7 days in a hospital :(

When I wrote my last blog, I commented that Ethan was feeling low, and not wanting to walk around. Here is what our last week consisted of...

On Sunday, I stayed home from church with Ethan as he was still not walking around, and not wanting to put any pressure on his right leg at all. We were looking at his ankle, trying to figure out if he had "tweaked" it.

Becca noticed his right knee was warmer than his left knee and slightly swollen, so off to urgent care we went...

When I walked into urgent care with the little guy, they informed me that there was about a two hour wait, and I should probably wait at home where they would call me. I replied that I had a nearly two year old in my arms who wouldn't walk, so they ushered me straight inside. The doctor came in pretty quickly and sent me off to the ER of my choice. Off to Kadlec we went...

At Kadlec the ER was full of people, and the waiting line was long. Once again, we were ushered into a room inside the ER where we started a series of investigations. We went through x-rays and blood work, and the doctors consulted with orthopedic surgeons and Children's hospital in Seattle. At 11:00 p.m. the ortho doc had arrived and they drew fluid out of his knee, confirming a "septic knee" condition existed. He was rushed off to surgery at about 12:00 a.m. on Monday morning. The surgery took about an hour and a half or so, and he was admitted to the pediatric wing where he went through alot more pokes, and vitals before dad was allowed to lay down at 3:30 in the morning. Sunday night into Monday morning was a very rough night for us all. We learned after the surgery that another 24 hours without treatment could have resulted in kidney infection, brain infection, and death.

Monday through Saturday started a unique new "hospital routine" for the Long family. I (Russ) stayed the nights and split the days with Becca. Every evening a family stepped forward to watch the boys for us, so a special thank you goes out to the Hahn, Chvala, Laureano, Rice, and McClure families for helping us so much. This allowed Ethan to get some time with both mom and dad every night, and certainly helped a very stressed set of parents cope with the week. Ethan's fever of near 102°F finally broke on Tuesday, and he started to recover from the infection. As he recovered, his intense hatred of nurses and hospitals grew. He was carried throughout the birth center and pediatric wing of the hospital literally hundreds of times, just to give him a break from his room. Evenings were tough, as we went into our room to let the others sleep, or at least hear him screaming through walls and a closed door. He would fall to sleep around 10, or as late as midnight on most nights while we were there. Every 8 hours, he received another dose of IV antibiotics, which he would sometimes sleep through.

He was finally discharged from the hospital on Saturday evening, ending a 7 day stretch of agony that we are thankful is over. When we all got home on Saturday night, it marked the first time since mom and the boys left for church on Sunday that we had all been home together. Now that he is home, he will remain on oral antibiotics for six weeks, and will have follow up visits with the orthopedic surgeons. As of this writing, he still has a wrap on his right leg from his hip to his toes to keep his knee immobilized. We hope that this can come off on Thursday of this week.

We are thankful to God for saving our son's life, and thankful to all of our friends, family, and strangers that prayed for him while he was hospitalized. We are so very thankful for all of the visits and kindness that were bestowed on us during this very rough week.