Adventures of our stay on the PICU/Peds floor

Well folks, it seems that our little trooper LOVES to be here. So much that he is not wanting to stop weezing and be weened down to treatments every 6 hours. This mama is tired and ready to be HOME. I miss Reid and I want Preston to be able to sleep SOUNDLY instead of being woken up every 4 hours with RT coming in for treatments during the night (and during naps). Looks like we are here for at least another day and 1/2. That will mark a week that we have been here. Could be much worse! Things will start to get tricky since Tim's spring break is coming to an end and he goes back to work tomorrow. My parents will watch Reid till we get home. Prayers for a smooth transition would be great! The weather is not making it easy to come and go either. I stayed with P last night so Tim could finally go home and get a great night sleep and I will be here till discharge. Tim was able to clear the driveway and brave the roads today. My bronchitis is virtually gone and I feel great. Grateful for meds! I was able to take an awesome shower here today once Tim arrived and Preston is now napping. We have a good routine here so that makes the day go quickly and our nurses have been awesome. We have been couped up so we asked if we could take a little adventure to the cafeteria for lunch and take Preston with us in his stroller. He is in isolation (which means he can't leave the room at all and everyone who comes in has to gown up first) so we were THRILLED when she said we could take him if he wore a mask. NO PROBLEM! And to our surprise, he kept it on and LOVED his field trip! Of course we got him french fries so he was a HAPPY CAMPER! We had several people see him in the cafeteria and then look at us with this smile that had pity written all over their face. I hate that. I have to admit, seeing him with a mask on was a little bit a reminder that we do have a sick kiddo who has a compromised airway and life is just not 'normal' and I am FINALLY at peace with all of this. I am so proud of how resilient Preston is and how well our families have accepted this 'temporary' lifestyle that we live. We are so paranoid about germs. I am being hard on myself because I just can't figure out how Preston got so sick when we literally have kept both boys home ALL winter. We have not had many visitors and hand sanitizer is in every corner of the house for all to use. We have barely gone ANYWHERE (I even go to MOPS without my kids LOL...I am sure I am the only mom who gets a babysitter for her kids so she can go to MOPS but I can't risk taking even Reid and exposing him to germs that he will bring home to Preston). Kind of a funny feeling walking in with all of the moms who are toting their little ones and I am empty handed. Oh well! I don't want to miss out on the times with my sister and dear friends who go to MOPS just because I can't take the boys! It has been hard keeping the boys home but it was to keep this type of illness from happening. Scary to think of what he could have caught if we hadn't kept him home bound. I keep telling myself that one day this trache will be out and we will be FREE from so much that goes along with it. Of course any kiddo can get pneumonia but preemies and trache babies are so much more susceptable.

I always try to find the positive in every situation (otherwise i can become pretty down) and I have certainly found it while being here this time. I learned that Preston's little neighbor was attacked by a dog and she is here recovering from her FIFTH facial reconstruction surgery. My heart just hurts for this sweet girl. She has kept her door open several times so I have seen her in passing and she looks terrible. :( Her lips were chewed off and she has HUGE scars all over her face. It just so happens that she is the patient of Preston's facial plastic surgeon Dr Andrews. I happen to run into Dr Andrews yesterday in the hall and he was surprised to see me and asked why P was admitted. In our discussion he told me about his patient (not many details due to HIPAA) and then the nurse filled in the rest of the story. She was attacked over a year ago and still has 3 more surgeries to go. The nurse said she looks 100% better than when she came in emergently from the attack. We are so fortunate to be here for an illness with medicine to clear it up and Preston will never know he was here where as this little girl has scars for life that will always serve as a constant reminder of her attack. This little girl can surely use extra prayers! Below are some pics of our adventure this past week! Can't wait to post a picture of our discharge! :) Stay warm and safe and thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! We feel lifted up for sure!!!! :)

Getting a chest x-ray as soon as we got to the ER.....dad suited up and held him down. :(

Not a happy camper......couldn't breathe well.

Getting an hours worth of breathing treatments when we found out it was viral pneumonia and he started to calm down.

We make a way, find a way to get a good ole bath in around here once feeling better and transfered to PEDS unit! He loved it and needed it badly!

Still in PICU and the sight of his first smile was great! Best buds for sure!

Thank goodness for highchairs in the hospital. Glad to see him start eating and drinking again!

One of his favorite toys! Finally looking like himself. No more gown......graduated to a real outfit once we got to the PEDS unit!

Off to the cafeteria! Hooray for leaving the room!

Is he not the cutest little thing or what? :)

Dada getting fries for Mr P.  

The magic ticket to my son's heart.....a french fry! Just glad he is doing MUCH better!