AJ- part 1092348839407

On Friday AJ had a 'routine' tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy/botox procedure. True to form, he was anything but typical. We were supposed to be in the hospital overnight for observation, but now it looks like we'll be here until at least Tuesday.

Here's the skinny on what's been happening. Friday night, AJ couldn't maintain his oxygen saturations. Normal is above 90, he was dropping down into the 70's. No worries, we just kept him stimulated, and had respiratory therapy in throughout the night to do treatments and suction him.

Yesterday, he took a turn for the extreme worst. His oxygen was bad, heart rate was around 170-190 consistently (normal for him is about 90), fever was above 102 all day, and he just looked *bad*. By 6:00 they were anticipating a move to the PICU. They did an EKG, full blood and metabolic panels, and chest xrays. There was a massive flurry of activity in his room. You could literally cut the tension with a knife. The EKG was abnormal, and though the bloodwork was okay, it was obvious that there was something big going on. They brought out the restricted use antibiotics for him, wrapped him in wet towels, and put him on morphine. From 6-midnight, we were in a terror filled situation. Around midnight, his fever broke. By this morning, his heart rate was down in the 120's. We'll know exactly what we're fighting once the blood cultures are complete. For now, we're in a much less scary place.

Most of all though, we need you to keep Bella in your thoughts. She was here with us all day yesterday, and the effect on her was awful. The panic that we, and the hospital, were in last night made an impression on her that has left my heart aching. She cried for several hours last night that she didn't want AJ to die. Thank God for the doctors and nurses... they were able to tell her in a way that made sense to her 5 year old mind about what was happening. Still, seeing the trauma this has put on her is killing me.

I'll update more as things change. I love you all. I miss you guys a lot right now.

Isa's prayer for AJ

She drew this on Mother's Day... and while the sweetness overwhelmed my heart, the sentiment also created an ache that I haven't been able to shake. How I wish I could fix this for her. :(

For those of you who don't read Kindergardner:

"Please God help my brother. He is sick. I really want him better."