PICC's. Ports, and Poop

I have been horrible at updating but I do have a reason for it! Luke was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday and it has been a roller coaster ride since then. Nothing has come easy this stay for my poor baby. To say that this has been a rough stay emotionally and physically for both Luke and I would be an understatement.

I knew that this stay would be different when they were not able to place his normal arm PICC last Wednesday. Luke's vessels nears his heart have become too narrowed from repeated PICC's and so he can no longer receive PICC's in his arm. Because of this little problem Luke had to get one placed a few days later in his femerol/groin area. They don't allow people to go home with that kind in place so we are going to be here for another week still.

We do not want to have to deal with 2 week stays every time that he gets sick (the vessels won't be good for awhile) and so wee are planning Luke getting a port in the coming week. The surgeon doesn't want to put Luke under until he has finished his antibiotics and that won't be until next Wednesday.

The other issue that Little Man had to deal with was that he contracted Rotavirus and so he was very sick last weekend. He was running a high fever, had diarrhea, was vomiting everything that he ate or drank. I felt so bad for him because I had never seen him like that. He just laid around and didn't even talk. He didn't care if you were holding him or if he was laying on the floor. I have never seen Luke that lethargic or sick. The doctors didn't tell me but they were considering moving him to the ICU if his fever didn't come down. His heart rate was close to 200 and his respirations were very high too.

It's been a few days since his fever broke and he is doing much better. He is still a little irritable but that is to be expected when a 20 month old is stuck in a hospital and not allowed to leave his room.

Luke's new odd thing is that his teeth are turning gray. Yes, that is very odd. Apparently his Iron is low and so they are giving him iron supplements 3 times a day. That is the only thing that could possibly be turning his teeth gray. The Resident is going to be talking with a dentist so hopefully we will have some answers soon. I would really like to know if this is going to be permanent. My poor child will scare all the girls away with his smile!

I will try and post more often but like I have said before, I make no promises :)

I am here!

My cousin pointed out to me that I have not blogged since March. I guess I didn't realize how long it had been since I had taken the time to write down what's going on.

Life is pretty mundane right now and I am completely fine with that. We are busy with doctor appointments and some tests that Luke is having done but other than that life is in a nice pattern. We are trying to figure out why he has a cough but we can't seem to find out what's going on. He has had quite a few x-rays and blood draws along with some extra cultures but everything has shown up clear. His dr has switched some of his meds around and made other prescriptions stronger but still nothing is helping. In fact, right now his poor voice is raspy and going out on him because of all the coughing. His lungs do sound clear though so we think that everything must be going okay with the lungs. Tomorrow I will be calling to check on his cultures so we will know more then.

On Wednesday I am taking him back to CMH so that he can get a speech-swallow study done. Basically that is where they have him drink some kind of drink and then you can watch it go down as the x-ray him while he drinks. No, that is not a good explanation but hopefully you get the picture. He has had this done several times before and the other times he got it done it did show aspiration. The last time however it came back clear so hopefully it will be clear again. However, if it did come back that he is 'silently aspirating' that would explain the cough.

We had some friends over for a great Easter weekend and it was nice to catch up with them.

On the baby front things are great. She is very active and kicking :) I just had an OB appointment today and that went well. Midwife thinks everything looks healthy so I am going to believe her. I am still leaking protein in my urine but she isn't too concerned about that because my BP is great.

I have also been very busy with trying to get everything ready for Great Strides. I am walking in the May 16th Schaumburg Great Strides and I really want to raise more than we did last year. You can help us meet this goal by clicking on the widget on the side of my blog. I really appreciate every penny that people donate. It means so much to me and my family. We are also raising funds with t-shirts this year. You can buy them at www.cafepress.com/lukeslegion. A portion of the sales price will be going to the CFF. Dan designed them and I love them! He isn't too happy with them but I don't care. I like them :)

I hope all is going well with everyone and I plan on catching up with some blogs tonight. Toodles!