Home - Update!

It's been a couple of weeks since Chloe girl was finally released from the hospital. I have been meaning to update, but it has been a whirlwind experience since the minute we got home. We were released from the hospital with Chloe still having a having white blood count and a high platelet count. We will begin the long process of determining what that is all about when she goes for a recheck on her MRSA on Wednesday, April 9.

It was great to leave the hospital, but coming home to Connor having the stomach flu made things shall we say, interesting. For the first night it was just dealing with him being sick. However, by the end of the next day not only was my nine year old, Christian, sicker than I had ever seen him, but I know I was sicker than I had ever been. Then as the night wore on, Don fell prey to this nasty virus leaving my wonderful eighteen year old daughter, Miranda running the show. Along with help from my fourteen year old, Benjamin, they managed to keep Christian and me alive with ibuprofen, Sierra Mist and Gatorade. On top of all of that they took care of Chloe as it took every ounce of energy Don had left over, as he wasn't as sick as I was, to try to handle a still very sick little Connor. By the following morning I was able to semi-function. Enough for the two helpers to head off to school and for two more to succumb to the virus. It would have been a miracle to expect Chloe not to get it so it was no big surprise that immediately after her morning feeding she also became sick.

For the next few days we struggled through trying to get the family back on our feet. Scouring the house multiple times trying to rid our home of the germs that threatened to kill us! I would just get to the point of being well and it would hit me again. I think that we are finally all on the mend and can take a deep breath. Well that was until last night....

Chloe has struggled with getting over diarrhea that comes along with this virus. At the suggestion of the pediatrician we have switched her over to lactose-free formula. It seemed to be helping until last night. Just prior to bedtime when hooking Chloe up for her night-time feeding we noticed that around her g-tube area it seemed slightly swollen and definitely red. Normally, it is a very nice light shade of pink and not at all unusual looking. So, this hit from out of the blue. I put some medicine on it, she wasn't running a fever and didn't otherwise look ill so I thought we could leave it until the morning to see what happens through the night.

Somewhere around 2:00 am she had the first of many bowel movements indicating her diarrhea had returned with a vengenance. Her button area continued to look red and swollen, still no fever but definitely something brewing. Upon waking this morning, we called to see if by chance her pediatrician was back from vacation. Of course she wasn't! The doctor on call for her was not a pediatrician and didn't feel qualified to handle Chloe so after much phone tag we were able to finally reach a pediatrician that works with our peds GI to give us some counsel. After speaking to her and having her look up Chloe's records she feels that it is something that will pass over for Chloe, but she has agreed to see Chloe tomorrow morning if her button doesn't appear to be normal or any other strange symptoms have occurred. As the day has progressed I do not believe the button looks any better so off to the doctor we will go tomorrow morning.

And here the post was interrupted....lol!

The next day after speaking with the ped on call they decided that if her regular ped was due back the next day they would farm us off to her. We took Chloe in that day and sure enough she said yes...she has an infection! She cultured the junk coming off of the site and also her blood just to make sure the MRSA didn't return. To make a long story short yes...she did have staph in the button but thankfully not MRSA. After a round of antibiotics and creams and some good ol' TLC she is up and on the move again....

Stay tuned for her birthday update!