Sammy

The outpouring of help, food and general support from our family and friends has been staggering. We can't keep up with the phone calls offering support. The fridge is full, the house is clean, the kids are happy, and we are humbled.

Thank you.

I truly can't imagine how we would have been able to make it through without you.

Sam started out well, then struggled a bit in the late morning. The clinic doc came in today while he was down a bit, and our request for a pulmonologist was entertained.

We spent a good portion of the day making calls to get advice and request consults. Both Jim Sidman and Bruce Ferrara from Children's Surgery International (CSI) helped the cause move forward.

Dr. Wheeler (pulmonologist) consulted on the case today, and we really made some good strides from his visit. He prescribed a dose of steroids to try and get the inflammation and irritation down.

Sam was SO alert and fun tonight - for almost two hours he was smiling; almost laughing, and very aware and lucid. His IV was not flushing tonight, it was bent inside him, and he got his 3rd IV tonight, this time in his right foot.

Tomorrow will be a decisive day. Dr. Wheeler has provisionally scheduled a bronchoscopy for 8AM, and will proceed if the morning's xray does not reveal an improvement.

We spent a lot of time today working on getting the right people involved in Sam's care plan, calling in favors from our friends at CSI and leveraging some of the best nurses on the face of the earth.

It was, again, a day of high highs and low lows. Our clinic doc always comes in the morning when he's doing well; then when he struggles later in the day it's just Esther and the nurses pushing him through.

Today Sam and his mom hosted multiple new doctors and Sam's blood was distributed to labs for testing, trying to determine the cause of the pneumonia and why it was not getting better.

Today we installed IV number two, this one in his left foot.

Wednesday was when things really took an unexpected turn for the worse. After some concern over his labored breathing pattern and severe coughing bouts, another xray revealed that the pneumonia had actually spread to both lungs since beginning treatment. As the antibiotics were not improving the situation, the pneumonia was either viral or a more severe bacterial infection.

Until now, we'd really felt that any day now we'd be heading home, well on our way to recovery at home. The events of today really dealt a severe emotional blow to both of us. Esther had not left the hospital since arriving Saturday and was really looking forward to some time with the kids and a good night's sleep. I arrived at the hospital after the kids were in bed and we had a good cry together.

Dr. Amanda came in and we had a lengthy conversation about next steps and how we ensure that progress is made and Sam gets appropriate attention. It was time to step it up.

We gave Sam another blessing tonight, and we had a great experience together.

Sam really seemed to be making good progress Monday, Tuesday and parts of Wednesday. He would have some down times, but would widely fluctuate between alert and happy to some pretty severe coughing bouts and a very listless disposition.

In those days though, doctors continually indicated that he was improving and they removed his IV, lowered his oxygen intake and gave envouraging words. Diagnosis was pneumonia in the lower right lobe.

As all of you know, little Sammy joined our family in November of 2007.

Sammy pics

It wasn't long afterwards that Esther discovered a bulge near his abdomen. About 3 weeks later, Sam went under the knife for a hernia operation. The surgeoen repaired not one, but two inguinal hernias. Sam recovered quite well from the surgery.

Just a week or two later he contracted the sniffles from Olivia (can't stop smothering him) and things escalated. Last Friday he went to the clinic and was diagnosed with pneumonia, but was still fighting it well. The doctor sent us home, to return on Saturday. Saturday morning, Sam's blood-oxygen saturation had dropped into the low 80's and the doctor ordered us to head to the hospital. After a few minutes in the ER, Sam had his own room on the 7th floor. Molly was his first nurse, and got us off to a great start. Our initial idea was to be out of there by Sunday or Monday and back to our normal routine...