Hope to be out in the next couple of days.

We are still in the hospital. As usual, it's been a hellish experience for our little guy. Two lost IV's and way too many IV attempts (if you can believe it, Mike said there were 8 on Sunday alone) After that debacle he put a stop to it until we really knew that he needed it. The purpose of the IV is to administer a broad spectrum of antibiotics in anticipation of a positive within all the cultures that we are awaiting results for. Although the tests take 3-5 days to present complete results in the samples, they need to be proactive in treating in order to avoid further complications. This has been done at least 3 if not 4 times. This is how they handle a child like Ian who is admitted to the ER with any kind of fever.

I know I've mentioned it before but the poor guy has had so many antibiotics, my fear is that when he really needs one, they won't work. I've shared this with the doctors and they agree but find there's just no option at this point. We can't take a chance, especially with elevated white blood cells in his cerebral spinal fluid. I just find it hard to believe in this day and age the whole "growing the culture" can not be sped up in any way.

So we are still awaiting the results from tests that were done as early as Friday evening. Not sure what the heck is taking them so long. I've gone through my concerns with every doctor and every nurse. Because Mike stopped the pin-cushioning on Sunday, they had to switch him to P.O. (by mouth/g-tube) on the antibiotics they were running. Together with the nurses, we've pushed back his doses as long as possible waiting for some answers to no avail.

Today he will get a PIC line. This is a surgically placed IV done with an x-ray to find the vein and it can last weeks instead of days. This was decided upon by the Infectious Disease group (like we needed one more group following him). They have come to the agreement that, because of the timing of the two bouts of fevers being right after the shunt placement, it is a result of a shunt infection and needs to be treated by yet another two antibiotics which will run their course for 14 days via the PIC line. The good part of this is that we will be able to bring him home to continue the treatment. We'll have to have an RN administering the meds but this should be provided by insurance. Thank goodness we have decent insurance! I'm not sure how we would handle this if we didn't.

To top it all off, he's now contracted a cold! He's got a horrible cough and is sneezing. I just can't believe it! Thank goodness for the suction machine. I couldn't imagine trying to get all of his congestion out with my ridiculous bulb syringe.

Yet another thing that makes me so sad is that we lost the progress he was making by doing the shunt surgery. Just the night before, he was so interactive with us, giggling and watching us pack up our stuff for the hospital, tracking like a champ. Since then, not so much. He still smiles and he does track a little bit, but just not the same although Mike feels he's doing okay. I keep mentioning this to the doctors and they remind me that he's been through a lot, including the surgery. Another one mentioned yesterday that if he's had this infection since the surgery that could have something to do with it as well. I'm sure being in the hospital 12 days over the last 2 1/2 weeks hasn't helped it either.

We'll see how it goes with the last two rounds of antibiotics. The trick will be to also keep Lila, and the rest of the family, healthy as to not giving him another sickness to overcome.