Caden’s condition is improving after a rough few days. He started running fevers well above 104 on Saturday. The fevers persisted his need for oxygen began to increase. He has been on oxygen 24/7 since Sunday evening. I listened to Caden with a stethoscope in Sunday and heard crackling sounds in his lower elft lung. I am not a doctor or nurse, but have had the sound described to me enough over the years to know that this probably meant pneumonia. Caden was diagnosed with pneumonia six times in 2011 and three of those episodes caused hospitalizations.
Sherry took Caden in to see the pediatrician on Monday. The pediatrician said he heard the same thing I did in the same spot. He did not see much use in a chest xray at the time because it was pretty obvious what we were dealing with. He was happy to hear that we were able to keep Caden’s O2 SATs up in the mid 90s on 2 liters of oxygen with a canula. He said as long as the need for oxygen did not increase he believed we could manage this at home. He gave Caden a Rocephrin antibiotic injection on Monday and told us to call if the need for oxygen increased. He also wanted us to monitor the fevers. He said the fevers should begin to decrease with the meds. Caden had to go back in on Tuesday for a second injection and his fevers had been staying lower. I think his fever got near 101 at one point but generally stayed normal or in the low-grade range. At one point we did have to increase CAden’s oxygen to 4 liters on Monday night because he had to be switched to a mask. It is understood that when you have to use a mask that the rate has to be much higher to get the same result on the O2 SATs so we did not call the doctor.
Sherry and I decided on Sunday to keep Caden down stairs in our family room at night. The amount of noise caused by his coughing and the suctioning required to keep his airway clear was much too disruptive to the rest of the family. We both also knew that if we did not force ourselves to take turns staying up with Caden to monitor him then this had the potential for getting much worse really quick if neither of us were awakened when he needed suctioning in the middle of the night. So we have taken turns on the couch beside Caden. He has bene on an air mattress with all of his medical gear within easy reach.
Things are improving and we believe that is a result of your prayers for Caden and our strength. Many of you follow me on Facebook where I have been posting the play-by-play. We appreciate your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for Caden and our family.
BTW…the photo above was taken last week during a trip to the SC Aquarium on Martin Luther King Day. The two below show my view of the world over the past few nights.
