Another visit to the ED for Emery

I just wanted to update everyone on Emery. For those of you hadn't heard he went into the hospital again on Friday night. He had a very mild fever on Thursday evening, so we gave him some Tylenol and checked on him again at 2 am. He seemed fine so we decided not to give him any more. Then he woke up at 4 am and was quite hot again. David and I decided that since he had been in contact with a sick child at church we would wait until morning and take him to the pediatrician's office rather than rushing back to the emergency room, where we would be waiting with a bunch of other sick kids for hours and hours until they sorted things out. From the pediatrician's office we went to the hospital to get some blood drawn for cultures. A fever for Lainey- or even Emery, if he didn't have his central catheter- wold not be such a big deal but with a catheter we have to rule out a bacterial infection associated with his line. All of this, I might add, is a bit frustrating because we were scheduled to have his line out on Wednesday (early birthday present for me).

When his specialist got word of his fever she called to let us know we should bring him in if his fever got above 100.5 again. Well, when he woke up from his nap that afternoon his temp was 102.7. We got prepared for another hospital stay and took him in. When they took his temp at the ED it was 103.5, so I am glad we went in. I happened to call and cancel our baby sitter for date night Saturday, who happened to be a very nice woman from church, so she came in to be with us at the hospital. She came in not two minutes before they were going to try for an IV and helped me distract and comfort him.

Emery and Mavis, a good friend of ours from church, who is there for our family every time Emery goes back to the hospital.

It is much different getting an IV started for a slightly older baby. I never even considered that when I brought him in. He is so much more aware now! Everyone kept making comments about how happy he looked even though he had such a high fever and didn't feel good. Emery was a trooper through the whole process. A new IV, more blood work, 2 chest x-rays, some big time IV antibiotics started, and several people poking and listening to him and we were finally admitted. Since they don't know what is causing his fever and he is quite raspy they put him in droplet precaution isolation, but Emery and I both know it is most probably because he aspirates when he eats that he is so junky. We won't complain though- it isn't so bad not having to share a room with another family and actually enjoying a semi-quiet nights sleep at the hospital. Since then we have just been monitoring him and waiting for lab results. At rounds this morning the GI doc said they would think about discharging him on Monday if his cultures are still negative for bacteria and he can maintain an acceptable temp for 24 hours. At that point they will consider whatever he has to be a virus and discharge him so we can follow him at home.

Daddy and Emery

Lainey insisted on bringing her bag to the hospital too. She is very protective of her little brother and keeps asking where he is if she is not with him.

That is where we are at right now. If you would like to pray for Emery please pray that he stays strong until all of this is over and his fever subsides without Tylenol. Please also pray that we can proceed with removal of his Broviac on Wednesday if not sooner. That way the next time he gets a fever we really can just treat him like a normal kid and manage him at home with pop cycles and lots of TLC. We are soooooo close!