back in the hospital

Last night (Friday) around 10pm Samuel began having some real trouble breathing. His rate was increased and it was obvious that his breathing was labored. At 1:45 this morning Sara brought him in to the ER and he was subsequently admitted after a few tests. It wasn't until around 5am that Samuel finally settled down some and Sara was able to get an hour of sleep before he woke up. We farmed out the older two kids around 9 this morning and both spent the morning and early afternoon up here - now in the PICU. After lunch, I went home, got some work done on a sermon for tomorrow morning and then hung out with AC and Colin once their babysitter got them back from the park. Thank you Browns!, Charlotte! and Erika for having the older two today. Sara and I are back up here now (9pm) for another hour and will likely head home for a full night's sleep (hopefully) then up in the morning to preach (me) and come be with Samuel (Sara).

So ... here's the deal. Apparently Samuel has a cold, well, they're calling it a viral bronchiolitis OR he has aspirated a good amount of stuff and it is causing his difficulty in breathing. At this point, they are going to keep him in at least until Monday. One, there's nothing you can do for the virus - if that's what it is. It's just gotta run its course. They can just treat the symptoms - help him breathe better (he's on O2 and has had several albuterol treatments), but they can't make it go away. Two, it won't be until Monday that the GI Dr would be able to see him. They tried feeding Samuel today and he spit up after it so they stopped that and won't try again until after the GI Dr sees him. That event is making them lean toward his symptoms being caused by aspiration. Depending on what the GI folks say on Monday, we might be here for a while. They might go ahead and place the J-tube ('j' for jejunum - which is part of the small intestine) which would put his feeds directly into his small intestine and bypass the stomach, hopefully helping his spitting.

We weren't really prepared for this back in the hospital business. We sure are glad that good Doctors and Nurses and hospitals exist, we just have gotten so used to life at home that to have him all hooked up again to monitors and O2 and IVs ... just so different from life at 407 Tubbs Mtn Rd ... just so different in so many ways from what we'd want, expect, hope for. But it seems to be the Savior's way to not necessarily give us what we expect or desire. And he sustains us along the way.

Looking forward to sleep ... deo volente.