Christmas? When was Christmas?

I came back to work yesterday after being off for 6 days and one of my co-workers asked me how my Christmas was. My response to her: "Christmas? When was Christmas?"

Most of you probably know by now but I will explain in detail why I responded like that...

Mason began to get sick Thursday - the day before Christmas Eve. He was not acting his normal self...laying around on the couch, coughing, labored breathing, high fever. Kacey and I took him to the doctor (who was my saving grace thru all of this) and she began treating him for pneumonia. She didn't do a chest x-ray but heard a rattle in his lungs and with his high fever, this must be the case. She prescribed 2 strong antibiotics and sent us on our way with her cell number so that we could check in with her over the holiday weekend. Little did we know what we were in for over the next few days...

Thursday evening, Mason's temperature spiked to 104.7. He had never had a fever that high and it really sort of scared me. I called the doctor and she said to treat him with Tylenol and Motrin thru the night because he had just started the antibiotics. She said that the fever would most likely subside sometime on Friday after the meds had a chance to do their job. I agreed and did as she said. However, his little body had something else in mind.

By Friday, the fever was not going down. In fact, by 2pm on Christmas Eve, the fever was up to 105.9. He was lethargic and complaining that his head and eyes hurt and he was crying when he coughed. Insert panicked mother here... Again, I called the doctor and we treated him with a higher dosage of Tylenol and Motrin (simultaneously) and put him in a tepid bath. This helped and his fever came down and he even opened a few presents and played a bit. But as soon as the meds wore off, the evil fever rared its ugly head. Christmas Eve night was filled with medicine and temperature checks and not one wink of sleep for Mommy.

Christmas day started off with the fever lingering around 103.5ish. Mason got up and did the Santa thing (sort of) and then it was time to pile up on the couch with Mommy for movie time. (This is how we spent the majority of the 6 days that he was sick.) He continued to cough but it began to get much worse. The fever was still spiking every 4 hours and he was coughing until he gagged. At this point, his breathing is labored even when the fever is down. Around noon his doctor called to check in with us and decided it was time to head to the hospital. I packed a bag with clothes and stuff to occupy Mason while we waited and then headed to Texas Children's Hospital. Kacey was working so he headed in that direction as soon as he could. Mason's doctor called the hospital to let them know that we were coming.

Once we arrived, we were immediately sent to triage (which was not fun for Mason) and then were put into an ER room. Our nurse, Kenya, was truly an angel, as are the majority of the employees at TCH. She was so good with Mason and really made him (and me) feel comfortable. We saw the doctor after only waiting for about 15 minutes and she sent us for a chest xray. This was by far the saddest part of our visit. Being that I am 21 weeks pregnant, I could not be in the room with Mason for the xray. That and the fact that he had to take off his necklace and shirt and be strapped down to the xray table were the breaking points for him. I stood in the hallway and listened as my baby cried out for me...it was truly heartbreaking. I knew that he would be ok but I couldn't help but want to break down the door and hold him.

It took about 3o minutes for the x-ray to be read by the doctor. We headed back to our ER room, where Kacey was waiting for us. This put both Mason and I at ease. Dr. Cruz came back in and told us that there was definitely pneumonia present in Mason's right lung and that she was changing his meds. It was not a very major pneumonia, but any pneumonia is enough to make you feel horrible and run a high fever. She had also spoken to Mason's pediatrician who wanted us to follow up at the office with her on Monday. So after being at TCH for 4 hours on Christmas day, we were released with new meds and a follow up visit.

Side note: When Mason and I arrived at the ER, there were 2 trucks literally full to the brim that were there to drop of toys to donate to the patients. Mason fared well from the donations: a 6 pack of hot wheels, 1 large die cast Ferrari and a giant stuffed teddy bear. If that doesn't make your heart happy, I don't know what will. I am truthful when I say that the people at that hospital are angels.

Once we arrived home from the hospital, Mason napped for about an hour in his bed while Kacey and I sort of picked up for dinner. My family came over for our usual Christmas tradition of gumbo. Mason woke up with more fever (104.9) and snuggled up on the couch for Toy Story 3. Our evening was passed with family, stories, laughter, temperature checks and medicine. Not too much playing, although he did enjoy some time with his new work bench when his medicine kicked in.

Sunday was more of the same: coughing, high temperature (104ish), and lots of medicine. I was in contact with the pediatrician throughout the day and she was beginning to think that there was something else going on in that little body. If he only had the pneumonia, the medicines that he was on should have caught up in his body by now and he would not have the fever that high anymore. It was for this reason that she wanted me to call and get a follow up appointment at the office first thing in the morning. Our best friends came over for dinner and Mason enjoyed that but he was asleep by 8:30pm.

I got up on Monday around 9am and called the doctor's office and got a 2pm appointment. Kacey got up shortly after I did and we enjoyed some quiet time in the house with a movie. Around NOON (yes, noon) my poor sick little boy finally decided to roll out of bed. I had been checking on him throughout the morning and it seemed promising that that would be the day for a turn around. He was sleeping peacefully and had not had a fever since 6am. That was a big deal for us seeing as how the last few days had gone. We bathed him and got him dressed and optimistically loaded him in the car and headed to our appointment. He fell asleep in the way to the doctor after only being awake for 2 hours and then his little body decided that it was not done fighting the good fight...Fever was back when I got him to the office. We were a work in so we sat in the waiting room for about an hour while Mason passed the time by sleeping in my lap. We were called back to the room and told this entire story to the nurse and then waited to be seen by the doctor.

Dr. Gray came in and we talked and then she ordered a blood test and a flu test, neither of which were fun for anyone. Those took about 15 minutes to run. Mason continued to sleep on my chest the entire time, except for the toe stick and nose swab. Dr. Gray returned with the news: Mason's blood work looked superb. However, his flu test was positive. Really?! What else do you want to throw on us?! She prescribed Tamiflu and said that he should start to feel better after being on this medicine for 12 hours. She also gave me her cell number and said to call her in the night if he got any worse and to check in with her at the office every day this week. We picked up the meds and headed home. Mason's temperature was up and down thru the night but he slept well and long again.

Tuesday morning, Mason got up around 10am and his temperature was around 102 - at this point, any other parent might think that is high but not for us...that was a very good sign. I didn't give him the Tylenol or Motrin but instead let his little body do what it was made to do. He was fever free by noon.

Today is Thursday and I am happy to report that Mason has been fever free for 48 hours. It seems that the Tamiflu is just what he needed to get over the hurdle. He spent the day with my best friend yesterday and probably out did himself because I just talked to Mom and he had just gotten out of bed. That was another long night for him...14.5 hours of sleep. I think it was just his body letting him know that he played too hard yesterday and that it was just not quite back to normal.

Thank you all for your prayers for us over the last few days. We really needed them to get thru this and I know that God was listening and looking out for us along the way.

I have included a few pictures of Mr. Sick that I took on my phone over the last few days too.

Waiting for Toy Story 3 to start while at TCH on Christmas Day.

Little fever head sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed on Sunday.

Playing Tinker Toys with Mommy on Monday evening.