Sam in the Hospital

Hi everyone, you have probably already heard by now but Sam is in the hospital with a terrible respiratory virus. He was up all of last night not feeling great and was wheezing this morning so we took him to the pediatrician first thing this morning. He began to get worse at the dr office and the pediatrician dialed 911 to have an ambulance take him to the ER (lights, sirens, etc).

We spent most of the day in the ER and are now settled in the Intermediate Care Unit (thankfully, we are not in the pediatric ICU). He has had a very low-grade fever (99.5-100.4) and is no longer vomiting. It is not RSV (which he had a minor case of last fall), just a bad respiratory virus. They are giving him oral steroids 1x/day, breathing treatments of albuterol every 2-3 hours, he is on a constant canula in his nose of high flow oxygen (which he keeps trying to rip out), and an IV in his arm. He is also hooked up to 5 monitors to keep track of breathing, heart rate, etc. - ie, there are a million cords everywhere.

Brad and I are staying overnight in the hospital with him - we expect he will be in the hospital at least until Friday if not longer. He's beginning to eat a bit which is encouraging. Thank you all for your messages and notes, we really appreciate your support. It has been a very long and challenging day. It breaks our hearts to see our sweet little boy in pain. Thankfully his spirits have lifted somewhat tonight and we've had some sweet moments of smiles, laughter, and playing. He has even done his great "roar like a lion," given us kisses, played with some toys, waved to everyone, and talked up a storm (not sure I've heard words quite as sweet as hearing him say "hi mama"). Attached is a picture of him waving during one of his happy moments tonight.

We are in a private room and can be reached on our direct line at 703.776.6533. We are in Room 533 at iNova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, VA (it has the best children's center in northern va). We also have our laptops and blackberries to keep us busy during the many hours he is sleeping. The poor little guy isn't getting much sleep. Every time he falls asleep, one of the doctors/nurses comes in and wakes him up to draw blood, do a breathing treatment, take his temp, etc.

We're hanging in there, but it's been a long day. In many ways it feels a lot like the NICU days, but it is also very different. A good friend brought us Thai takeout for dinner tonight. My mom and brother are here too. We feel so grateful to have such an amazing support system. We will keep you all updated. Thanks again for your support, it means so much to us. Love, Becca, Brad & Sam