Surprise Vacatoin Hospitalization

I guess I need to start at the beginning on this one.  Last Monday, before we went out of town, Cooper missed a day of school for having a random fever with a cough.  It was gone after an hour and he seemed fine, so he went to school the next day and then had surgery (tubes put in his ears) on Wednesday as planned.  After surgery, his lungs are always pretty crappy.  So we had him on oxygen at night.  When we went out of town on Sunday, we brought our oxygen compressor so we could continue to give him oxygen at night, but nothing else.  He still had a bit of a lingering cough, but nothing that seemed too concerning.  Tuesday night, we went to NIOSA with friends.  Ritt's mom stayed with Cooper.  RIGTH before we got home, he threw up a lot.  He must have aspirated because by the time we got home, he was breathing so loudly that we though he was awake.  We immediately put him on a bunch of oxygen because he was looking a little grey and was grunting.  It helped some, but we couldn't get him to wake up and he had a fever of 102.8.  So we took him to the nearest ER.  They were great.  As soon as we got there and told them that he needed to be on oxygen, we went straight back to triage.  The tech hooked him up to a pulse ox, and his sats were in the mid-70's.  Really not good.  The triage nurse came in, saw his level, and rushed us to a room where oxygen and many doctors and nurses were waiting for us.  They had the x-ray machine in there before I could put my stuff down and his right lower lung looked bad.  Then they got some bloodwork on him (not an easy thing on Cooper's fat arms and legs).  His white blood cell count was over 30,000, so he obviosuly had an infection.  Unfortunately, the hospital where we were didn't admit children, so at 3:30 in the morning Cooper was transferred downtown to Christus Santa Rosa. 

Luckily, Brad went to medical school there and is a pediatrician, so our stay was much better than it otherwise might have been.  They let us go home after 24 hours of no fever, they put us on an antibiotic that didn't cost us an arm and a leg, since our prescription insurance didn't extend to Texas, and, most importantly, they found a company who let us borrow 2 oxygen tanks FOR FREE to get us back to Little Rock on oxygen.  Seriously, it was amazing.  I will say this, though: I missed ACH.  I missed knowing most of the doctors and nurses, I missed 20% off in the cafeteria (and knowing where the cafeteria was), etc.  Also, ACH is a MUCH nicer hospital, even though Christus is private.  So now we are in Houston.  Cooper is pretty much back to his normal, happy self.  He is bouncing, eating solid food, and breathing better.  Once we get home to a pulse ox tomorrow, we will see how he does off of oxygen, but until then, I'm not chancing anything.  More later on the happier parts of our vacation week.

Cooper can hear!

When babies are released from the hospital, their hearing gets tested.  Cooper's ear canals were "too small for the hearing test," so we were told to follow up.  He has passed tests in one ear and failed the other, failed tests on both sides, had VERY different sound booth tests and ABR test results, etc.  Basically, we have been in limbo regarding Cooper's hearing for the last 19 months.  Until today.  Cooper got new tubes put into each ear and all the fluid and nasty stuff pulled out of each middle ear (including the old ear tube in one ear).  Dr. B said it was pretty gross.  Then he had 2 hearing tests.  He had an AER and a bone conduction test.  The AER passes waves through the middle ear into the brain.  He registered 30 decibels in one ear and 40 in the other.  Normal hearing is 20, and he did JUST have surgery on those ears.  The bone conduction test bypasses the middle ear.  On that test, he registered 20, absolutely normal.  So, no hearing aids!  AND, within 2 weeks he should be hearing conversational tones, and within 2 months, everything.  It takes that long for his ears to heal completely after the surgery.  YAY!!!  Seriously, I am so happy and excited.  One less thing to worry about!  Also, here are some cute pics of Cooper (you know you love them):

Cooper has recently discovered suckers. He LOVES them.  Orange are his favorite.

Anniversary

Last week marked the one year anniversary of Cooper starting at the Allen School.  This got me thinking about how much he has changed in the last year.  When Cooper was 7 months old, he didn't hold things, roll over, or recognize me or Brad.  He hated to have his face touched, had very few emotions, and a minimum of head control.  Here is his 7 month picture:

Now, Cooper rolls to both sides, sits up with a minimum of support, reaches for things, transfers objects between hands, is ticklish, laughs often (and cries often), LOVES his mommy and daddy, etc.  He really is a completely different child from one year ago.  And I am so grateful for the Allen School.  Here are some recent photos (Easter, etc.)

My family

Cooper at 18 months

Rolling for the first time from stomach onto his back

Cooper at 19 months

I saw the Easter bunny!

Mmmm... Easter eggs!

Cooper and mommy

Cooper and daddy

Church made me tired!

Coops and Podge

I'm back

I have actually been busy!  I got a job, which I started tonight.  And though I will miss my boy, I think it will be good to get out of the house a couple of afternoons a week.

Cooper got sick Friday, but seems MUCH better now.  He had a brief surgery clinic appointment last week, but they just checked his button and proclaimed him, and it, fine.

Brad took Cooper to the doctor this morning for the first time all by himself.  So proud!  It was a pulmonary appointment.  The only big news is that she wants Coops to have a sleep study to make sure he isn't aspirating at night.  So that will be the night of May 9.  It starts at 7:30 and ends at 6:00 a.m.  Let me tell you, I am sure looking forward to that one (sarcasm if my friend).

I will be better going forward about putting stuff on here.

This is how we found Cooper last night before we went to bed.  Notice his foot sticking out of the crib?  Too funny.