Still Sick

As I posted yesterday we got discharged from Children's because the doctors did not think that he had Kawasaki's disease, however; they wanted us to keep watching him.  Yesterday he woke up from his nap "sick" again with another fever and not feeling well.  We gave him Tylenol and he took another nap before dinner and then ate a big dinner had a bath and went back to bed and slept 12 hours.  He woke up not feeling well, but perked up a little later in the morning and never did have a fever at all.  We then had a follow up this morning with the pediatrician and he was doing well and seemed in good spirits.  He even told me that he wanted to go back to the Hospital so he could watch TV in bed and eat bacon!  What a funny boy!  I told the doctor I wouldn't believe that he was well until he woke up from a nap without a fever.  She did hear some rattling in his lungs so we got an X-ray which turned out negative for pneumonia.  She wasn't sure what to think but said to call if he had a temperature when he woke up from his nap.

Sadly, he woke up with a 102.5 temperature again today.  Which makes day 5 of waking up with a temp over 101, and day 9 with waking up with a temperature at all!  I called his the doctor that we saw today and she has phone calls in to Cardiology and infectious disease at Children's and is waiting to hear back regarding their recommendations.

At this point I am getting a little concerned for him.  it seems like a long time to be sick and have a fever.  Please be praying that we get to the bottom of this or that it just resolves (if it truly is a virus that is still running it's course)very quickly!  I just wanted to send out an update so people know to still be praying for him.  I hope it's nothing at all!  Thanks!

Thanks for praying

Eli and I are home now.  It turned out this morning that the medical team thought that Eli's symptoms did not add up to Kawasaki's disease at this time.  Based on all of the lab work they did, they are assuming that he just has a virus and it just needs to run its course.  Sadly for Eli, viruses hit Eli harder than they do most kids so whenever he gets anything he usually ends up at Childrens for one reason or another, never the ER though!  We do have a follow up with the pediatrician tomorrow morning to make sure things are still going well.

He was a tired boy and fell asleep on the way home.  I am hoping he will sleep all afternoon and feels better when he wakes up.  Thank you for all of your prayer!  I truly believe that it helped him turn the corner.  I'll update again if there is anything else significant to pray for.  For now, he just needs to rest and his body needs to heal!  So keep praying for that.

What's up with E?

As many of you probably saw on Facebook last night we ended up in the ER at Seattle Children's yesterday with Eli. Thanks for your prayers!  I wanted to give you all a better update so you won't be freaking out.

Well Eli started with a low grade fever at the end of last week that would come and go. He acted fine and when I asked him if he felt sick or if anything hurt, he'd reply "No, I feel fine" with a look of "you're crazy mom" on his face and continue playing. Well come Monday his fever got worse and he started acting like he didn't feel well and had some sniffles. I just figured he'd gotten a cold or the flu, and it would just run it's corse. Well after 3 days of higher fever and more miserable boy I thought that 6 days was a long time to have a fever, so I called the pediatrician last night and got him right in (I love that our pediatrician's office have weird hours and can generally squeeze kids in anytime!!).

The doctor that saw him didn't really know what to think and kind of, sort of,  thought he MIGHT have a disease called Kawasaki's disease. This is a disease that affects the heart and the blood vessels. Given Eli's heart history (which those of you who are unfamiliar can learn more about in this blog if you're interested!) she didn't want to take any chances. So she referred us down to Children's ER where his cardiology team is located.

Well after several tests last night, they concluded that he didn't have strep... And that's about it!  After they ruled out strep they took some blood and other samples and ran some labs. They are not sure that he has Kawasaki's disease as he only has 2 out of the 4 symptoms needed for diagnosis. But they did find out that his inflammation was quite high, so that was a bit concerning. The cardiology team still wants to do an Echo on him this morning to continue to rule out Kawasaki's disease. So we will do that later (when he wakes up, we didn't get to bed till midnight last night!!).

I will post more as I know more.  For now we are just chillin on the floor (we moved out of ER last night) until Eli's temp is gone without meds.   Prayers are appreciated that he kicks this thing fast and we can get out of this joint!!  Last night the boys did have fun watching Frozen, so that was special for them since we don't tend to watch movies on school nights!

