Ricky called me several times today, wondering when I'd be up to visit him. :) I was at work, but only for four hours, and was anxious to get up to the hospital. I did have to go to an appointment after work, but as soon as that was done, Andrew and Misty and I made the drive and visited Ricky. I brought along a wireless controller for the PS2 in his room, which was nice so we weren't tripping over the cord constantly. I also brought a memory cartridge so he could save his game progress.
Healthwise, Ricky is doing okay. His sinuses finally seem a lot better. He has been on the IVs more than expected because he is not drinking (and therefore, peeing) enough. While I was there the nurse did tempt him to drink a whole carton of chocolate milk and a little container of lemonade with the promise that she would hep-lock him. It worked!
He is also not eating well. The other day, and I am not sure whether I mentioned this, I brought a bunch of his favorite foods to the hospital so that he would eat more. These included:
rice (to be eaten either with sugar and milk or with soy sauce)
blueberries
strawberries (to be dipped in sugar)
sliced apples (to have peanut butter spread on them)
vanilla yogurt (his favorite flavor)
salt and vinegar potato chips
licorice
Pringles in various flavors
a warehouse store-sized jar of giant dill pickles
So far he has eaten part of one pickle, about half of the rice (with sugar and milk), both cartons of blueberries (with the help of his siblings), all of the strawberries (again, with Andrew and Misty's help), and most of the salt and vinegar chips (yeah, we all helped with that!).
His eating is still not great. At home he eats pretty well except when he's sick. I hope we can correct this trend.
A couple of other things to note... On Sunday night the lab tech came in to take blood for a tobra level from Ricky after he was already asleep. Ricky was apparently very upset about this and pitched a fit. I guess the staff handled it because I didn't hear about it until Ricky told me the next day. He was mad that they didn't draw the blood out of his port. Well, the reason they can't do that is that the sample would be contaminated, since the tobra is infused through the port. A Monday morning test was done with a finger prick rather than a veinous draw and Ricky was a lot more amenable to that.
Yesterday Ricky also went for PFTs (pulmonary function tests). I don't know what the results were but I'm going to ask the nurse tomorrow, along with what else is going on with him and if anything has changed in his treatment/discharge plan.
Guess that's about it for now! I want to thank all of you who have sent Ricky the virtual-actual cards. The volunteer who brings them to him (several times a day due to the volume!) has remarked that Ricky gets more than any other patient. Keep it up! He is enjoying the attention! :) If you want to send one of these free cards, as a reminder you can do that here and his name is Richard Whicker. Tomorrow I think I'll post a list of all of the card-senders' first names so you know we got your cards! :) You guys rock!
Goodnight!
Showing posts with label sinuses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sinuses. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Ricky's in the hospital
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.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
this week's update...
Ricky stayed home from school on Friday the 27th of March, and every day this week so far. He has a raging sinus infection and all of the lovely side effects that brings... Headaches, pressure, general crumminess. Andrew has a cold too but much more mild, so on Tuesday I took them both to the pediatrician to have them seen. The verdict for Andrew was a simple head cold. For Ricky, definitely a sinus infection. He has had them chronically since he was a toddler, though the sinus surgery he had at age four did decrease them quite a bit.
The pediatrician contacted the pulmonologist and it was decided that Ricky would stay on the Septra that was prescribed to him last week. His lungs sounded fine to the pediatrician, which is great news, but there is always the possibility that the mucus from the sinus infection could end up in the lungs and cause an infection.
The good news (!?) is that Ricky is already going to CF clinic on Monday for a recheck spirometry (lung function) test. He will likely be on Septra for an additional week after that. The nurse mentioned an inpatient stay if his lung function has decreased, but I was encouraged by his lungs sounding great this week and hopeful that he will NOT end up inpatient.
He just sounds miserable and is having a hard time with this. Ricky has been through a lot with his health, and it's not really like him to complain, but he is definitely complaining now. :( I've been giving him plenty of plain Robitussin (guiafenesin) and Motrin to help.
I'm not sure whether he'll be back at school this week, and next week is spring break! I told the teacher I could come get his work from her tomorrow if it looks like he'll be out the rest of the week. We don't want to overwhelm him, but we don't want him to get behind, either.
That's it for now. Please keep Ricky in your thoughts. :)
Edited to add: Tonight I joined up with Blog Frog. It's a great way to keep track of your blogging friends and make new ones! If you have a blog and add my link to your page, and then click the button in the widget, your link will appear on mine automatically. It's a neat little widget and it's free. (You don't have to add the widget.)
The pediatrician contacted the pulmonologist and it was decided that Ricky would stay on the Septra that was prescribed to him last week. His lungs sounded fine to the pediatrician, which is great news, but there is always the possibility that the mucus from the sinus infection could end up in the lungs and cause an infection.
The good news (!?) is that Ricky is already going to CF clinic on Monday for a recheck spirometry (lung function) test. He will likely be on Septra for an additional week after that. The nurse mentioned an inpatient stay if his lung function has decreased, but I was encouraged by his lungs sounding great this week and hopeful that he will NOT end up inpatient.
He just sounds miserable and is having a hard time with this. Ricky has been through a lot with his health, and it's not really like him to complain, but he is definitely complaining now. :( I've been giving him plenty of plain Robitussin (guiafenesin) and Motrin to help.
I'm not sure whether he'll be back at school this week, and next week is spring break! I told the teacher I could come get his work from her tomorrow if it looks like he'll be out the rest of the week. We don't want to overwhelm him, but we don't want him to get behind, either.
That's it for now. Please keep Ricky in your thoughts. :)
Edited to add: Tonight I joined up with Blog Frog. It's a great way to keep track of your blogging friends and make new ones! If you have a blog and add my link to your page, and then click the button in the widget, your link will appear on mine automatically. It's a neat little widget and it's free. (You don't have to add the widget.)
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