Part 2 Logan's February Adventure..

Through the first night Logan slipped in and out of a "sleep-like" state. His oxygen requirement was a bit scary for me. Although he didn't like the way the tubing felt in his nose it did allow him to breathe easier. 100% on 15 litres for his stay in the PICU. Tuesday morning Logan started to feel very warm. His fever had been up and down but this seemed different. He didn't feel well and within a few hours it was easy to see why. A rash started to cover his body, creeping from the trunk out.

Along with it came swelling and stiff joints. When they did morning rounds I started to learn what I could and pick up on all the tips and clues that they gave out. They still felt we were dealing with a very virulent strain of strep. As his symptoms really started to show them self the Drs. were fairly sure about the strep diagnosis. As he became more and more uncomfortable with the rash (swelling, heat, fever) I tried to get some meds but his respiratory system was so depressed that they couldn't let him have anything. WE opted for cool cloths on his forehead,arms and legs for a bit of relief. His worst issues were his tongue and the inside of his mouth. The strep had affected his taste buds and tongue. The only thing he could take by mouth was sips of water. Thankfully he had IV's going to keep him hydrated.

Logan spent the day between this world and another one. We just played along with him, if you didn't he was very upset. The rash really got bad, not an inch of him was left alone. The swelling got so bad that his little eyes became tiny little slits. It was so hard watching him but he did awesome considering all that he was dealing with. Getting in and out of the bathroom was a huge affair, he had to drag is pole and get all the cords up and out of the way. He completely refused any idea of bedpans.... No food again for the day, that made 4 days for Logan without food. He would try to think of something he would like but then when it came he just couldn't eat it. That night was the worst one, a precious little girl in the room next to us died... talk about reality check.... then an hour later the fire alarms started going off. I had no idea what was happening but when I stuck my head out the nurse told me no worries in the PICU drills didn't mean we all had to run out. It was our second night of no sleep but definitely a long night.

They decided that Logan should have a PICC line. His IV lines weren't looking very good and they felt he would be better off if they had a longer term site. Once again I realized that he was much sicker than we ever dreamed and that home was still a ways off. The cultures finally came back and it was strep and it was a horrible strain. They told us the doubling rate was every 53 minutes.... WOW! He started to require a bit less oxygen and we started seeing a bit better vitals. Finally his oxygen saturation was better and his soaring heat rate left the 160's. He was hovering in the 135-140's it felt so much better even though we were still way too high! His output from the tube was still pretty consistent, by now his output was over 3200 cc's. They started talking about the possibility that we were moving on downstairs.... We were pretty excited to think that Logan was getting better. He kept telling us that he was leaving the hospital Friday at the latest so he could go to the premier of Star Wars. After an ultrasound we were cleared to head to the regular floor. About the same time I noticed that Logan just didn't seem right. He was a bit loopy and he started to feel bad. They checked him out and decided that he was okay. Then on the way to the floor he crashed and passed out. By the time we got into a room the rash was even redder and his heart rate was up again. A whole flurry of Drs and nurses were in and out. His new team couldn't figure out why he was sent down and called in the PICU drs to discuss if he got to stay. They decided that moving him might be worse and allowed us to stay but both sets of docs would follow him for awhile.

continued yet again................

Back to the Blog............. part 1

I have been the worst blogger ever!! Facebook has made it way too easy to just pop out things one line at a time. Problem is keeping things down for memories isn't very possible.... well, maybe better than it used to be since they have Timeline but all in all you get the point if you blog and FB.

We had a tough February this year..... Usually it would be cold, snow, and ice that plagued us but not this time.... the weather has been at a record warm. BUT that seems to have allowed the germs to survive much longer than normal. The very beginning of February the boys we invited to Great Wolf Lodge for a swimming overnight. They were so excited to go and have fun.... we packed them up and sent them off. They did indeed have a wonderful time but when they got home all the boys looked like they had been beat up. Cuts, bumps, and bruises all around.... Taylor actually had a busted lip and I worried about loose teeth. He had crashed into one of his friends heads in the wave pool. Logan had scraped his knuckles really bad on the bottom of the pool. Everyone was tired but we knew they would heal and really we weren't worried about any of it. A few days later the boys went snow skiing with the homeschool group and again had a fun day. All seemed fine that night.

Saturday morning Logan complained of flu-like symptoms. We did the usual quaratine deal and kept him in his room. He didn't want food, felt nauseous, was fever free, and could drink water.... So strange symptoms.... The next day he told me his chest was starting to hurt. Still felt horrible but seemed okay, no real fever. Tim and I decided that he should see the Dr the next day. I got on FB and checked in with one of the nurses and let her know I would be calling and to hold me an appointment if possible. She said to call first thing in the morning.

