Tuesday, September 28, 2010

23 pounds again!

We had reached 23 pounds right before JJ got sick with the virus that landed him in the hospital. That was followed by the long lasting tummy flu. Jerry is eating great again and back to 23 pounds. We are ecstatic about his eating right now and just holding our breath that it continues. Yesterday after finishing all of his food at dinner he announced "I ate it all...now I can ride Isaac's big bike!!" We tell him all the time that eating food will help him grow big. I hope he gains some inches around his belly quick. We have no pants that will stay up on him. If they fit his waist they are 6 to 9 months and then are too short! He is kind of out of diapers too so there is no extra padding for the pants to hang on too. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and checking in.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

The latest

After JJ had a few really good days recovered from his virus and hospital stay, he got a tummy ache and threw up. He was up all night and I guess had the stomach flu. His was strange as he kind of threw up once every two days for 6 days and only had a fever one of those days. He didn't feel well and was waking up every 15 min or so most of the night. Two days after he started with throwing up, Isaac and I felt sick and started throwing up. Ours was really severe though with high fevers and pretty knocked out for a few days. Appetite and energy took about 5 days to really come back...not the 24 hour bug!

Now Jerry is over the tummy flu but is still not eating well at all. He ate well after the hospital and was eating well before that illness. He is losing weight so I hope he picks it up again soon. He is still having some other strange symptoms. His forearms and hands sometimes seem to hurt him. A few times one of has sat down next to him and just brushed against his arm and he cried holding his arm in pain. He says his hands hurt when I am washing them and his upper leg and hip area seems sore when we are pulling up his pants, especially a pull up. It seems like it might be sensitive skin since the pull up has kind of a scratchy feeling on the sides. Finally, he has these episodes of eye pain or discomfort. He will suddenly start rubbing and holding his eye (I think it can be either eye but usually one at a time) and crying. He also sometimes cries about the light hurting his eyes. Always a puzzle. I have been not thinking much of the eye thing but now I am going to check into it. I've been thinking they just itch but they are not red or irritated that I can see.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Jerry is doing great!

Jerry is close to 100% back to normal. The first few days home from the hospital he was really weak and still not wanting to walk right away in the morning. He was actually saying a few times a day "I'm really tired," which is really odd for him. He finally took his bandaid from his IV off and had quite a fun time laughing and saying, "ouch, that hurt!" He had seen me rip Isaac's booboo bandaid off and him yell "Ouch!" and thought it was so funny....kind of like he's mocking Isaac I guess. What goes around comes around, Isaac. So now JJ is running, climbing, and is ornery as ever! He has that playful gleam with raised eyebrows again every time he is about to do something he shouldn't...and we LOVE it! Best of all, he is eating like a champ. He even drank a good amount of a chocolate milkshake today. I have tried those several other times to no avail. We are thankful for each healthy day!

I forgot to add to the hospital post that Jerry actually (even as sick as he was) peed in a cup for his urine test to avoid the catheter. I asked the nurses to let us give it a try after he was hydrated from some fast flowing IV fluids and sure enough he told me when to get the cup!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A hosptial stay and it is not even fall yet!
















Jerry came down with a virus this past Thursday and got worse up until Monday when we finally went to the ER at CDH. The diagnosis was kind of inconclusive between walking pneumonia or a less specific unknown virus. His fevers were up to almost 104 and he became increasingly sleepy and hardly walked even today. He wasn't drinking much at all so dehydration was a major concern. It was heart wrenching seeing our baby go through this. "Mommy, I am sick. I tired and need to sleep in my bed. Please can we go to my house now?" He was grabbing his chest in pain a few times and of course that is one of the scariest things for us. My confidence grows each time he is sick that his heart at least can handle it but I also have a little fear that our "luck" could run out and I should keep my guard up and error on the side of caution. We are proud of our brave, strong boy, especially how he did his "breathing" to get through starting the IV.

So, tonight we think we are out of the woods. His heart echo was the same as his last echo so we know that it has not suffered any damage from this illness. His fevers stopped last night and he started drinking a little more today. He broke out in a rash today which could mean the end of a virus. He walked a few steps and was a little playful so we will hope he just improves a little more and we can go home in the morning.


A special thanks to Dr. Kalish who kept checking on us while Jerry was sick, the excellent staff here at CDH (especially the ER girls), and to my mom for once again somehow planning her visit around our illnesses and catastrophes!! Every time she comes (and usually when we visit her in Cleveland) we go to the hospital or the doctors. Last time she came we were all about leg x-rays and casting for Jerry. We had so many fun things planned so we really hope for a better visit next time.
The first picture above is right before Jerry started getting sick. Playing puppets with brother and friend Matthew. There are so many other updates I have been wanting to write. I guess it takes time in the hospital to update the blog these days. Until I do get to put in some other details, I can just say that eating and weight gain has gotten better. We just pray for as few illnesses as possible this fall and winter so that we can keep any weight gained.