Week 145

This was a very difficult week for us.  On Tuesday, when Dawn posted last week's blog she wrote about how Jack was not feeling well.  Well as the week went on, Jack did not improve.  Even after several nebulizer treatments, Jack's breathing did not get any better, in fact it seem to get worse.  It got so bad that on Thursday evening Jack woke up several times in distress and he did not respond to three different nebulizer treatments.  After calling the pediatrician to let her hear how Jack was breathing and coughing, we took her advice and ended up taking him to the Emergency Room.  He was such a little trooper.  They tested for the flu, RSV, and Pertussis.  They took X rays, drew blood, and finally admitted him to the hospital around 4 AM on Friday morning.

Our sweet little Jack resting after a stressful evening in the ER.
Waiting to be transported to the pediatrics unit.

The final diagnosis was a double ear infection and Croup.  It took the pediatrician in the ER to dig out all the ear wax in Jack's ears to finally get a good look.  Once she did that she saw the problem right away.  We cannot tell you how many doctors and nurses during the week and that day looked in his ears and never bothered to get the ear wax out of the way to get a good look.  Once they gave him the medicine for the ear infection, a different medicine through a nebulizer treatment, and a steroid to help clear up the cough, his breathing improved.  He spent Friday night as well in the hospital to make sure everything was normal and was discharged on Saturday morning.  He is still not 100%.  His breathing is on the fast side, but his spirits are good.  He had a good night's sleep on Saturday, and Sunday was a good day.  Hopefully, this is the end of a long two weeks of Jack being ill and crazy week that we have had with everyone being sick!

At the hospital; starting to feel better!

What a difference 48 hours on the proper medications can make!

On the Ryan front, he had an okay week.  With all of the transitions since Thursday, he was a little off.  He was able to play video games with his cousin on Friday evening and really wanted to go over and play again on Saturday.  But we said no and he had a melt down to the point that he put his shoes on, coat on, and was going to "drive himself" to Uncle T's to play.  We were able to get him out of it by telling him that we were going to a birthday party across the street.  He was all set at the party until they decided to break out Wii bowling and then Ryan lost interest in playing with the other kids, and just focused on trying to get into the game.  We were only going to stay an hour and we had a tough time leaving.

On a positive note, Ryan received a 100% on his last religion test.  Given the fact that he gave Dawn and I such a difficult time studying for this test, it was great to see.  His teachers were really happy with his test and with how he handles himself in the class.  They told me that on test days Ryan sits by himself and keeps his eyes on his own paper.

Ryan really tries hard to please all of his teachers.  For example, they encouraged the kids to read more non-fiction books.  When we showed Ryan the book magazine and told him he can pick something out, he passed by the cool looking Ninjago books and picked a set of non-fiction books about Presidents Washington and Lincoln.  And on the announcements at school they talk to the kids about events such as no name calling week and the upcoming Penny Wars.  Ryan comes home and makes sure he does what he needs to in order to be involved.  If they ask the kids to wear blue to school, he reminds us that evening when we are taking out his clothes for the next day.  His new kick is this "Penny Wars" fundraiser they are doing.  He talks about it constantly and we give him coins for good behavior and he adds it to his baggy to bring to school to donate.  He even tried to take money out of his own wallet but I wouldn't allow it.  He really does get obsessed with these things, especially if it is a contest at school and his class has a chance to win something.  He will bring in coins to donate, like most of the other kids, but I would find it hard to believe that many of the other kids did chores to earn those coins.    While I'm glad he likes to get involved, I know that most of the time his efforts go unnoticed.  What comes easy to most kids takes a whole lot of effort from Ryan.

Hopefully with everyone feeling better, we can get back to our routine.  It will be an emotionally trying few days for all of us as Dawn's time at home on maternity leave comes to a close and she heads back to work at the end of the week.

PC and DC