Question of the Day

Joel has been running full steam ahead since we left the hospital yesterday morning. He is on oral antibiotics (the same exact stuff that he was given through the iv) for 7 days, 3 times a day. It is nasty stuff! All the redness and swelling has disappeared - he just has a small scab on his knee.

Everyone has been asking us what type of bacteria caused Joel's infection, and honestly, we never found out. The doctor was pretty confident it was either strep or staph but they could not verify which one. Joel's scrape did not have enough fluid to collect a sample and since it was not in his bloodstream (praise God!), we do not know.

I asked the doctor if there was anything I could have done to prevent the infection and he said "no." That is kind of comforting to know that I didn't do anything wrong but scary that it could happen again. For my own sake, I am keeping him in jeans until that scab is completely gone!

My parents just bought the boys a swingset that was delivered on Friday, so we ended up working on that after we got home. It is quite a job, and Joel and Caleb love "measuring" all the wood for us and getting tools for us. The instructions say that it could take anywhere from 5-24 hours to get it put together. At the rate we are going, it is going to take us at least 24 hours to get that thing done! :)

Update on Joel

Joel slept well last night and woke up his usual talkative self. He has been very patient with all the doctors and nurses. Except for crying during the 3 tries it took to get the iv in (yesterday), he has been in a good mood. He is confined to his room and anyone who has spent even 5 minutes with Joel know how challenging that can be for him...and for us. We have been alternating movies and playtime to pass the time. Luckily, he is only hooked up to the iv when he is receiving the antibiotics (every 6 hours for 30 minutes).
We just visited with the doctor and we have seen improvement already. The swelling and redness in his armpits and neck area have gone down. He still has the redness and swelling around his knee and up to his groin lymphatic system. They will re-evaluate him tomorrow morning and if there is only minimal redness right around the initial scrape, they will release him. Otherwise, it will be another day.
Because the scrape does not have a lot of fluid, they were unable to test it to see what type of infection it is. The took a blood sample to check to see if the infection was in his bloodstream. No news is good news. They will test it for 48 hours, and if it ever comes back positive, then we will have to stay on iv antibiotics for even longer. So basically, if it is not in his bloodstream, then we may never know what exactly he had. They are assuming something in the strep or staph family. Keep praying! We want to go home tomorrow!The staff here at Children's Mercy is wonderful. They have been so helpful - even bringing us a baby swing to keep Josiah in. My only complaint is that they have been meeting his needs so well that when we get home, I won't be surprised to hear Joel say "Momma, I would like eggs and pancakes for breakfast. Then I want to color and watch a movie...."
Thank you all for your prayers and notes of encouragement. We are so thankful for such a strong network of friends and family!

If you are just now hearing about this and want to know what happened, I'll do a rundown of that last day or so below:
I noticed that Joel had an inch wide scrape on his knee on Wednesday. No big deal. Thursday, I checked it again - still didn't look abnormal. I did notice that it looked like he had a pulse around it. Thought it was a little weird but thought I would just show Tim later. Over night on Thursday, Joel woke up several times. He felt a little warm but nothing too suspicious. We were all hot since the air hasn't been turning on with the cooler weather. At one point, he did say his knee hurt, but he has always been a bit of a dramatic child so I just said we would put a band-aid on it in the morning.
When I looked at it on Friday morning, it was ugly. It was definitely infected and his knee looked a little swollen. We decided to take him into the walk-in clinic at the pediatrician office. Luckily, Tim had decided to stay home since he was supposed to work today, so he could watch the younger two. By the time we got to the doctor, I noticed the redness was moving up his leg in a line. By the time the doctor looked at it, it had moved to his entire groin area and his lymph nodes were swollen. She immediately called over and had us admitted at Children's Mercy. So here we are. Not the way we were planning to spend the weekend, but I am so thankful that we have such great care. I was a wreck driving to the hospital. Anyone who has watched their children be sick knows the fear of the unknown. I am so grateful for a God who cares. A God that assures us of life and a future with Him even when nothing else goes as we plan.

Branson Laughs

We have been on a vacation this past week with our families. We spent the first part of the week in Branson with Tim's family, minus Peter and Joy who had their sweet baby girl! It was the best trip so far that we have taken with kids. Joel and Caleb are finally old enough to do some fun things...and enjoy them. They had many firsts....Silver Dollar City, tubing, fish hatchery, and Joel got to go to see the Chinese Acrobats. He was a little bored at first (he clearly did not understand the amazing feats these acrobats were doing!). At the very end of the show, he watched in awe as they walked off the stage and down the aisle. He turned to me and said "Momma, those were REAL people!!" Not sure how he missed that during the entire show, but I wonder if he would have been less bored if he had been aware that it was not a movie.

Joel also created a great memory on our boat ride. About halfway during our outing, he suddenly came to me and told me that he need to go poop. NOW. I was already starting to smell something, but I was holding a sleeping Josiah. I quickly did what any good mother would do, and said "Tim, do something now!" Tim quickly stripped off Joel's shorts and hung him over the boat and into the water. Joel was not quite comfortable with that arrangement, so we decided to have Tim and Joel swim to the shore and complete the deed there. Shoes were thrown to the shore, and everything went smoothly from there.

I was very proud that both boys tried out tubing with us. They are growing up so fast and it is fun to see how different they each are. Caleb has no fear with water...he doesn't panic when he goes under so we definitely have to keep a constant eye on him. Joel, on the other hand, has always been much more timid. He has been taking swimming lessons and will now hold his breath and go under water, but he is still very cautious and wants us very close by at all times. It took a lot of coaxing to get him on the tube. He admitted to me that he was a "little scared" but I was very proud that he tried it anyways.

We are now in Dallas visiting my parents and my sister's family for Labor Day weekend. I'm sure it will be filled with lots of swimming and spoiling. We are so blessed to have such wonderful families on both sides!