Where do I start... well, Ben has been in Children's for 11 days now with a nasty case of pneumonia. If you remember, this past January we got to stay in the ICU for about a week. This time we're about 5 rooms down in the ICP (basically the step-down ICU). The care up here on the 11th floor couldn't be better, and I've loved all the nurses and doctors we've met, but Ben needs to start holding his oxygen so he can come home! I tell you though, sitting in a hopsital all day is enough to drive a person insane.
I thought I may have been certifiable the other day. It was Ryan's birthday, he was holding Ben, and we were having a nice family moment... About half an hour later he went to put Ben in his crib and we noticed his g-tube fell out! Of course this would happen... because we had to liven up the night right? Have a real party. Anyway, I call out to Ben's nurse and she comes over and tells us that they (the nurses) are not allowed to put a new g-tube in. The good part is the parents can do it! That's just fine and dandy if it doesn't take forever and a day to get one delivered up to his room. Knowing how quickly the hole in his stomach could close I asked for a catheter to stick in the hole so it would stay open. Now I have no problem putting a new g-tube in, but the thought of sticking that catheter into Ben made me squirm. After Ryan and I were arguing back and forth with each other saying "You do it" "No, you do it" (while stomach contents leaked out of Ben), my wonderful husband (on his birthday nonetheless) shoved the catheter into the hole. Here's the part where me going certifiably insane makes sense - I was singing and doing a little jig to try and make light of the fact that our poor baby had to wait so long for a new tube and that stomach juices were apparently still coming out of the hole around the catheter and making Ryan's fingers all slimy. However, I should say Ben held his oxygen very nicely for that 45 minutes!
He was scheduled to come home yesterday. I was going over the discharge instructions when he decided to desat to 71. We weren't going anywhere after that. The oxygen delivery was already scheduled to arrive at our house that evening so I took Jadyn home. We had a long overdue girls' night while Ryan hung out with Ben.
I'm not crazy about having oxygen in the house, but unfortunately because Ben's been so ill, he's dependent on it now. Jadyn and I got the delivery last night and I think we were both overwelmed! Not only do we have 3 tanks (a mother tank and two little baby tanks in our living room), we have a compressor which is big and loud. This is what Ben's 50' tubing will be hooked up to all day/night. It constantly creates the o2. Jadyn's exact words: "I do not want this STUFF in my house!" I don't either kiddo, but if we want your brother home, then we need it. We were already told he won't be coming home tomorrow either so please pray that he gets better soon and we're out of here on Monday!
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