When it rains it pours. And when it pours it floods. And that’s what happened tonight. We’ve been up most of the night diverting water from our house and a neighbor’s house who’s out of town. Since I’m wide awake, it’s a great time to do an update on Foxx. It’s been a very difficult week. Foxx is generally super chill and happy, even when things aren’t going his way. That all changed on Friday night, when he started being fussy and inconsolable. He was up most of the night on Friday, pretty much screaming. He was a little gassy, so we thought that was the problem. After a long night of trying to get him to sleep, he finally knocked out about the time the sun came up. Haileys mom was here through the latter part of the week and the weekend. It has been a huge blessing having her here and enabling us to get some exercise and a little bit of sleep and to help with cleaning, cooking and things. That sleep sustained us these last two days!!! Thanks Momma Harding. You are a life saver! I wish my mom could be here too, and I know she wants to be. But, she and my dad are on a mission in Africa. I know its hard for them to be away during all of this, and to feel helpless halfway around the globe. Thanks for your prayers mom and dad! We are proud of you and its going to work out just fine! Over the next 36 hours, his eating started to slow and he became increasingly fussy. He didn’t have a fever, so we weren’t too concerned. In fact, his temp was lower than normal. We know now, that that is just as concerning. Wish they would have told us to watch for that as a sign. One sign they did warn us about was sleeping through the night. While it’s good for us, it’s a bad sign for Foxx. Saturday night, he slept almost 9 hours. He wasn’t interested in anything. But then, he woke up and was a pretty good little guy most of the day. Feeding became pretty slow toward evening and then he was up most of the night on Sunday. Suspecting a urinary tract infection (UTI), we called our doctor and he said we should get some labs in the morning. Foxx’s eating slowed to the point that he was taking 2 hours to get a very small 2 oz bottle down. And breast feeding just wasn’t happening. By morning, things just didn’t seem right, so we called our doctor again and he suggested we take him to the ER at Primary Children’s. At the ER, they ran some basic labs and tests to figure out his general health. A med student was getting some vitals and noted that his temp was low. She said, “Oh, that’s good. At least he doesn’t have a fever, so he shouldn’t have an infection.” She was wrong. In fact, very nearly dead wrong. The attending ER doc (who was incredible), came in and told us that in a little guy like Foxx, a low temp is just as concerning as a high temp. They immediately ordered a bunch of labs. An IV was installed and the IV team did an awesome job. But, Foxx HATES IV”s. The other thing he hates are catheters. And, they had to cath him to draw his urine sample. The urine was obviously cloudy, so we fully expected a UTI. Additionally, his blood pressure was off the charts. The did an EKG and drew a lot of blood samples. Then, they came in and told us they needed to do a spinal tap to test for meningitis. That was a harrowing experience. Our poor little boy, having been through so much and not sleeping and super tired and hungry, had to be stripped naked, bunched up into a ball, and have a long needle inserted into his spine. It was hard to watch. In a spinal tap, once they insert, what looks like an IV, they just let the clear fluid drip out into collection tubes. It was pretty fascinating. Very odd. Looks just like water, but a little thicker than water. The doc commented that since it was clear (and not cloudy) she thought it would come back negative. And it did. No meningitis! That was a huge relief!! Interestingly, once the tap is in place, most little babies go to sleep. Foxx didn’t sleep, but he became super relaxed. Apparently the release of fluid has a mild sedative effect. Super interesting. Also super lame to have to see your little dream of a boy go though it. We spent what seemed like forever, just holding Foxx in our arms, keeping him warm, and telling him how proud we are of him and how brave and tough he is, and that he’s going to get through this. I know he may not understand the words, but we are confident he can understand the feelings. He responds to it. And we all feel comforted. After about 30 minutes the lab results started coming in. Meningitis, negative. UTI positive (and pretty bad). His creatinine level jumped from 0.66 to 0.95. Large fluctuations in that number indicate that his kidneys aren’t working as well as they should. There were lots of others that looked pretty normal, but then there was the electrolytes. The ER doc came in and explained all of the lab results to us and said that the electrolytes lab was wrong. Meaning that the numbers they got weren’t possible. She said, “Well, he’s not having seizures and he’s not in a coma, so we know the numbers we got are wrong. So, we have to redo that lab.” They redid the lab. It came back the same. She came in basically said she doesn’t know how this little kid is conscious and said he needed to be admitted immediately to the NICU. So, Foxx is back at the NICU. This time at Primary Children’s Hospital. He has been there for 2 nights. We have been too tired to put together an update and we haven’t really known what was wrong until today. The short version is that he has a bad kidney infection with very severe hydronephrosis (swelling of the kidneys). As it turns out, it is a yeast infection that spread (probably) from his leg, where he had a known outbreak, through his penis, up into his kidneys. A kidney infection is a pretty bad thing for Foxx. His kidneys are already in bad shape and an infection can create scar tissue on the sensitive membranes that manage electrolytes. This probably led to his extreme dehydration, which cause him to be disoriented and unable to feed. The other side effects of dehydration are itchy burning skin and a number of other discomforts, which is probably why the poor little guy hasn’t been able to sleep well. It just tears us apart. He’s such a little stud the way he handles pain and this was too much for him. He finally lost it and just screamed and whimpered for hours. The crew at the NICU have been working to get Foxx rehydrated, but they have to take it super slow because he was so bad that going fast could cause his brain cells to literally explode when trying to pull too much water in all at once. He started to overcorrect, so they have been monitoring that pretty closely. Our hearts are pretty raw. Foxx has tried so hard to be brave and has been so dang tough. In the ER, I whispered into his ear, “Foxx, you just cry it out little guy. Scream your heart out. It’s ok. Just let it out. It’s ok to cry. And, right then, he stopped crying and just pulled it together. It was so amazing. This boy is meant to make it an he’s giving it his all. We are so proud of him. It’s looking like he may be in the NICU for a while. We’ll know more in 48 hours or so. Hailey has also been so strong and wonderful. I know it’s hard on her, but she doesn’t complain and she maintains her loving, nurturing nature, which means the world to me. She holds and loves our little angel boy and is such an awesome mom. I can’t believe how much my love for her is growing as I see what an incredible and tender mother she is. Foxx is one lucky kid! So, it’s now 6:00 am and what we were hoping to have been a nice long night of sleep, has turned out to be kind of crazy. I’m finally getting tired again, so off to bed! Please keep Foxx in your prayers. He’s pretty sick and struggling. We still feel like things are going to work out for the best and that Foxx will recover and be a happy little pain in the butt someday. And we can’t wait! Finally, I feel like I need to thank my Father in Heaven for trusting us with this little man. We know Foxx is his little boy too and we’re just doing the best we can. We have seen so many little miracles through this process. Modern medicine being one of them. We are so blessed to be there with and for Foxx.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 12:12:32 +0000
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