Monday, December 3, 2007

As my dear friend has reminded me, it's been quite some time since my last update. :)

Unfortunately, I'm updating from the hospital. Frankie was admitted this afternoon. We had a long run... since July. Not bad. And, this time, it came as a big surprise.

Frankie was acting fine all weekend. He had a very slight temperature (99 degrees) and was still working off a little congestion, but nothing that was slowing him down any, that's for sure.

So, when I got him up this morning and saw how miserable he was, I was quite shocked. He just looked so sad and so sick... not to mention, he smelled horrible. He had vile smelling diarrhea.

Even though he was sipping a little fluid, he was so incredibly lethargic, sleeping most of the morning (once I got him out of his crib, he snuggled with Daddy while I made some phone calls).

At first, we were going to wait it out at home. But, after giving him some meds and two bouts of vomiting, we decided to take him to the ED for fluids. When Carolyn saw him there, not fussing when the nurses were trying to stick him peripherally, she immediately decided to have him admitted, "just to be safe".

After two boluses of fluids, he did perk up, but not enough for anyone to feel safe for us to go home. The plan still stuck with Frankie getting admitted to the hospital. And, we were not arguing it. I'd much rather get admitted on the safe side than have to go through the ED again at 10pm!

To top it all off, today would have been Frankie's official first day of school! Oh well! Thankfully, his school principal and teachers are incredibly supportive and roll gracefully with the changes!

I'll update with more when I have it. Until then, hug your kids and tell them that you love them... and mean it!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Frankie was discharged yesterday afternoon.

Basically, he was incredibly dehydrated. Frankie needed IV fluids for over 12 hours straight.

And, not to disappoint, our stay was not without some drama. At roughly midnight Monday, Frankie had wrapped his tube around his body so tight that he pulled the needle out of his chest just enough to have the fluids infiltrate subcutaneously.

Fortunately, not much time passed between when he pulled the needle and when I discovered the problem. Thankfully, he sounds different when that happens... slight moan and grunting alerted me out of my sleep to turn off the pump, clamp his line and call for the nurse. Poor Laura! We had actually had a talk about this right when she came on service. Frankie likes to keep her on her toes, that's for sure!

Luckily, not too much fluid had to be pushed out of the tiny hole the needle made in his skin. The saline reabsorbs into his body quickly. Had it been any other type of fluid, there would have been more of an issue (and, we've actually been through that, too!) Within a few minutes, he was reaccessed, fluids restarted, changed into dry clothes, then back off to sleep.

The next morning, yesterday, he was up and acting his normal crazy self. And, once Carolyn had a good look at him, she was comfortable sending us home. So, we packed up our belongings and were home by 4pm.

We laughed while we were there... that Frankie missed his 7W nurses. We got to see a few of them, and that was nice. So, for those of you we missed, sorry!!

Also, it was nice to see Yngrid, Jason and Victoria!! :) While we hate meeting on 7W, it's great to see familiar faces. Keep the "Dougie" docs on their toes!! ha ha ha

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Just a quick note. Frankie was admitted to Yale for dehydration, yet again. At 4:30am, he woke up vomitting and with massive diarhhea. He became lethargic quickly so we went to Yale clinic, then to the ED (as there was no room in clinic) and then admitted to 7W.

We're not sure if it's the same "bug" that caused our admission last week, or something different. The one thing that stands out this time is the blood that was in his stool. So, GI has been contacted, and will be monitoring him over the next few days.

For those that don't know and/or remember, it was this time last year (roughly) that Frankie was admitted and then discovered that he had ulcers in his colon. Let's hope this isn't a repeat.

That's all for now. I'll update soon.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Well, we're back home, again. Frankie was discharged yesterday afternoon.

However, should he become dehydrated again, the doctors have decided that they will scope him (sigmoidoscopy) to make sure there's nothing more concerning that we may be missing.

So, while he's better in that respect, fully hydrated, he has, somewhere along the way, caught a cold. He has a runny nose; he's sneezing; and he has itchy, watery eyes. We've been giving him OTC meds for it, but it's not going away; which, is par for the course. The colds and viruses he catches will take longer to get rid of. We're hoping that he's building up his immune system to battle these "bumps in the road" when they come back down the road.

In the meantime, I was sick yesterday and while I'm feeling better today, I know my cold isn't completely gone, either. So, we're trying to keep Frank germ free, which is pretty difficult in this house!

Many wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season!

Monday, December 24, 2007

To all of our family and friends, Merry Christmas!

Thank you for your continued love and support. You have all helped us through our ups and downs.

Frankie and I have been fighting a cold since his last admission at Yale. While he's got a rough cough and a runny nose, it's promising that he's actually fighting it on his own, without too much medication. It's just takes him longer to get over the common cold. Think of him as a newborn baby that's going to day care for the very first time. His body needs these exposures now to build up his immune system. So, the first few colds will be doozies. With him going to school, this was bound to happen... we have to take some bad with the good now. Of course, this is all within reason and hospital/doctors guidelines.