Back Among Friends....

We are back at Seattle Children's. Joshua was admitted at 6 am this morning after a long drive in the car. Sunday he was satting around 88 and I put him on oxygen. I couldn't really pin-point any certain thing that was 'wrong' with him. I called Dr Law and we chatted about somethings that I could do and watch for. Monday moring he just wasn't looking good to me, so I called the pediatrician and took him right in. Dr Hardy and Dr Hall did their assessments and we looked at another echo and saw that the amount of fluid in his effusion had just about doubled from Friday to Monday. Dr Law was called and arrangements were made for us to go back out to Seattle.

I decided that driving at night when he was sleeping would be my best bet. Because I was super tired from lack of sleep and my check engine light has come on in the Envoy it was decided that my dad would drive us out. (He should be pulling into home now anytime....)

Joshua did great in the car and when we got here he was looking pretty good. (Go figure. Not that I mind that he looked better but it is REALLY hard to figure out what is wrong when his status changes so fast!) He had an awesome day playing and scooting around his crib. We got to see a lot of friendly faces of friends that we (we more being me) have missed. Joshua had an ultrasound and a repeat x-ray. There is fluid there and it is estimated to be around 120 cc's on the right. (There is about 6 on the left.) This is the same rough estimate that was there back in June. Dr Law has decided that he will be treated medically as opposed to physically. Meaning we will use medication to try and fix it versus tapping him and removing the fluid. The first thought is that we will trick his body by giving his Bumex to him at one time in the morning with the Diurell. The other change is the Sildenafil. We will increase the dose from 0.5ml 3 times a day to 1.6 mls 3 tomes a day. Dr Law says this medication will bring his body from Missoula elevation to sea level! Hopefully this does the trick. Part of the mystery is why on numerous occasions he looks pretty rough in Missoula but perks right up when we get here. (Could be all the attention from the nurses and staff?? He is an attention hound!)

We don't know how long we will be here but I will update and keep you all in the loop as to what is happening....the people that I know that are still following our favorite little Joshua peanut anyway! I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

I decided to look back and see where we were a year ago. I didn't log anything for this particular date but I can tell you that we were in the room next door. I did post for the 4th and was reminded of the time I came back from dinner (I believe) to several people surrounding Joshua's bed and blood EVERYWHERE!! They were changing his dressing and his PICC line broke and he was bleeding out from the line. Because he was on Milrinone at that point in his life he got to take a trip back to the unit (CICU) until they did a surgery and repaired the line. Sheesh....that kid.

Here is a picture from 11-4-2008! Boy oh BOY has he grown this year. :)

This was taken while he was playing and exploring his crib. He acted like it was a whole new world! It was very fun to watch.

He was busy trying to get around the crib. He mastered the butt scoot as a way to get aroung backwards. Here is a shot of him deciding maybe he should change positions......Oh mom....you caught me. :)