Vollen's Hospital Stay

Tuesday!

One of the most stressful days I have ever had. EVER. 

Not only did I have my grandpa's visitation/viewing Tuesday, but Vollen was admitted to the hospital that morning. He has pnumonia and it wasn't getting any better after 4 days on meds, he still had a fever and also began to have difficulty breathing. He needed to be put on oxygen and was given steroids and a different antibiotic. I also had to take photos at Soph's school for Teacher Appreciation Week of all the kids in the school over lunch. My mom was able to come up and get him admitted into the hospital. I don't know what I would do without her. My dad picked up Ronan from preschool and kept him all afternoon and even got him down for a nap! 

Trying to coordinate babysitters to help out at the viewing and also have Michaela come be at the hospital with Vollen was so complicated. Thank the Lord for Michaela. I don't know what I would do without her. Also a huge thank you to my cousin Mary Keith and our wonderful sitter Kim Robinson for helping watch all the great grandkids at the visitation and at the last minute! It was so very helpful. Thank you to everyone who came to the visitation. Your support was so helpful. I had such a wonderful time reconnecting with so many people from the past. Such good memories and reminiscing. I haven't thought of some of those times and experiences for so long. My heart is full of love and joy thinking of all the great things my grandpa did to touch so many people's lives in such a positive way. You all were such a blessing today. Vollen is still having trouble breathing and keeping his oxygen up. I hope the meds kick in soon.

Wednesday!

Update on Vollen: He has Mycoplasma Pneumonia as well as 2 different strains of the Coronavirus. His lungs sound significantly better than the day before. The right one is almost complelety back to normal, but the left ones is the one that showed the pneumonia on the x-ray and is still somewhat crackly. He still is having difficulty keeping his oxygen up. Every time we try to see how he does without it, it drops down past 90. So, there is improvement, but not near enough to go home any time soon. 

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 He needs to be OFF oxygen for ~24 hours before we can leave and he can't even be off for more than a minute or two. Doesn't look like we will be leaving anytime soon. He will probably be in here over the weekend. His cough is definitely better today also. Tuesday night he was up with coughing fits that lasted about 10-15 minutes straight of continuous coughing every hour and a half throughout the night. Last night he only had a couple and so far (knock on wood) he hasn't had any tonight. They are doing the percussion instrument (it's shown in one of the photos) to loosen the mucus in his lungs. He is ready to go home! Grandma brought him some balloons to brighten his room as well as some puzzles, bubbles and games. He loves watching his Curious George and Daniel Tiger also. So glad things are settling down and we can focus now on Vollen. My parents have been more available to help out which is SO nice. I don't know how it would work without their help! Vernon has been awesome juggling getting the other two off two school and taking care of the house and making sure I have what I need up here. We are making it work. Thank you to you all for all your thoughts, prayers and offers to help. It's definitely working!

Thursday!

Friday!
 New update on Vollen. We were so hopeful yesterday that last night Vollen would have been able to keep his oxygen stats up above 90. Unfortunately, he was not able and had to be on oxygen though out the night. At one point at about 3:30am his O2 was on the higher side and I asked the nurse if we could try to take him off and see if he could hold it up. Again, unfortunately he was not able to and had to continue on it for the rest of the night. All day he was able to be off oxygen. His lungs sound great and almost completely clear. He is getting more energy and is ready to leave! So, tonight we have our fingers crossed and so far he has NOT NEEDED ANY OXYGEN and has been keeping his level up!!!! He has been sleeping since 7:30. I am so happy that this might be it!!!! I am ready to sleep in my own bed and Vollen is ready to go back to school!

Saturday!

Sunday!

 Our nurse from when Vollen was in the NICU after he was born. We have seen her a few times throughout the years and have kept in contact. She was our nurse today when we were discharged. We really like her! One last percussion treatment before we went!

In case you missed what I posted in the comments in my post from last night. We are HOME!!! We were released this morning. Vollen was able to keep his oxygen up the entire night without being on supplemental oxygen. YEAH!!! I woke up and started packing up even before we saw the doctor. I knew we would be good to go. We are HAPPY to say the least to be home and not stuck up there. I am giddy to sleep in my own comfy/smooshy/WARM bed!!! Vollen has the all-clear to return to school tomorrow. I am going to send him, but am going to be in contact with his teacher if he gets worn out or is too tired and needs to rest by mid-day. I'm not sure he will have the stamina after being laid up for a week and a half. Thank you to everyone for your help, prayers, positive thoughts and comments. They really did make a difference.

Almost 4 years old

 This squirrel was teasing Raja. I think if you look close you can see his tongue sticking out. Raja was having a fit and barking and hoping Mr. Squirrel had a mis-step and slipped off the branch. I swear the squirrel was laughing. I called Ronan out to see. We laughed and laughed because the squirrel really was teasing Raja. It was hilarious.