IT STINKS!

I have been cleaning my house frantically tonight. That is always a sign that I feel out of control. That I have no idea where this hospital stay will take us.

The surgery didn't exactly go smoothly. We accomplished what we needed, but Jacob sure struggled with his breathing. This doesn't make me feel very optimistic, if Jacob ever would need another surgery. Ear tubes is truly nothing in the world of surgeries.

And then Jacob did catch sis's cold. Jacob has confirmed rhino-virus. There is a long time since I have seen Sarah so sick, so in a way, I guess I should not be surprised to find our little guy in the PICU. The secretions are out of this world. He can't hold his oxygen when we suction him. Those dips in oxygen doesn't scare an ICU nurse, but sure would be hard to manage for a nurse up on the floor with three other patients.

And then there is the poop and the pee. Jacob hold his pee for 22 hours around the surgery. Noone knows why, but right now Jacob just doesn't pee the way he should. They have had to straight catheter him every afternoon to empty his bladder. It is already decided that we will go home with catheter supplies, so we can do this at home if needed.

And then there is poop. Jacob started having diarrhea after his surgery. It got worse yesterday. This morning on rounds, I was surprised how much he had pooped. The term stool replacement came up. The ICU team all knows Jacob very well, and we all agreed that this stinks! Noone wanted to mention the word "colitis", but it was on our minds. A Cdiff test was ordered. Well, my mother instinct makes me think that we might be out of remission. More tests were ordered this afternoon. We're seeing GI tomorrow. We want to aggressively treat any sign of colitis, since we know what slippery road that can be for our boy.

Having a few too many hospital stays under our belt, I start to feel that this hospital stay is definitely taking a wrong turn. We went from ear tubes to a cold to possible being face to face with the poop monster once again. It simply stinks! There are also just too many loose ends, too many tests pending, and most importantly a too sick Jacob to see the end of this stay. It also doesn't help that it is Friday tomorrow. There are just not as much happening in the hospital over the weekend. I think at this time, we are probably smart to not rush out of the ICU. If there is one place things happen, it is the ICU.

But it stinks. I had planned to take spring break off to hang out with the kids. Sarah and I were going to have some time alone. Now, I am just not so sure. But the biggest thing right now is to get the poop monster under control. That one still scares me.

Send some positive thoughts and energy to our boy! He sure needs it right now.

Love, Maria.