Quite the Week

It has been quite the week. Thankfully, things are calming down now and going back to normal. This week didn't start out that way though!

 

This picture was taken last Saturday afternoon. Joel and I went to Granddaddy's funeral that morning, then lunch at my parent's house, and then we raced back home to meet the home health nurse who was coming over to take some blood samples and change his dressing on his arm. It was not fun for Harrison as the nurse messed up the first time on the dressing and had to re-do it. She also examined the line in his arm and kind of pulled it in and pulled it back out (which we learned the next day was NOT good!). All was well though and we continued with the IV treatments every 8 hours. We were starting to get the hang of it and I was actually feeling better about the whole process and figured I was going to make it through it after all (not that I had a choice!). Harrison continued to be a rock star though. It did not even bother him in the least!

 

Sunday morning, Harrison woke up very fussy. He had been so happy since his surgery so it was weird that he was not in a good mood. Joel had him out swinging on the swing set and noticed that he was touching his arm and wincing. We immediately took off the bandage and noticed that above the site, his arm was turning bright red, was swollen, and was hard as a rock. You could sort of see the picc line going up his arm amongst the redness. This was one of the signs of infection that we had been told to look for, so we called home health and they asked us to text them a picture. Of course, they said give him Motrin (because a fever was probably coming) and take him to the ER.

Here we are in the ER. Of course this had to happen on a Sunday where the ER was the only option...

Naturally on a Sunday in the ER, there's not a whole lot of expertise in the picc line arena. Actually, there was no one there that could really help! And apparently, an infection from a picc line is pretty rare--our night nurse that night told us that in 27 years of working there, she had never seen this. They decided to just go ahead and take the line out to prevent anything further from happening (which was disheartening because they basically undid everything he had done last week), and admitted us for the night. Harrison got a regular IV line put in his foot (because both his arms had been previously used), and they would administer the vancomycin through the IV in his foot every 6 hours from then on, and he also got fluids and antibiotics to treat the infection in his arm. We were told the infection was likely due to the home health nurse messing with the picc line. Ugh! Because patients can't go home with an IV, we were told that it was a good possibility we could be there all week to ensure that he got the antibiotics that he needed. Then, we were told we could not leave our room because of the staph infection in his ears. I think that was the biggest blow! How in the world were we going to be there all week and have to stay in the room the entire time?!?!? We threw a bit of a Whitt fit and told them about our experience the previous week and we were give the ok to leave the room, but only for short periods of time.

Thankfully, it was almost bedtime for Harrison so that night was not too bad. He took a while to get to sleep, but we finally got there. By the way, we were in the new hospital this time and it was SO much nicer (as far as staying in hospitals go).

Monday arrived with a visit from the ENT at 6 am (after being up pretty much all night with the nurses coming in and out, and then Harrison knocked his IV loose at 4 am and got totally soaked so there was an outfit change in there too). I wonder what those doctors think of people when they make their rounds at the crack of dawn???

Anyway, we really didn't find out much from them at that point as they needed to talk to Dr. Wiatrak and also to the picc line specialist who did the line last week. They had such a hard time getting the picc line in the first time that they were not sure they could do it again, and really didn't want to risk further infection. They did look at his ears and thought they looked pretty good. So, we sat around and waited.

Later on that day, we finally got news that they were not going to risk doing the picc line again and we were to stop the antibiotics and just hope and pray that what he did get (half of what he was supposed to) was enough to kill the infection in his ears. We go back for a follow up next Monday and I'm just going to die if his ears aren't clear. I think Joel and I were in shock a bit because we sort of felt like they were giving up on it, but we know that if they felt he needed more of the vanc that we would have stayed all week and gotten it through the IV in his foot. I am a bit relieved to not be administering the antibiotics at home anymore though! I really hope to never ever have to do that again, or see the inside of a hospital again.

I have kept Harrison home all week and tried to keep him away from germ filled places. Clorox wipes and antibacterial soap are my best friend. I've scrubbed everything in our house, all the toys, door nobs, and cleaned every room! He is getting at least one bath a day, and washing his hands multiple times. I've never been a germ-a-phobe, but I do not want to go through this again and I will do anything to keep him from getting exposed (I do also know this is pretty much impossible, but a girl can try, right!?!?). I'm terrified of sending him back to daycare because I'm afraid everything we have done will be for not.

For now, I'm really enjoying spending time with my HAPPY child! He's just been a pure joy to be around. We are trying to catch up on our sleep and just lay low. Lots of snuggles, movies, Ipad time, and playing with trucks. And lovin' on big brother too!

 

So, that has been our week. Joel and I are getting some much needed alone time one day/night this weekend and we are SO excited. Life has been crazy stressful and exhausting lately and it's easy to forget about making time to spend with each other, so we (and grandparents again!) are making it happen this weekend. We are celebrating 8 years of marriage on Tuesday--woo hoo!