Blakey

What a crazy week last week! Blake's second trip to the hospital in his short life...sheesh. He is feeling better and doing really good since we got home on Saturdary from a 4 day hospital stay for a staph infection...MRSA to be exact. Click here for more info, especially if you have kids. It's common in the diaper area, and Kate got one about a month ago. It pretty much starts out looking like a spider bite--but then gets bigger, redder and swollen--like a big, painful zit. We easily got Kate's taken care of at the Dr. with a little squeezing, a culture and some antibiotics. It never got very bad and she never got a fever. Well last Monday I noticed a tiny one on her butt cheek again and we immediately took her in, again no problem. They didn't even need to 'pop' it (gross I know), they just started her on antibiotics (and we took it religiously last time). Well, Monday night I noticed what looked liked a tiny pimple on Blakes bum...the redness around it was not even the size of a small button. But I knew that it had to be MRSA because of Kate. Well he woke up at 4 am with a 102.5 fever and the redness had grown to the size of a penny. I got him into the Dr. that morning and he squeezed a little puss out and took a culture (although we knew it was MRSA). Blake started antibiotics at noon and again at 7 pm, but was still running a high fever. He ran a fever all night...about 103.7. We gave him Motrin, but it took over 2 hours to kick in and and it barely brought the fever down a couple degrees for about an hour. This happened twice through the night. Finally the morning came and his infection had tripled to the size of my palm! His doctor told us on the phone to go directly to Banner Desert where they reserved a room for us. We got there around 10 and they started him on IV's. He went into surgery at about 7:30 that night, just a really short procedure. They made a small incision and found that the infection insde was about the the size of a walnut...they had to extract about 10 mL of stuff out of it. Yuk. He still ran a fever for the next day and a half and they kept pumping him with antibiotics. The day after the surgery, I noticed the infection spreading down his thigh. So we didn't rest easy until Friday, when he stopped running a fever and the redness and swelling finally went down a lot. It was scary to see how fast the infection spread, so we were very greatful to have him there in the hospital getting taken care of. The pediatric floor at Banner Desert was amazing! His nurses, pediatrician, aides and surgeons were all so friendly, caring, and smart...and I knew Blake was in great hands. Through all the pokes, prods, sleep interruptions, tubes, and not to mention that small, boring hospital room...he really was such an angel. He is already a patient, quiet and chill kid-so he did so good. When the nurses had to do bandage changes or other procedures, they would tell us to brace for the worst and hold him down. But he would stay mostly still and didn't freak out about much. It was pretty much him and I stuck in that small room together through those days...Jay came a stayed a few times so I could run home to hug the kids and pack more stuff. Jay and I know we could not have done it without the help from both of our parents. They came and took care of the kids and that gave us so much relief. Not only did they help with the kids but they teamed up and bleached down my whole house, cleaned, mopped, washed and folded laundry, vacuumed, gave baths, mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, brought a few groceries and on and on. They are such a huge blessing to Jay and I. The ward was so kind and brought a couple of dinners and offered caring phone calls. Our families even spent a day fasting for our little Blake. I am so thankful for the power of prayer and for the power of that one simple priesthood blessing from Jay and his Dad. This past week, I have been so touched by the kindness of those around me and so overwhelmingly grateful for all of the service that was offered. Humbleness comes to us in many forms, for me it was seeing and accepting the love of those around me. Thank you to all.
[right before surgery]

[the day after surgery--spreading down his thigh a little ways]

[two days after surgery--looking a lot better]

[waiting for surgery with Dad]

[deep thoughts]

[what he did for three days--thank goodness he's not crawling yet! He was very content to just hang out in his crib]

[he was constantly chewing on his IV tubes. while we were at the hospital, his two bottom teeth finally came in...about time!]