Getting back to normal

Sheesh, things sure have gotten away from me lately! Sorry for my absence...apparently getting back in the swing of things after a week in the hospital and my recurring back pain have taken a toll. :-)

James got to come home last Saturday afternoon and, other than crankiness from breaking in two top teeth, he's back to his happy, active little self. Walking around the house with his car walker, climbing everything, crawling like a speed racer, cracking up at his funny sister. He's still on antibiotics and will continue to be for another week or two, until he can get his new central line placed in his chest. For now he has a PICC line in his arm, which seems to be working fine and doesn't bother him much. He's such a brave little guy. Probably the worst part of being hospitalized for him was that he couldn't get down and crawl and play like he usually does 24/7.

Other than that, we're getting back to normal...starting to cook some favorite fall foods with apples and pumpkin, making decorations and plans for Maddie's birthday party in November, planning the next steps of remodeling the basement. So far we've put in a new front door, two new huge picture windows in the living room, and have framed in all the walls in the basement! We now have the shell of an open media room, laundry room, craft studio/playroom, Keith's office, full bathroom and storage room down there. The space is the full footprint of our house, so gaining all that living space will be HUGE! {I'd post pictures, but there's not much light down there aside from a glaring construction light.}

My back is, well, let's just say it's "sensitive". About 2 weeks ago it was feeling great...no pain at all, I was cleared to lift James again, and I was feeling really good! But I think I overdid it and it was too much too soon. Especially after spending a week in the hospital with too much sitting and rocking, my pain came back and I relapsed. So now my therapist said no lifting again {we'll try a week like that and then slowly ease back into it}. When I felt the pain again, I was so deeply disappointed. Eight weeks of constant therapy and progress, gone in a week. Dang it! I'm still better than I was back in July, so I'm not back at square one, but it's still defeating. I know that I'll have lots of relapses, since that's just the way this injury works, but I was hoping to go longer than just a week! :-(

Hospital Time Again

Well, we lasted about 3 months...we haven't had a long hospital visit since June, until this week. Around 4:30am Wednesday morning James started throwing up and had a fever. We waited until about 8:30am, called his doctor when his fever hit over 101.5, and then went to the ER. They got him hooked up to IV fluids and started him on antibiotics after they got some blood samples. His central line has been having problems not drawing out blood, so they actually had to poke him this time. :-( His central line has been showing some wear-and-tear damage and the plastic was starting to peel off, so when the lab results came back that he had another line infection, the decision was made to remove it. I got to the ER with Maddie in the afternoon and about 10 minutes later the call came in that he was being taken down to surgery right then. Spent a few hours entertaining Maddie in the waiting room until James was out of surgery and we were taken up to a room. He did great, but now has a PICC line {long IV} in his arm, which gets in his way a bit. He'll have that for a couple weeks until we can clear his infection with antibiotics and then go back in to surgery to have a new central line placed. Aside from infection, part of the problem with his old line was that it was put in when he was only 3 months old and about 8-9 pounds. Fast forward to 13 months old and now 18 pounds and the line was no longer in the right place...it had moved from a large vein in the heart into a smaller jugular vein.

For the last few days he's been on antibiotics and we've been playing a waiting game with his labs. After surgery, his platelet levels dropped and so did his white blood cell count. His white blood cells have now stabilized, but his platelets are still low. We may get to go home tomorrow, but only if his labs show that the antibiotics have killed off the line infection. The docs were concerned today that there might have been a blood clot left over from where his line had been, but the ultrasound looked clear, which is a blessing.

We'd love your prayers for James' health, but I also want to ask for prayer for my amazing husband, Keith. He is Superman...and super-tired man! Since my back is still sore and I just got cleared last week to do a *little* lifting of James {yep, it's been over 2 loooong months!}, Keith has been stuck doing hospital duty overnight and mornings + getting up with James during the night at home for months. The poor guy never gets a full night sleep! Sleep deprivation is literally a form of torture and he's holding up really well considering it all, but still. I need to regain my health soon so that I can be a better helper!

We'll try to keep you posted. Hopefully James will come home this weekend and we can start getting back to normal again! For now he's content roaming the halls in his little red wagon with the IV pole tied on the back, waving to strangers and making them all crank their necks as they walk by, checking out all his cuteness and adorable curly hair! :-)