RSV (in combination with a few other things)...

and 5 nights and 6 days later we are now home from the hospital. What a LONG week. It all started last Monday. Little Jacob started to get a runny nose and you could tell that he just wasn't feeling well at all. Then on Tuesday he didn't want to do anything but sleep in combination with the runny nose and now a cough and a high fever on and off all day. Then on Wednesday it did not get any better, and he was saying his ears hurt. So I figured it was a double ear infection like he had before and a little cold he had with it. So after we took Jacob dinner on Wednesday we decided I should take him to the ER. (Our pediatrician was out of town until Tuesday). Just that afternoon Marcus had said his ear was hurting him really bad too, so I said what the heck if we are going, lets take them both. So Marcus, little Jacob, Caleb and I went to the ER at Victor Valley Community Hospital. Well actually I had to go home first and print out our new temporary ID cards since I have only requested new ones since the beginning of the year 4 times now and they only keep sending me ones for Caleb and Daddy Jacob. Then my printer gets a printer jam and won't work. Then I wanted to make sure that with the new insurance carrier (but still the same insurance we have always had) which hospital we were supposed to go to and couldn't get a hold of anyone at the insurance place (they are only open m-f 9-4, because you know no body gets sick after those hours). But finally I got it all figured out.
We got to the ER at 6:50pm. They called us back for triage to take the kids' temperatures, blood pressure and all that great stuff. Then we had to wait in the waiting room with about 100 other sick and nasty people. I had heard at one point it was a 4 1/2 hour wait. So we couldn't do anything but wait. We saw many interesting things though that is for sure. There was a crazy lady that was escorted out of the hospital twice, and while she was she was cussing at the security and had a real trash mouth, with all these kids there in the waiting room. Yeah real class there.
So after we finally get called back (I believe it was about 10 pm ish by this point), then we had to wait a bit more. The doctor was horrible. She would be in the middle of talking to you and just walk away then yell back oh I'll be back in a few minutes. She did this in the middle of checking out Marcus a few times too. So they determined that Marcus was fine. His ear was just sore, and had a little bit of wax build up in there. Then they did a breathing treatment on little Jacob and we had to go for a chest x-ray. Then Daddy Jacob was off work and came to pick up Caleb and Marcus who were getting restless being there.

So after all this they finally decided that he had asthma and we had to get shipped down to Loma Linda. However they said there was no beds available for him there, so we were put on a waiting list to get one and they were going to call around to other surrounding hospitals. But they said that we might have to wait as long as 12 hours in the ER here until they could find us a bed at any hospital. The {rude} doctor had told me they were moving him 'in case' he got worse. They just didn't know if he would or not. Then it was he was so sick they had to move him. Nothing she told me was making sense. I was getting so mad, and I wanted to go home, or whatever was going on to just happen already. I got so mad at one point the {rude} doctor was walking away in the middle of saying something to me and this time tells me to wait here (in our little ER room) and I said something like "Yeah ok because I am going somewhere?"

So then since we are on the fast track side of the ER (where they are supposed to get you in and out faster....ha ha) and they closed at 1am, and it was now 1:30 am they had to move us to the regular side of the ER. So over we went. There they had to start an IV, draw vein and artery blood, do an RSV test, do more breathing treatments. All kinds of crap was done to him. So then the doctor on this side tells us that he did test positive for RSV, but it isn't asthma it is pneumonia, RSV and ear infections all together. So they tell us that they did get us a bed at Loma Linda and they are sending a transport team to come and get him, and that I won't be able to ride in the ambulance with him. WHAT?!? So I ran home to get some things of little Jacobs and to take the truck to Jacob, and he brought me back (my mom was waiting with little Jacob). So he brought me back and was going to come down first thing in the morning. So the ambulance came to get him, and he did really well. He didn't even cry when they said I couldn't go with him. The nurses were really nice to him and he was doing great. So my mom and I followed the ambulance down there. We arrived to Loma Linda at 5:30 am. They got him settled in his room in the Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit and then we got to go in and see him. To go in and see him you had to wear a gown and a face mask since the RSV is so contagious. By this point I had been awake for over 24 hours. The head doctor asked us a million questions to put into the charts. They did this and that to him. They had to put him on breathing medication full time since he was struggling so hard to breath now. Hook up his IV again. All just a blur really. Then the child life lady came in and she brought him back a TV with a VCR and some movies, and a few little toys to play with. At this point he still just wanted to sleep and do nothing. We did put in a movie and I was watching it with him and at one point one of the PT nurses came in and was talking to me but I was asleep (this was like 32 hours of being awake). Daddy and brothers came a little later. You had to be 14 to come in the room and it could be arranged for the others, but they didn't think it was a good idea for Caleb since the RSV was still highly contagious. They had NO idea when we would get to come home, we just had to wait and see when his little body would not have to struggle so hard to breathe. It was so sad to watch him breathe, his whole little body had to make this huge effort just to take a single breath. His diagnosis at Loma Linda was RSV and asthma. RSV is a form of pneumonia, so that is why they all really went together, and also the ear infections.

