RSV - round two

Because Lochlan was born so very premature (15 weeks early) and because he was on the ventilator for so long, he suffers from Bronchopulmonary dysplasia. (BPD)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002079/

This makes him very susceptible to lung infections including the common cold and RSV. (Respiratory syncytial virus)

http://m.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/rsv.htmlb

For the first winter season after he was born, he qualified for an RSV shot called Synagis which gives the body antibodies to fight RSV.

Season one- RSV shot, no RSV.

Season two- did not qualify for the RSV shot. (The government pays for it here in Canada) As a result, he contracted RSV which turned into pneumonia and spent a week in the hospital.

Season three - no RSV shot - ended up with a virus and then picked up RSV. Now here we are again, in the hospital.

Dr. Flavin stopped by this morning for a consult. He said that Lochlan is right in the thick of the RSV and it is just wiping him out. If his fever spikes again this afternoon and he continues to not improve, they may determine it's bacterial and start him on antibiotics.

(His fever had gone up to 102.9 yesterday afternoon and evening but broke overnight.)

Dr. Flavin said he is full of mucus and secretions and it needs to break up and come up. Good times!

So to help with that, he is getting a hypertonic saline nebulizer every two hours for three doses. Then will be switched back to Ventolin.
The saline thing is a mask that is held over his nose and sprays thus smoke into his face. Needs to be held there for 15 mins too)

The resident came in not too long ago and said that in order for him to go home, he needs to be on room air, drinking enough fluids, and not needing the Ventolin as much. (Every 4 hours would be okay for us to do at home)

So now it's a waiting game. Lochlan is very sleepy still and has been asleep since last night apart from asking for water and being woken up for one thing or another.
He's not interested in eating anything.

This morning while his eyes were closed I whispered that I loved him in his ear and that he was so strong and he said this teeny tiny "yeah" and then went back to sleep.

Thank you for your positive thoughts, well wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery.

To quote my best friend: "Dear Lochlan, we know how strong you are. You don't need to keep proving it!"

Hospitalization

You wouldn't think that it would have to take being admitted to the hospital to get me to write a new blog post. But that what it was. I haven't written much in the past few months because things have been going so very well and there hasn't been much to report except for the day to day. And there have been a ton of awesome moments to write about.  I just rarely have time to just sit down and write about it.

Today, I have a lot of time as I am sitting beside Lochlan's bed in the hospital.

About a week and a half ago, he started getting a runny nose. A few days later he developed a little bit of a cough. Then on Friday, he spiked a fever and had it over the weekend. I had to work yesterday, but Rob said that he just lied around and didn't eat much or drink much. This morning was the same thing. He was very clingy and snuggled right into me. His lungs were retracting quite a bit and he was breathing quite rapidly. When I checked his premature this morning, he did not have a fever but I gave him some Tylenol anyway cause I knew he was feeling pretty crummy. 

We are expecting some pretty bad weather today and tomorrow with snow and then freezing rain so I didn't want to delay getting him checked out.

We got to the hospital Children's outpatient clinic just before 10am. We sat in triage for close to an hour. While waiting he was snuggled right into me. He did ask for some "blub blubs" (goldfish crackers) and some cantaloupe. And he ate quite a bit. And drank a little bit too. Finally it was our turn and the triage nurse took his vitals. He had lost weight. I'm pretty sure he was up to 26 pounds the last time we were at his regular doctor's appointment. Today he weighed 24 1/4 pounds. Not cool. He's little to start with! Can't afford to lose weight when it takes him several months to gain even one pound!

He wasn't sat'ing very well with his oxygen. About high 80s/low 90s. So we were whisked off to another room where he had to have a CPAP mask put on. He was also given 4 puffs of ventolin on 2 different occasions to help open up his lungs. He was pretty chill for a while. Happy to be watching TV and snuggled into mommy. He did eat the rest of the cantaloupe I had packed and also the rest of the goldfish. Wasn't really interested in drinking any water.

They took a chest x-ray and we continued to wait.

While we were waiting, Lochlan's colour started returning and he was even sitting up doing some colouring in his book and placing stickers too. They kept checking his vitals and oxygen level and I honestly thought he was perking up and we'd be able to go home soon.

Some more waiting and then I could tell that Lochlan was getting pretty sleepy. It was 1:30 and he was in desperate need of a nap. He started to fall asleep when the paramedics arrived to take transfer him to KGH. The resident had mentioned that most likely he would be admitted  but I had still hoped that wasn't going to be the case. Obviously with the arrival of the paramedics, I knew that wasn't happening.

I had to take a picture - he looked so ridiculously small

So here were are. The chest xray showed something but it was very likely a virus. They don't think it's bacterial. They are going to consult with Dr. Flavin who has been following him since he was born and compare scans from previous ones. Compared to last March when he was admitted for pneumonia, it doesn't look as bad. They will not be starting him on any antibiotics unless his condition doesn't improve.

