Sicky

We've had a rough couple of weeks around here. It started off like this, two Sunday's ago:

Avery first started coughing, and by later in the evening he'd developed a fever and felt downright "sicky," as he calls it. Monday, the fever continued as well as the cough, so we scheduled an appointment for him with Dr. V.O. (his primary doc) on Tuesday. At his appointment, his lungs sounded rather junky, and we were given an antibiotic. By Thursday, the fever was no better and the cough was worse. He also started retracting while breathing, so I called his pulmonologist. He said to bring him in first thing the next morning to the office, but if he got worse during the night we should go to the ER. Well, we decided not to wait until morning, and Phil took him down to Sacred Heart.

Here he is enjoying a popsicle and being a good sport about all the poking and prodding going on. The chest x-ray showed "fuzziness" on both sides of the lungs, and with his o2 sats dipping below 92%, they decided to go ahead and admit him. Because his antibiotic failed to cause any improvement, they were fairly certain that he had viral pneumonia. 

He did a great job, overall, in the hospital. Sacred Heart does a good job of making the kids as comfortable and entertained as possible. He received a teddy bear, mickey mouse blanket, and hat, all made by organizations especially for hospitalized kids (we still have a few from Avery's earlier hospital stays). He also got a balloon and an unlimited supply of popsicles and apple juice (his favorite), as well as dvds to watch in his room. The hardest part was trying to keep him contained to his hospital room after he started feeling better. Eventually, all the tests for specific viruses came back negative, and he was allowed to wander the halls and check out the playroom next door. 

All the playing wore him (and mom and dad) out! Phil spent the nights with him, and I spent the days. Claire made things extra tricky because she's still nursing and refuses a bottle. We also didn't want to bring her to the hospital and expose her to all the germs floating around. During "hand-offs," we had some great friends and neighbors that kept Claire for us, and we so appreciate all of their help! 

They were finally able to wean Avery off of the extra oxygen (he did fine during the day but had trouble while sleeping). Each day, he ate more and got more energy...climbing the walls and having everyone wondering when we could go home.

They released us Sunday afternoon, and he's feeling much better. Unfortunately, everyone else in the family has caught the same bug... Phil had fevers and lots of coughing and hasn't flown in a week. Claire went to the doctor today for low-grade fever and coughing, but her lungs sound good, so we're just keeping an eye on her ears. I escaped the most unscathed with just a sinus headache and extra coughing. Needless to say, we are ready for this sickness to leave us alone and to get back to "normal!" On a positive note, it has been nice having us all home together the past week...anything beats driving back and forth to the hospital. Avery goes back for a follow-up next week, so we'll keep you posted on how everything goes. Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers. We thank God that a scary situation didn't turn out any worse and that we're all on the road to recovery!