04/07/06

The fever that Tucker spiked the first night back on the 4th floor came back as a positive culture. They started him on antibiotics that day, however, they switched to a different one to cover this bacteria that is in his blood. This bacteria is nasty and if we were at home and did not know that it was there, could have been life threatening. I am telling you, Tucker knows much more than we do. He hangs around and takes his time just long enough for us to figure things out that if we had been somewhere else, we would not have known and could have cost him his life. (EX: The transfer at the last minute to deliver at TMC instead of Liberty, the infection that mysteriously showed up the day before we were to go to heart surgery the first time then didn't show up again and gave him another week to get ready for it; the several trips back and forth to the PICU after heart surgery;) He teaches us every day!
Anyway, we will be there for another 7-10 days to complete the series of i.v. medicines for the bacteria. The bacteria so far does not have a name, they are still culturing it out to find out exactly what it is. In the meantime, Tucker got to swing this morning. He is still cranky and wants to be held all the time. He could be fast asleep, passing the sleep test (Todd holds one arm up and if it falls back down with no resistance-he is alseep enough to lay down in the bed)and as soon as you lay him in that bed he wakes up crying. We figure he has some axiety about the bed, since he is always laid in it to get poked and hurt. I don't blame him one bit. I wouldn't want to be laid down either. Tucker has always been the baby that needs to know someone is there, whether you are doing dishes or taking a shower, he wants to hear you and know that you are paying attention. Even when you are holding him, he is turning his head to look at you-make sure you didn't go anywhere. The hospital stay is no different. I will load up his bouncy seat, and some other stuff to occupy the time while we finish our stay. It is hard to keep him entertained and happy with no toys and just a bed. He is coming around though. He touches our faces now when he goes to sleep, like usual, and he is talking more. I still haven't seen a smile or anything close to one, but we are on the mend. We still have a long way to go but feel as though we have climbed the mountain and can feel the breeze on top.