They did give him some more Ventolin but this time through some other mask thing. I can't remember what it was called. They didn't want to wait for the puffers to be ordered to get it started again.  They are also going to be giving him a steroid but an oral one I think they said because the Flovent takes a few weeks to kick him to see any results. Chances are he will be back on at least the Flovent puffer over the winter as a preventative measure. Dr. Flavin will confirm when he stops by later tonight or early tomorrow.

They are also thinking of putting in an IV to give him more fluids. He hasn't been drinking much at all so they want to make sure he's not dehydrated.  I asked if we could wait for him to wake up to see if he would drink from his cup before going the IV route.

Okay, he's starting to wake up now. Time for some snuggles. I'll try to post an update when I can.
Wait...scratch that, the nurse just came in and they are going to start an IV. And they are going to suction him. Gah...sorry buddy!

Even more snuggles for you! xo

The big update

It's been so long since I wrote an update and there is much to say. Lochlan is doing absolutely wonderful. Gosh I LOVE that kid! He makes me smile so many times throughout the day.

I will start with what is most current:

Lochlan has been showing a little bit of interest in potty training lately. Prior to bathtime tonight, Abby went, and then Lochlan said "me pee too." I told him that I didn't have the potty seat (he'd already been on the potty 2 times today with no results and to be honest, I just wanted to get the bath going and get them to bed!) Well now, Loch had different plans. He said "ok." And went downstairs, into the bathroom, opened the cupboard, brought the potty seat back upstairs (we have like 14 stairs) put it on the toilet, pulled his pants down and I helped him up onto the seat. Next thing you know, I heard a tinkle! What? I was so excited I thought maybe I was imagining it but no, Lochlan grinned and peed some more and we celebrated!!!!! High fives all around!!!! So we'll see. It's definitely been him getting things going. I haven't pushed for it. It wasn't really on my radar. At least not right now. Maybe early next year...but I wasn't really thinking about it.  I do think I'll get a small potty seat that sits on the floor though. Lochlan's legs don't touch the stool and he needs that to well, you know. I have to stack about 5 or 6 books under his feet. So it would be better for him to get a special seat until he grows a bit bigger. Although he does have a mind of his own these days and may decide he wants the big boy seat!!

He's been giving us some grief lately over clothing choices. Quite frankly, it's driving me nuts!!! Every morning it's a challenge to get him dressed. He always wants to wear shorts and it's been getting cooler out weatherwise. And then when we finally do get him to put something on, he wants to change it to something else. But if we change it, he wants what he had on. And it's just not a fun game at all.

This is actually a shirt he put on himself as shorts.

It's the same with jammies. I know it's his way of asserting himself and making his own decisions but gah, I'm so over it!

I agreed to have Lochlan be part of a special study called the Bayley Assesment - it's a database basically of knowledge on development for micro preemies. It will let other families know of the percentage of children that are born prematurely where they can expect them to be at 18 months to 2 1/2 years old. Lochlan blew the study out of the water. He is above average in a lot of areas. (especially in the talking!)  It took a while to get started (I remember that being a big concern of ours early on) but since he started, he's just really taken off. Most of what he speaks is 3 and 4 words at a time. So complete sentences but perhaps missing the "I".  I should really take more video. I feel like both Abby and Lochlan are growing up so super fast.

Speaking of Abby, she started kindergarten this month. Eek! She is loving it. She only goes 2-3 days a week. But she would love to go every day! She wakes up and asks me if she has school today. And then kinda drops her head when I tell her no. So cute.  And she has homework (3 books to read) and she's super proud to do it.

We met with the ear doctor and he has a little bit of fluid still in his one ear. Loch ended up going for an x-ray to check his adenoids. I had mentioned that he sometimes snores or breathes heavy when he sleeps. Turns out he does have enlarged adenoids and they may need to be removed. (we will find out in November) Also found out at that appointment that he is tongue tied. We had no idea. And considering he speaks so well, it hasn't slowed him down one bit. But yes, if you ask him to stick his tongue out, he can't really do it. If he does go for the adenoid surgery, while he's there, they would snip under his tongue or do whatever it is they do to fix it. If not, it's not a big deal and we'll just see if it ends up affecting his speech.

He now weighs 24.5 pounds, is 33.5 inches tall, has a 48 cm head circumference, and is a dancing machine!!!  We watched the Justin Bieber movie recently, and Abby and Lochlan were just givin' er! Loved it!

Over the summer we enjoyed going to the zoo, swimming in our pool, watching Abby play soccer, (already Lochlan is showing interest in playing too and is really good at keeping up with and kicking the soccer ball) and just enjoying eachother's company.

Best friends at the zoo

And actually while school is getting ready to pick up in terms of supplying, I have really enjoyed spending more one on one time with Lochlan while Abby is at school. He's such a fun, sweet, happy lil boy.