Things had been going well with Aidan. Last Sunday when the nurse was feeding Aidan some applesauce he sneezed a few times after he had swallowed a bite, but apparently he still had a little in his mouth, and he aspirated. Within a few hours his lungs were really congested and he was acting like he wasn't feeling well. Later that night he spiked a fever of almost 102.
I called the doctor's office and got him in the next morning and they did an x-ray, but no definite areas of pneumonia showed up. Since he sounded like he had pneumonia, the nurse practitioner prescribed him an antibiotic and had me bring Aidan back the following morning when I had my prenatal appointment with our regular doctor. Dr. P put him on another antibiotic and told me to bring him back Friday. There were a few nights we had to put him on extra oxygen because his oxygen levels were lower than what we like them to be and he was working so hard to breathe.
On Friday, they did a repeat x-ray, which actually looked worse (because he didn't get a good deep breath), but he sounded better. So..... our adventures in dealing with aspiration pneumonia have not been fun, but we've managed to stay out of the hospital. He still sounds pretty junky, but the infection is breaking up. We're giving him extra breathing and vest treatments to help him cough the stuff up.
Anyway, aside from all of that fun stuff, we're doing as well as we can considering. Things are tight as always and we're still looking for a house to rent which is rather difficult to find something that is reasonable and that is big enough for all of us and Aidan's supplies. They boy needs his own small house just to fit in comfortably! :)
At my prenatal appointment the dr. said that everything is good. The baby's heart rate was around 143. I'm 17weeks and 2 days along today. I meet with the OB tomorrow afternoon since I've been seeing my family dr. so far, and Friday I'm scheduled to have another ultrasound so hopefully the baby will cooperate and we'll get to see if we're having another little boy or a little girl. I'm hoping for a GIRL! It's just me and Gracie (our dog) and we are really outnumbered here... lol.
So, I hope that everyone is doing well. We appreciate all of the prayers and support as always. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you all enough for caring so much about Aidan and our family. Many Blessings to you all!
I'll try to post more soon.
~Erin
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sorry again for the long delay!
So, it has been a while since I've actually posted on here and I apologize. When things are going well with Aidan time just passes quickly, and thank goodness things have been going well! Aidan is doing great. He's doing great at school now that we've rescheduled one med that was making him sleepy during the day. We had tried to wean him off of his daily dose of Clonidine which helps with the storming symptoms, like the posturing and tight muscles and stuff, but it became very apparent that weaning him off was not going to work. Although Aidan was alert and smiling and laughing at school he was doing a lot of posturing and by the time I was picking him up from school it was so bad that he would start crying because he was in pain.
We've put him back on the medicine and have changed the times he gets it so that he's awake and alert at school, and they've been telling me that he's smiling and laughing a lot. There is a girl from one of the local high schools who comes in to talk to Aidan and he always smiles at her. In fact, Aidan is just a big flirt in general. He always has been.
I've started realizing that even though Aidan might not be able to do the same things he used to be able to do, and he might not be able to do the same things as most kids his age, he's still Aidan. He still loves his bananas, even if they are in pureed form, and he loves applesauce and he still likes the Wonder Pets and will turn his head toward the TV when they come on.
We started outpatient physical therapy this week, and I am hopeful that Aidan will be able to make some progress. The therapist had him in all kinds of positions and he tolerated the movement and the position changes like a champ. Earlier on, he wouldn't have handled them well. I think one of our main goals is to work on Aidan's head control or just getting him to engage those muscles to lift his head some. Right now, he has no head control at all... as far as lifting his head up and holding it upright. Just imagine a rag-doll. He can move his head from side to side, but those are using an entirely different set of muscles.
Anyway, that's what is going on here. We're all doing pretty well. We're hoping to have some big fundraisers early next year, but we'll post more about that when the details are ironed out. Evan is doing well, and baby #3 is growing well. I have an appointment next week and will be 16 weeks at that point so we're hoping to find out if the boys will have a little brother or sister soon. (I'm hoping for a girl, but we'll be happy with either, of course.... but I'm outnumbered here!)
On a final note, I wanted to add a video that one of the mom's on our parent's of near-drowns group made for the HUGS Foundation. There are 2 pictures of Aidan in it (at 0:11 and 1:54), but it is wonderfully put together and shows children of all ages and progress levels of dealing with near-drowning. Thanks for putting the video together, Julie!
We've put him back on the medicine and have changed the times he gets it so that he's awake and alert at school, and they've been telling me that he's smiling and laughing a lot. There is a girl from one of the local high schools who comes in to talk to Aidan and he always smiles at her. In fact, Aidan is just a big flirt in general. He always has been.
I've started realizing that even though Aidan might not be able to do the same things he used to be able to do, and he might not be able to do the same things as most kids his age, he's still Aidan. He still loves his bananas, even if they are in pureed form, and he loves applesauce and he still likes the Wonder Pets and will turn his head toward the TV when they come on.
We started outpatient physical therapy this week, and I am hopeful that Aidan will be able to make some progress. The therapist had him in all kinds of positions and he tolerated the movement and the position changes like a champ. Earlier on, he wouldn't have handled them well. I think one of our main goals is to work on Aidan's head control or just getting him to engage those muscles to lift his head some. Right now, he has no head control at all... as far as lifting his head up and holding it upright. Just imagine a rag-doll. He can move his head from side to side, but those are using an entirely different set of muscles.
Anyway, that's what is going on here. We're all doing pretty well. We're hoping to have some big fundraisers early next year, but we'll post more about that when the details are ironed out. Evan is doing well, and baby #3 is growing well. I have an appointment next week and will be 16 weeks at that point so we're hoping to find out if the boys will have a little brother or sister soon. (I'm hoping for a girl, but we'll be happy with either, of course.... but I'm outnumbered here!)
On a final note, I wanted to add a video that one of the mom's on our parent's of near-drowns group made for the HUGS Foundation. There are 2 pictures of Aidan in it (at 0:11 and 1:54), but it is wonderfully put together and shows children of all ages and progress levels of dealing with near-drowning. Thanks for putting the video together, Julie!
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