I called in and they gave me 2 options. 1) a 9:30 appointment or 2) a 4:00 appointment so I could also be seen. Logan really looked terrible and I didn't want to wait so we took the 9:30 appointment. Once we got there they quickly got us in and took his vitals. His heart rate was high but he wasn't moving air well, he also had a 100.2 fever. Dr. Watson sent us right away to Children's for a chest x-ray, I asked if we could go to the Urgent Care for this. I was sure he told me yes, I had explained that I always get lost driving to Children's in Dayton and was afraid I would have trouble getting there. He said they might keep him overnight so I ran back by the house and grabbed several things for Logan and myself "just in case". I had tried to track down Tiffany and couldn't find her so I called Racquel and asked if I could drop off Taylor and Kendall so they didn't have to go in the ER and risk picking up more germs. She said yes just as Tiffany called and was able to meet me.


Look how sick he looks......

We drove over to the Urgent Care and signed in. There wasn't an order for tests so I called the Dr office only to find that they had went to lunch. So I called around and got the nurses cell number and called her at home to see if they had ordered the tests. She told me she was sure he wanted Logan taken to a Children's Hospital not the Urgent Care..... so off we went Logan seeming slower but moving along with me. We drove down to the Liberty Campus of Children's in Cincy. It is easy to get to and I thought worse come to worse they would keep us there.




Once we got to the Liberty Campus of Children's ER and got signed in we had to wait to be seen for about 30 min. It was cheerful and bright and everyone was very nice. They immediately started having trouble getting good pulse ox numbers for Logan so they gave him a nebulizer treatment. His heartrate was over 170, pulse ox 70, bloodpressure was very low, his temp was up to 103.6 since the morning. They did 3 nebulizer treatments and oxygen without any real change so they decided to do a continual Albuterol treatment. He also was getting oxygen to help stabilize him. He really didn't like that at all, the albuterol was making him very jittery... but they continued it while we headed down for x-rays. Once they read the films they immediately dx'd him with bilateral pneumonia and sent orders to have him transferred to Children's. The facility there was not an overnight facility. We waited there till they could arrange a bed for him and then we headed out with the ambulance tech, a dr, and a rt. I had no idea that wasn't the normal way of doing things. Logan got to watch Cars on the trip down.... he liked that and asked me to take pictures of him in the ambulance... lol




Once we got to Children's things really got busy and blurry to remember on my part. We didn't go to the ER at all. Right up the elevator to the PICU, his room was ready and the team was waiting for us. They examined him and watched him for a few hours. His numbers were awful and his temp was steady but climbing again. They drew labs, had an ultra sound and decided he would need a chest tube to drain the infection from behind his lung. He was diagnosed with the Bilateral Pneumonia/Empyena. They thought either strep or staph infection was the cause. We needed to wait till morning to find out...... The chest tube proceedure was done in the room with Ketamine and versed for Logan. He did great during the procedure but had tons of trouble coming out of it.... He was so disoriented that he thought we were at a hotel.... lol He continued with hallucinations for about 30 hours. His vitals were really a mess and he felt horrible.... Everytime he would start to drift off he would wake up yanking at the leads and tubes. Finally they put "no-nos" on his elbows so he couldn't bend his arms and get at the tubes. Needless to say the first night we didn't sleep.

Continued next time.................

Yummy and Healthy Muffins

These muffins have become a favorite of almost everyone in the family. I love the texture and taste but even more I love that these muffins are healthy and not full of junk! I use the pulp from the juicer for the kale/spinach/carrot. If they mix up a little dry I add some milk since the juicer takes most of the moisture out of the pulp.

1 1⁄2 c flour (unbleached white, whole wheat, or spelt/rice combo)
1 t (each) baking soda, baking powder and vanilla
1⁄2 t (each) salt, cinnamon and nutmeg
1⁄3 c honey
1 egg
1⁄2 c sour milk or lowfat yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1⁄3 c canola oil*
1 1⁄2 c grated or finely processed cored apples and/or carrots
1 c finely chopped kale or raw dark leafy greens (chard, collard greens)
1⁄2 c any dried, unsweetened chopped fruit and/or chopped nuts**
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda and powder, salt and spices.
In another bowl, mix honey, vanilla, egg, yogurt, apples/carrots, kale, dried fruit/nuts. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Fill 12 greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the muffin comes out clean.
* You can substitute so me of the canola oil (and up the nutrition value and flavour) by using apple sauce, or soaked, pureed prunes.