Fever... again?

So our journey has taken us back to the hospital.  Like you're shocked, right? 

My scene as I drove away.  They're both making heart signs.  Sniff.

Manny has been fine.  In fact, we've been celebrating how fine he is!  We have been out of the hospital since Dec 23 so this is HUGE that he didn't go in until Feb 4.  That's the longest stretch out of the hospital in almost a year. 

What landed us here this time? Fever.  We were at a doctor appointment this morning when they got a 101.1 temp and that's an automatic admission for us.  I took off his jacket and asked them to do it again and they got a bit lower one.  So we held off.  He was borderline the rest of the day but acting fine.  No symptoms. 

Then about 3pm he started acting very lethargic.  He was just not acting right at all.  He was quite flushed.  Sure enough, 102.8  So no way around the admit now.  Dan was on a business meeting several hours away so I called Mom to come watch the kids and I did my last minute packing.  (The main packing is always done but last minute things like the laptop and phone charger always have to be packed.) 

About 4pm, he started trying to throw up.  Now due to a surgery he had, it's virtually impossible for him to throw up.  But it doesn't stop him from trying to.  I suctioned out his stomach contents (the benefit of a gtube) and it was full of nasty bile.  So after that was gone, he started acting much better.

When we got here, he started in with a runny nose (clear) and nasty smelling diapers.  So something is brewing.  In fact, I knew this was on it's way.  How?  Earlier today, we had blood labs drawn and they were pretty "wonky".  I even told Dan that I knew he'd be admitted within 24 hours.  I just didn't know it would be within 2 hours! 

But for tonight, he's sleeping.  He's still himself.  And tests are being run to see what bug we're fighting.  That determines the type and duration of treatment.  If he can keep his fever down for 24 hours, and his blood cultures remain negative, we can go home after 48 hours. (Wednesday night).  But if symptoms progress, we could be here for a while.  So obviously we're hoping for a mild viral bug, something easy and boring and normal so we can go home and get back to living. 

Tuesday ... the night was relatively uneventful.  I finally got to bed at 2am (meds issue kept me up until then).  Then the machine malfunctioned for an hour from 5-6am.  Change of shift at 7am so I was up for the morning.  By 8am he was awake and ready to go.  Me? Not so much.

All day it's been one doctor after another.  We're trying to sort out a few of his TPN issues.  All but one doctor is completely on board with the plan.  But that one has caused a complete  halt in the process.  I'm working on Plan B and C and D.

I'm trying to say this calmly but I am very, VERY Frustrated. Stay tuned. 

Now I'll share a couple of "lighter" things. The children's hospital where we go has colorfully colored doors.  On the way to the hospital he picks out what color door he hopes to get.  (He always picks a different color so no way to predict).  This time he said "Red, no I mean Blue."  When we got here, we got a red door.  It was up at the front of the hallway.  The kid next door to us was having some GI troubles and there was the most ridiculous stinch that filled the whole area.  I was wondering how we'd sleep with that smell and started praying for whoever was that sick in that room. 

So I guess a benefit of being a "frequent flyer" there ... the charge nurse came up and offered us a different room further down the hallway!  We accepted.  You'll never guess the color, right?  BLUE!  But of course. 

Then today?  There was a "code gray" which means security is needed.  Yup, it was in that first area where we would have been if they hadn't moved us!  Perks! :)

7pm Tuesday ... Rapid strep negative.  Flu negative.  Rhinovirus negative.  Etc.  The Respiratory Viral panel caught nothing.  Good news.  It just means we don't know what he has. 

But the super good news is that he hasn't had a fever for a while.  If he continues fever free tomorrow with no additional symptoms, we can go home Wednesday!