Wednesday, April 11, 2007

What's going on Lord...?

So this morning I wake up, get Karter and he is coughing and congested. Normally, I would cuddle him and gear up to get through a few days of being sick. This morning however after a quick snuggle, I sprung into action faster than any other given morning.

I called and left a message with Children's Hospital first to see what I needed to do about this whole thing, especially with surgery on Friday. They later confirmed that I should see my family doctor. So I called my family doctor and he saw him at 9:30. He listened to Karter's chest and said that is sounded like he was a bit wheezy. He prescribed Ventolin and Pulmacourt (often used when treating asthma)to be administered through a nebulizer (a machine that attaches to a mask to disperse the medications) and then sent me off to the hospital for a chest x-ray. Karter had pneumonia in January, so he is more likely to have it come back than a child who has not had it at all.

After returning from x-ray at the hospital, I talked with the neurology nurse again at Children's and she said that if he had no fever and did not appear to be getting worse we would still see how he is tomorrow at the pre-admission clinic. The anesthesiologist will make the final call as to if he feels it is safe to proceed with the MRI tomorrow and the surgery on Friday. She mentioned that they only postpone surgery if they are really sick. I guess worse case scenario, there is risk of him not being able to get off the ventilator for quite sometime if there are respiratory issues prior to surgery.

My family doctor called to give us the results of the chest x-ray around 3:30 this afternoon. It appears that the x-ray indicates an area in the upper left lung that could be the start of pneumonia. It also could indicate an area of irritability from aspiration. Because of Karter's low body/muscle tone, he has a bit of reflux, which means he sometimes has musus that collects in his throat making him sound gurgley. Sometimes, children can aspirate a bit on this and it can irritate the lungs. This is possibly what we are seeing. The doctor is reluctant to put him on anti-biotic at this point for a few reasons. The first being that he feels it may not really help at this stage, Karter has no fever or other indication that he is sick. Also if we do put him on the meds, it could induce diarrhea or other effects that would make things complicated for surgery. So we are going to wait.

My next step was to call Children's yet again. They agreed with our doctor and still feel like it is worth us coming in to see them tomorrow and they will make the call then if we are going ahead or not with surgery.

I have to say I am really wondering what is going on. We have always said that we will trust no matter what and we will this time too. It just seems hard to understand why the surgery would be bumped from next Monday to this Friday just for him to get sick and then have to possibly postpone yet again. I mean "God are you trying to tell me something because I am listening, you have my attention for sure!"

If Karter is suppose to have this surgery, I would ask that you please pray along with us that it moves forward this week. I cannot imagine having to wait again for weeks. Kurtis' mom has come down from Vernon to help us out with Paige, Children's Hospital has moved countless surgeries and schedules around to accommodate Karter on many occasions, especially to get him in this week for surgery. And if I was to be totally honest, I would have to say that I need this to move forward too, I am so exhausted with waiting and not moving forward. The anticipation of it all really wears me down. I know Paige is sensing something too; she is really clingy, whiny and over emotional. I want this done for her sake as well, she is the one who really has had to endure a lot. I want some stability for her here at home, to be able to enjoy life again, go to the park, the zoo, the beach and just have fun, without appointments and changes of schedules interfering all the time. So pray for her as well, that this isn't too hard on her either.

I will keep you posted as soon as I find out exactly what will be happening.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We will pray. Hang in there Char. Keep us posted.

Anonymous said...

SIGH. Ok - well - we will pray for strength, heatlh and rest. Kurt, Char, we stand with you and know that the Lord is in control - even if it feels like He's on vacation. Come on, Lord - it's time to show Your glory!!! We are waiting!!

Anonymous said...

Charlene & Kurtis,

Praying that God will sustain you and your family during this stressful time.

Aunt Joyce & Uncle Clare

Candice said...

Seriously, what more can you all go through? We will definitely be praying for ALL of you, especially Karter in these next days. Love you guys, Candice :)