Ricky's in the hospital

Ricky's just kickin' back, originally uploaded by Beckerbuns.

Yeah, so...

Ricky was out of school all week with the sinus infection. He was plugged up, lethargic, and generally miserable. I was getting concerned because usually Septra does the trick when Ricky is sick. So Friday afternoon I got in touch with the CF nurse and she offered to get him a bed. I told her I didn't know if he really needed one but that I thought he should be looked at. By that time we didn't have many options and I decided to take him to the ER.

We got to the emergency room at about 6:30pm. The nurse and doctor saw Ricky, and he got blood drawn from his port. Luckily there is a separate waiting room for pediatric patients, so Andrew and Misty waited in there with me. As other families came and went, Andrew played on a Mac and Misty played with toys. It was a little sad for Misty as she kept making friends and then they left again.

Eventually, Ricky's port was accessed for infusion and when I went to see what was going on, his nurse ran by (ER was busy by then) telling me that Ricky was going to be admitted. I talked to Ricky, who was being bolused fuids, and he said the doctor had told him he'd be in for a few days.

The ER doctor finally came in to see me well after midnight. It was really frustrating not to know what was going on. He informed me that Ricky was pretty dehydrated and also that he and Ricky's CF doc (who happened to be the pulmonologist on call this weekend) were also concerned about the sinus infection that wouldn't go away. So yes... Ricky was being admitted. It would take around 14 hours to rehydrate him and anyway, that had been interrupted in order to start him on antibiotics. They were going to have him on three different IV antibiotics. The doctor also mentioned that they were going to try to have ENT come consult about the sinuses, and maybe scope them.

There were no rooms, so we had to wait for a room. We finally got transferred up to a room at 2:30am. Misty and Andrew (and Ricky!) were still awake! When we got to the room, I grabbed some toddler hospital pajamas for Misty and put her in them. She was asleep, in my arms, by 2:45.

The nurse took all of the admitting information, and then the resident (who had been on for 22 hours) came and went over things with us. We finally left the hospital at... Wait for it... FOUR A.M. So, 9.5 hours from entering the ER to admittance.

Somehow I drove us home safely. Misty fell asleep in the car and Andrew was close. Got them to bed and crashed myself.

Visited Ricky once yesterday afternoon, after I got my mom home from the nursing home where she was recovering from her broken leg and subsequent surgery. Yes, yesterday was a long day. Anyway, he was doing fine. They got some sputum from him yesterday morning (and more today) so we should find out what bacteria he's growing. Hopefully just the same old ones; they're sensitive to many antibiotics.

Today one of his antibiotics was switched. He's now on three IV antibiotics: Septra, Tobramycin, and Ceftazidime. His oxygen saturation was a bit low in the emergency room, and whenever they take his vitals it's still a bit low. His sinuses are still bad. He's getting lots of treatments with a therapy vest... And it's a new one, a RespirTech vest. I WANT ONE. It is computerized. So much more advanced than what we have and I would bet that it is a lot more effective at airway clearance.

The resident that first morning told me that I should plan on a 12-14 day stay for Ricky. So he's there for the duration.

He hasn't been inpatient since February of last year. That's not bad really. Hopefully it all goes well.

By the way, if you'd like to send Ricky a card, you can go to this page to select and write one, and it'll be printed and brought to Ricky in his room. His full name for the card is Richard Whicker.