Eli is 3!

Oh my goodness I really just can't believe it at all!  The last 6 months have been such a time of growth for Eli.  As many of you remember, last year at this time Eli was barely walking, only said about 3 words and I was worried about his health because he had been sick for over a month.  Well this birthday month could not be any different! 

Eli just had his exit testing from the birth to three program he was in.  He did not qualify for ANY preschool services.  He scored low normal for gross and fine motor, but not enough to qualify for services any more.  He can get around with all the other kids his age.  He's a bit slower and still has trouble maneuvering stairs, but he is working on it and wants to do it "all by my lelf (self) every time now.  We are going to continue working on motor activities at home and I hope to continue to see improvements.  He scored low in articulation, but still not enough to qualify (and a caveat on his articulation testing, we did it in November and he barely didn't qualify, he was really low.  However, his therapist said that if we had done the testing at the beginning of February, there would have been no way he would have qualified!  That's how fast he has been improving).  His overall language (expressive and receptive language) he scored at about as 5-6 year old level!  What the heck!!  Where did this kid come from?!?!?  I was floored.  So was his speech therapist.  When she started coming, when he was just 2, he had 3 words and we were working on him signing "more" with a rounded "oo" sound!  Now the boy speaks in 6-8 word sentences and is becoming more and more intelligible everyday.  And oh my he has A LOT to say!  He talks and talks and talks.  I always knew he would be a talker, and boy was I right!  Caleb always says, "Eli is just a little Richard Sherman...he likes to talk!!" Poor Ryan, he's surrounded by talkers. 

Eli's health this winter has also been stellar.  He had a bit of a persistent cough after a cold last month but I got him a new inaihler and face mask, and he's been good to go after one dose!  This is the first winter that he hasn't had some major illness/set back!  (So Cassie, if you read this, there is hope for Bruce next year!)  As for his heart and his vision, I have no concerns right now.  He does have a cardiology appointment next Wednesday and if there is any concern, I will keep you all posted.  And he has an eye doctor appointment in March.  Again if there is any change to his vision status I will post an update too.  But overall he's pretty healthy.  His doctor told me at his three year check up that if I felt concerned about his development he could refer us to private therapy... then he heard Eli talk and said "never mind!" 

Eli's little personality is also coming out more and more everyday!  I fear that he is going to be the class clown when he is older.  He LOVES to make people laugh and can tell jokes and understand jokes even better than Caleb at times.  He cracks us up daily and has the best sense of humor.  However, as I said he LOVES to make people laugh and can be disruptive at times too.  He is also at the age of pushing the envelop and is constantly trying to see what he can get away with.  Consequences do not seem to work on him very well either, so that's fun.  He just doesn't care when he gets into trouble.  I am still experimenting on what works, and I think loosing a "friend" (stuffed animal du jour) or "guk" (truck/car du jour) seems to do the trick!  The boy has a stubborn streak to match mine...hmmm I wonder if our beginnings have anything to do with that.   And if I didn't love him so much I would want to send him back at least once a day!!  He also has a set of lungs on him and may have damaged a few people's hearing.  When he doesn't get his way, or falls down, or hurts himself, or he drops something, or some other child touches him, gets too close or looks at him wrong... or really any tiny thing makes him upset, the WHOLE world will know about it. I call it his dramatic flair, he's always had it... I hope he learns to tone it down. 

The other thing that Eli loves right now is music.  He loves to drum, like Caleb did and play on the keyboard.  If music comes on, he has to stop everything and listen to it.  The other day I turned on the Les Miserables sound track and he started humming the opening to it for days!  It was amazing to me that he heard it once and got the tune down.  Granted most of his "humming" sounds like heavy metal screaming, but he does still carry a tune. 

He is also madly in love with trucks and cars.  Mostly trucks at this point.  He has to point out every truck on the road.  He also is obsessed with garbage trucks, landfills/dumps, and garbage.  This is quite useful when I need something thrown away since he thinks it an honor to be asked to throw something in the garbage or recycling.  

All in all we love our little Eli.  He is such a sweet heart and loves to give snuggles and loves.  I can't believe how far he has come and I couldn't be more proud of the boy he is turning into.