Happy Halloween! We are Home . . .

We made it home at 7:30 last night. We were so tired that we all slept until 9:30 including Matthew. So the official diagnosis is H1N1. So crazy since Matthew has only been out of the house only once in the last week. I changed my work schedule and pulled Matthew from daycare to try and protect him from all these nasty bugs that are going around. All of his blood work came back okay except for it showing that was dehydrated. The nasal swabs came back negative for Influenza A but Dr. Christison said that 30% of them come back negative when they are actually positive so she is diagnosing him for H1N1 based on his symptoms. He had the runny nose, red throat, very high fevers and vomiting. The good things is that he was treated with the Tamiflu within the first 26 hours so it has helped prevent him from getting worse.

Matthew's heart is very sensitive to fluid volume so dehydration comes on quickly and his body starts shutting down. His heart rate was 160 and his blood pressure was very high the entire hospital stay. The one good thing about all of this is that it caused us to catch the H1N1 early and start treatment early on so he ended up with no major respiratory issues.

It was amazing to see how much better he was after 12 hours of fluids and the Tamiflu. He still looks sick but so much better. We know all of your prayers were heard and helped his little body recover.

Yesterday was my birthday and let's say it started off bad but ended so much better with the hospital dismissal. It was hard being admitted again. I do okay until we hit the long walk down the hallway and the emotions of the many stays comes rushing back and the tears start flowing. We have officially been on every floor of the Children's Hospital so I think we should have a room named after us - just kidding. Just when I start to feel sorry for myself, God lifts me up and carries me.

It was so nice to sleep in our own bed last night and not hear the beeping of machines and kids crying all night. By the way, if we haven't said it enough, we love you nurses in the PICU. We so missed your care on the regular floor. Our nurse went into panic mode when she saw oxygen saturations of 80 and we were so excited to see 80. We begged Dr. Christison for an admission upstairs and she said she felt our pain and wished she could but we were thankful that Matthew was stable and didn't need the PICU. I think his Mom and Dad needed the PICU for their comfort. What can we say, we feel at home up there and your care is exceptional!

Thanks for all your prayers and all the birthday wishes. We are so excited to be home. I'll try and post some picture of Matthew in his Halloween Costume later. No trick-or-treating for him but I can't resist dressing him up. Have a great Halloween and stay safe!

By the way, a special thanks to Lindsey Chatterton for taking such good care of Taylor for us. She had so much fun that she has been telling Grandma every detail of her stay. Your help was above and beyond. We are so blessed for your friendship!