tiles. The dust in that place is horrible. Thanks for the well wishes and compliments. Trust your instincts. Yours and your SO's (if you have an SO). All of these doctors are saying that while not medically proven, they believe in it.

Um yeah, I was able to maintain a safe distance until the pictures brought it home. My boys are 3 and 5.
You should alert that picture hosting website that there's a problem which made my monitor blow some acrid smoke right into my eyes. No hardware damage. Just made my eyes all watery for moment.

That's a crazy story athros. Glad your little man came through, and he's totally adorable.

This forum makes me scared of becoming a parent, but I can only hope I can face any challenges with similar grace and calm.

So updates!

Tomorrow is homecoming day! The bacteria has been cleaned out of his system, he's finally having bowel movements (to the point we're getting a probiotic yogurt to compensate) being playful, and finally being a little boy again

So, looks like 3 weeks of in home nurse, then we're all done!

Never had a cry feel that good...ever.

You are all very wonderful!

Dragonfly: Thank you very much! We were both so scared we were bad parents that the ortho surgeon told us about some who just drop their kid off (sick and all) sign the forms and go home. Seriously. Seriously??

Ghostship: I lodged a complaint with imageshack and they sent back was "Feature"

MrDeVil909: Out front. I was a wreck internally. Calm and grace were not with me. Mind numbing terror was. It's a journey, and I find being a parent to be one of the greatest joys/sh*t your pants terrifying/angering/happy things I'm doing.

What an awesome update! I'm so, so glad! I love a happy ending!

(But I'm still stunned by the whole 'drop kick 'em at the door and split' thing. o.o;; )

athros wrote:

(to the point we're getting a probiotic yogurt to compensate)

Every time I see that word I think of Mass Effect:
IMAGE(http://threepanelsoul.com/comics/2012-02-14-225.jpg)

What's been a nightmare for you will be a cool story for your son.

Sorry to hear about the infection, but glad to hear that the doc's had some good medical training and put it to excellent use! It puts my 1 year old daughter's 2 head sutures on Tuesday to shame, (life lesson kiddo's, don't run headfirst into railings) but I can empathize with how terrible it feels to see your kids in pain.

Get well soon little man!

thoughts and prayers from Mexico heading your way!!!

thanks for sharing this. The wife and I are finally getting ready to start growing the family. I hope I have at least 1/10th of the nerve and clear-headedness you showed. I feel like I would drop to a fetal position if something like this ever happened to any of my kids.

Your son is very lucky to have you and your wife as parents.

Another update:

Bad first: going home has been delayed. Apparently the picc line does have bacteria in it, and it might be something else. So, picc line comes out shortly, we have to wait 48 hours, new line gets put in Monday. No surgery needed apparently.

Good: he's out of the leg braces, and resting more comfortably.

I'm glad your son is feeling better. It always make me happy to see other parents have this sort of situation go well for them.

I'm of the opinion that seeing anybody you love in the hospital is always painful. I think some of the longest hours of my life have been in hospitals for my wife and kid.

Honestly, it's stupid thing, and probably selfish, but I really hope the next time I have to go there it will be something simple like a broken arm, preferably for myself. I know how to handle that sort of thing. It's so much harder when you have to keep it together to support someone else when you'd rather be freaking out yourself about how much is gone wrong.

I'm sorry your little man had to go through this; quite glad to hear he is on the mend.

Another update: lots of bad.

Alexander has been having fever spikes. Blood tests kept coming back negative. Today, we got fresh eyes on Alexander - the Director of Pediatric ICU here, Dr. Tracy Butler.

First thing that happened is an echocardiogram - an ultrasound of the heart. Turns out, the Staph managed to get into the heart and set up shop. (Medical term: Endocarditis ). So, first answer down.

Second: his hips are very tender. Dr. Butler has us going in for an MRI (at 2000 Mountain time) on the hip/pelvis to see if there's anything else wrong down there. Orthopedic Surgeon and the rest of the medical team is aware, and in the hospital.

Third: because of #2 Dr. Butler upped his pain medicine to keep on top of the pain. Alexander is sleeping with Grandma (US Marine Corps RN) in the room, so my wife and I can eat

So, the battle is still going in the right direction. Treatment doesn't change, just longer with the in home antibiotics. We're looking at another week in the hospital.