More About the Swine Flu

So it looks like Aaron provided a pretty thorough recap of events up to Thursday. I stayed the night with Preston at the hospital on Thursday night and Friday night. He was very out of it for the first day and a half. He hardly responded to anything... except for hating the O2 tubes in his nose. The first night he hardly slept because he woke up every 15-20 minutes to scream and fight and try to get those tubes out of his nose. After a full night of this, a new nurse came on shift. She brilliantly suggested that we try putting an O2 mask on him instead. When the switch was made, he was a much happier boy. He settled down and got some sleep.

He still wasn't eating or drinking, but since he had IV fluids going, that wasn't as big a problem as it had been before. He spent the rest of that day still sad and lethargic... then suddenly on Friday night it was like a switch was flipped. Suddenly the effects of the dehydration were gone, and he was acting almost like himself. Climbing around in the bed, trying to get out of bed and run around the room (which didn't work since he was still connected by several tubes and wires) and in general being the energetic monkey we are used to! We were very happy to see that change. With his improved behavior and appetite (he was eating and drinking a bit), they were able to take him off all his oxygen and later to remove the IV as well. We were all happy about that.

At that point, they might actually have sent him home. Except that his blood cultures had come back positive with an infection. Based on how he was acting, they were fairly sure that it was a false positive, but they had to be sure. So they drew more blood for a 2nd culture. Which meant we had to stay another 24 hours until the results came back. Preston was pretty good for the rest of that time. Still cranky and tired easily, but much more like his old self. After 24 hours, the cultures came back negative and we were free to go.

Preston was thrilled to go home. He'd been begging to go home to his house the entire time we were at the hospital. Haley was thrilled to have him home, she really missed her little brother. The rest of us were happy to have all this behind us!

Since it was Halloween, Haley still wanted to go trick or treating. We had arranged for her to go with the Mouritsens, but just because of timing when Preston was released and the family had to come pick us up, that didn't actually work out. So after getting everyone a little dinner, I took Haley out in our neighborhood. This little girl who claims she is too tired to go on after 2 aisles at Target dragged me around for blocks and blocks, running and skipping all the way. Then she came home and started generously sharing her candy with her brothers, since they had not been able to go trick or treating. It was very sweet of her.

So now we're home with Preston. He is VERY cranky and whiny. He wants brownies, darn it, and nothing else!! And of course, I don't have ingredients for brownies anywhere in this house. And he wants nothing more than to watch Jungle Junction... which of course is not on TV or On Demand. So there's a lot of crying going on. Before long, some of it may be mine! I'm doing my best to push fluids on him, because we sure don't want to end up back at Children's. We will follow up with our regular pediatrician tomorrow to see how he's doing.

Haley is completely over her bout with swine flu. She is absolutely fine and really didn't have too much trouble from it. We're unsure whether Brekken ever actually had swine flu or whether it was just a cold that happened to strike him at the same time as the others had the flu. He only ever had a high temperature for a few hours. Other than that, he's acted just like he has a cold. So he's just fine.

Thanks so much to those who have helped us out during all this. My visiting teacher for coming over to stay with the kids during our first trip to Urgent Care and being willing to do it again yesterday (though it ended up unnecessary since Preston was released). Our good friends the Sherman family for watching Haley and Brekken while we were at the hospital with Preston, taking Haley to the Trunk or Treat, and sending John over to help Aaron give Preston a blessing. Our other good friends the Hoopes for watching Haley and Brekken for us while we were at the hospital. The Mouritsens for volunteering to take Haley trick or treating with their family. And everyone else for all the thoughts and prayers. (We'd appreciate any more of those as we try to get Preston over the last hill to recovery!)