April 16 - Day 3

Haze was looking and acting much better by the end of the day.  In this picture, he is playing with his favorite hopsital toy - the Baby Einstein circle book.  He also loved any toy that he could play "fetch" with Mom & Dad with.  He'd throw it on the floor, watch it bounce around, and look to one of us to pick it up.  Major development for the day: We saw Haze smile again!  The Allens went home this evening and my Mom came up to tend Andlie.  

I think he started doing much better after the Respiratory Therapist started physical therapy for his lungs.  They basically smacked his back & chest trying to get him to cough up some of the crap in his lungs.  This therapy sounds like it is horrible and hurts, but he actually enjoyed it and it seemed to feel good to him.

His blood tests came back normal with one exception - his PH levels were off.  The nurse explained it to us by saying, "When something is 'off' in our bodies, our PH levels are off."  She said they weren't off by much though.  They also did a blood test to see if he had too much Carbon Dioxide in his blood because of the way he was breathing.  That also came back just fine.  The viral panel that they did on the stuff they sucked up from his nose/lungs when we got there came back negative, which was very puzzling to the doctors.  They asked if we could do the test one more time - to which we agreed.

At this point, I mentioned that he had choked on the fishie cracker on Tuesday and the symptoms had started on Wednesday with a cough.  The doctor took this into consideration and said that we would most likely do an endoscopy/scope to see if the fishie was in there and get it out.  They would only do this if he wasn't getting much better in a couple days. 

After the doctor left the room, I broke down to Bryan.  I told him my gut/Mother's instinct feeling was that the fishie cracker was a major factor in all of this.  I thought if we were going to the do scope, we should just do it now and get it over with because I was pretty sure it would help.  I felt guilty for letting him choke on a fishie.  I was so nervous about putting him under anesthesia.  I hated the thought of someone prodding around in my baby's lungs.  I cried and cried and cried.  Bryan hugged me tight and cried too.

I finally went and got the nurse and told her I was freaking out a little.  She came and talked to us and I told her it was my Mother's instinct that the fishie was a culprit.  She said she'd go get the doctor.  He came in and talked to us and told us that after thinking about it, he was pretty sure the fishie would just dissolve and Haze would have to cough it up, but he thought it could be a factor in Haze's condition.  He said it was good he was on antiobiotics in case the fishie would cause infection.  He said we most likely wouldn't do a scope.  He said he would consult with a "fishie cracker specialist" (other specialty doctors/surgeons) and get back to us.  He was very calming and even made me laugh a few times.  I was so thankful.

Later he came and told us that yes, in fact, the fishie would have dissolved and might be part of why Haze was sick, but that he would just have to cough it up.  No scope needed.  Sigh of relief.  Haze was starting to smile more and he even ate a little bit of baby food.

Signs that he was improving to the docs: He was playing with Mommy & Daddy.  His lung sounds went from being "diminished" to "loud wheezing & coarseness."  (This meant that at least his lungs were opening, but that there was still inflamation & crap in there.  At least his lungs were opening.)  He was starting to eat/be hungry.  (He actually started nursing about every four hours.)  He was still having wet diapers.  (And even one poopy!)

Funny of the day: I had just come back to the hospital after a nap and shower.  I was freshly clean.  Haze peed enough for it to soak through his diaper and show up on my newly cleaned pants.

We continued to pray and pray and pray.  And we were continually thankful.