holding steady

Today I worked and the kids were at my mom's. I sent Ricky's portable compressor over there so he could have the midday treatment (which he has been having since he got sick). Everything went fine with them, but my mom was definitely ready for me to pick them all up by the time I got off of work. :)

Tonight Ricky took his last dose of Prednisone, I believe. His behavior has actually not been a whole lot worse. He has maybe been a little more moody and sensitive, but not to the extent that I was worried about.

At bedtime, I asked him how he was feeling, because during his evening breathing treatments he had been coughing a LOT. He told me his chest was very tight and he was hot. I felt his forehead and he did feel a little warm. I didn't take his temperature because he almost never runs a fever (even when he had RSV as a toddler). He may, however, have been hot for him, if not technically running a fever.

I have this fear and sinking feeling that he is going to end up in the hospital even after all of this. I hope I am wrong.

Yesterday I talked to the nurse at the CF clinic to give her an update and find out what was going on with the sputum he coughed up on Tuesday when we were up there. She told me that it so far had only grown normal flora. Not even the pseudomonas that we've been fighting for years; it hasn't shown up in a year. But the good news is that no BAD bugs (like b. cepacia or MRSA) have shown up. These were only the preliminary results, but I'm hopeful that this will be what the final results say as well.

Tomorrow Ricky would ordinarily have soccer, but it has been pouring rain here and I'm pretty sure they'll close the field because of mud. The particular field that he plays on is very specially taken care of and they are pretty conservative about closing it when it has been raining a lot. It's just as well, since I am not entirely comfortable with him playing with the pneumonia obviously still hanging out. We are planning instead to go to my friend Shari's condo complex for their monthly game day. That will be just Ricky's speed. :)

Whew, I'm tired. But I wanted to put this update out there. I am still cautiously optimistic, but given the course of Ricky's recent exacerbation, I'm also feeling discouraged and fearful, in a way.