Charlie (Daddy) Is Really Sick

It's been a few days since I've posted, but that doesn't mean that life has not been eventful. Unfortunately, it's been a bad few days.

Charlie is in the hospital and has been since Monday evening. He was transported via ambulance from the Urgent Care facility to St. Francis Hospital Monday afternoon. He was severely dehydrated and his arm was worse. He was running a really high temperature, his blood pressure was extremely low and his heart rate was way too fast. We had to go through the ER because his primary care physician is no longer working full time and we had no one to admit him directly to room. So...7 hours later, he was in his room. He was miserable by then.

It turns out that he does definitely have another staph infection on his arm. The big question was what drug was going to work. Until the cultures came back we weren't sure exactly what we were dealing with. They started him on Vancomycin and Levaquin (both are heavy duty antibiotics).

My friend, Amy, picked Ian up from daycare on Monday evening and took him to her house for the night. She has a precious little 3 year old daughter. Ian apparently had a great time.

Tuesday, yesterday, when the doctor came in to see Charlie he was quite concerned. Charlie's kidney function was a lot worse than the day before even with all of the fluid he had been given. He thought it might be from the antibiotic. He called in an Infectious Disease specialist to see what he thought. When Dr. Grosrode came in, he said that the kidney problems were a side effect of the Vancomycin. He said that he wanted to try a couple of other drugs and then hopefully the culture results would be ready no later than this morning.

Last night they changed his antibiotics. He had a slight reaction to them, but after the second bag of each one, it leveled out.

Again, my friend Amy came to the hospital and picked Ian up and took him to her house. What an angel.

Charlie has had rough, rough nights the past two night. He probably only slept about 90 minutes on Monday night. Last night, he probably slept about 3 hours...but not all together. So, he's really really tired. Not to mention scared.

I've seen Charlie sick before, but never like this. The kidney thing through me for a loop. That was pretty serious and without correction could be fatal. I hate to type that word, but it's true.

I know that hundreds of prayers have gone up for Charlie over the past few days and I honestly believe that our prayers were heard.

This morning when the doctor came in his words were "good news all around." Charlie's kidney function test was back to normal, his ultrasound of his kidneys and bladder were normal, the staph was not MRSA so it would be easier to treat, and the other test he did to check for proper circulation in his legs looked good too. So...PRAISE GOD!!!

Dr. Grosrode came in this afternoon with the same message. He discontinued one of Charlie's antibiotics since it wasn't MRSA and he's only getting Ancef now. He said that we'd see how Charlie is doing tomorrow and he could possibly come home on Friday. He will have to be on IV Antibiotics at home for a while, but that's OK. He ordered a PICC line to be place (so the drugs can be administered at home). They placed that about 5:30pm this evening. He will get Ancef 3 times a day until the wound stops draining and then he'll switch to Rocephin once a day. The only restriction he'll have is that he can't lift over 10 pounds with the arms that has the PICC line. So...no lifting Ian with that arm.

My friend Marcia picked Ian up from daycare today. I left the hospital around 7:15pm tonight and then picked Ian up from Marcia and Bill's house. He was happy to see me. We came home, play for a little while, talked to Daddy on the phone, got a bath, rocked and how he's asleep in his crib. What an absolute angel.

Charlie is still not out of the woods, but he's on the edge of the forrest. He definitely turned the corner and is headed in the right direction.

Prayer has turned this situation around and will continue to do so. I ask that if you will, please say a special prayer for Charlie...that he'll continue to improve, be release from the hospital soon and continue to grow in the Lord. What an awesome God we serve. We're so thankful!!!

More later as I can....