Serenity Now

We had a totally awesome family day on Saturday to celebrate Ellie's first birthday. She was feeling much better and was no longer contagious, so we went to the zoo in the morning. Nate insisted on wearing his boots and he literally ran ALL over the zoo. I even started to tear up at one point thinking about him just 3 weeks ago laying on our couch unable to muster enough energy to lift his head or talk, and here he was with such an abundance of energy. I told Chris that I thought they had forgot to put "The Red Death" in is IV and accidentally put Red Bull instead. That night, we went out for a quick dinner and got some ice cream to take home and enjoy on our porch while we soaked up the lovely weather. There were even two nice ladies outside the restaurant who took the time to ask about Nate and a mom at Baskin Robbins who noticed my bracelets and mentioned that she reads Maya's blog and has read this blog as well. That just made the night even better! It makes me feel good to know the awareness is spreading, even in a small way.

I got up Sunday morning and was getting ready for work when I noticed that Nate felt a little warm. I mentioned to Chris to keep an eye on him, said a little prayer, and went off to work. Soon, Chris called to say that Nate had thrown up and still felt warm. We knew this was trouble but just hoped his temp would stay down and the vomiting would stop. We are not allowed to give Nate any Tylenol  to lower a fever and we have to bring him in if his temp is 100.5, two times in an hour, or 101, one time. A fever could be an indication of a serious infection...or it could be nothing...we can't take any chances.

By 9pm, Nate's temperature had reached 101 and it was time to send him and Daddy to the ER. Also, Wes came down with a fever of 102! Really?! We just need a break! Chris was in the ER with Nate until 3am, when they finally got him a room. It's the same story at the first round. His numbers tanked, so he has no immune system. We have to sit in the hospital and wait for his fever to go away, the cultures to come back negative and his immune system to come back up. So far, the cultures are negative...but he still has a fever...and so does Wes. Wes ended up throwing up a couple times in the night and was running a fever all day. I guess both boys have the same thing. One gets to stay home from school and watch TV...the other has to be hooked up to tons of medicine in the hospital.

Nate is doing ok. He's not super comfortable, especially when the fever spikes, and I think he has mouth sores. He won't let me look in his mouth or really tell me, but he keeps grabbing his cheeks with an uncomfortable look on is face. If he does have mouth sores, I've been told that they will clear up when his immune system recovers. Come on immune system! We're counting on you!

Of course, I'm second guessing taking Nate to the zoo on Saturday. I really doubt that whatever these boys got would have shown up that quickly, but you never know. I did ask permission to take him to the zoo and they said it would be "the perfect place to take him". I think that I really have to go with my gut on this stuff and not second guess it. We could have skipped the zoo and this still may have happened, but we wouldn't have the fun memories from that day. This year is going to suck...big time...but I don't want to look back on this year and only remember pain. I want to grab on to the fun and laughter where we can...and I'm not going to regret it.