We were still there on Valentines Day. Which made me cry. I had planned to make us a nice steak dinner and all the good stuff to go with it and a nice dessert, just for the 6 of us. Well at this point I was having fast food twice a day while in the hospital. (Thanks to Jacob and my mom). Jacob came down on Valentines Day and brought me a very nice card that he wrote in that sort of lifted my spirits, but still.

I was really hoping to be out of there by Monday, since that was little Jacob's 4th Birthday. We had a great night nurse 4 nights that we were in the PICU. Her name was Michelle and she was only 24. She was great with him and he seemed to like her too. I am very thankful for her. Every time they had to do some blood on him or change his IV (3 times) I would help hold his arm, and talk to him and rub his head with my other hand, to try to help keep him calm. She told me I should be a nurse. She said I would be great with it, since she saw how good I was with him. :) She was so excited that it was going to be his birthday and she would play with him while we were there. She asked me if I needed all the time.

He finally started eating and drinking things on Friday evening. They started him out on a clear diet. But then quickly said whatever he will eat and drink is fine, once they determined that he was going to keep it down. So on Saturday night at 4 am decided he wanted his soft taco. lol. I had them heat it up and he ate 2 of them.

Everyday he was looking better and you could really tell there was an improvement each day.

So finally he was doing much better and on Sunday they got to take out the 24 hour breathing medicine and just go to giving him a breathing treatment every 2 hours. He still had to be on oxygen though since it kept dropping too low. So on Sunday night they moved us to a step down room, which was just the step before we could finally go home. We had to share a room there (ugh). The nurse there did slowly decrease his oxygen and he kept it up just fine. So on Monday the doctor came in and told us we might get to go home that day. WOOHOO!!!!!! He didn't know for sure, the team had to discuss it and they would let us know. So I went to go down to the gift shop to get him a balloon and get him a slice of cake in the cafeteria for him. Well the gift shop was closed for the holiday and so was the cafeteria. I found him a slice of cake in the rotating vending machine and got that. Nothing great, but was better than nothing. The nurses brought him in a little cupcake with sprinkles and a candle. The HR lady at Daddy Jacobs work sent him a big basket of teddy bears with a few balloons attached to it as well. That came Monday too, which made his day. So finally they tell us that we are for sure going home that day. Well then the pass is closed for Daddy to come and get us. OH GREAT. Well he is on the phone with the Highway Patrol trying to figure out when the road would be open again, and then I was watching the news. Finally they said it was open again about 10:30 and I called Jacob right away and he was going to leave to come and get us before they closed it again because of the weather. He got there and we were ready to go. We were home by 3pm.

While we were there daddy had been at home cleaning everything to make sure the germs were all gone. He washed everything in the house, all the dishes and more in the cabinet, did all the laundry including all the towels and all the bed sheets. He had the carpets cleaned on Monday morning as well.

It was so great to be home and take an actual shower. I did get to take one shower at the hospital but you have to make an appointment.

We ordered pizza for him for his birthday when we got home and relaxed the rest of the night. We were all so tired that we all slept through the alarm 3 times the next morning. We decided to let the older boys stay home again yesterday too, so we could all relax the entire day.

It is definitely hard getting back to our normal routine and schedule today, but a nice feeling at the same time.