Pneumonia is not a fun thing!

I admit, I have slacked off on my blogging since I knew the next thing I wanted to blog about was Jacob and his battle with Pneumonia. This may be boring to some of you, but I keep this as a journal as well so these are things that I want to remember while they are still fresh in my mind. 

Friday the 10th of February Jacob had a headache and not much of an appetite, so he stayed home from school. Over the weekend the symptoms were about the same, but he also had a fever. We thought it was some sort of flue bug and that it would quickly pass. Monday came and the fever was still hanging on. I came home Monday night from my trip and decided to take him to the doctors on Tuesday if he wasn't feeling better. Tuesday morning I took him to the doctors and after some chest x-rays, it was determined that he had pneumonia. He was put on an antibiotic and sent home to recover. It went downhill from there. He ended up missing the rest of the week of school and started coughing (which the doctor said was normal.) His fever persisted and by the end of the week, I just couldn't take it anymore! He came to me and said that he was having trouble taking deep breaths, his fever was still around, and so we decided to take him to Children's Hospital Saturday night, the 18th. Before we left, we prayed that things would work out and we had a strong feeling that if we listened to the doctor's advice, that everything would be fine. That was such a huge relief! At Children's they did some more x-rays and determined that the pneumonia had spread and now there was fluid building up around his lungs as well. What a scary moment! It was suggested to us for him to go straight down to the Aurora Children's Hospital in case things took a turn for the worse. 

After thinking about other options, we remembered how we had felt after we prayed and that if we listened to the doctors, that Jacob would be fine. I rode with Jacob in an ambulance down to the Aurora location at about 2:30 Sunday morning. They did more testing on Jacob to find out that he had a staff infection along with the pneumonia and that is why the antibiotics were not working. They quickly got him on different antibiotics, oxygen and took more chest x-rays. I think we both got very little sleep that night...

The rest of Sunday was kind of a blur to me with the lack of sleep and concern that I was having for Jacob. These pictures were taken on Monday the 20th. He slept most of the day and had to do a breathing apparatus to open up his lungs whenever he had the chance. 

By Tuesday he was feeling still about the same and white as a ghost. He had hardly eaten anything in the last week and a half and was trying hard to just be happy. There was some good news however.. The antibiotics were working and it was determined that he wasn't going to need to have the chest tube put in to drain the fluid around his lungs. I was so thankful for that blessing!

We took this picture to send to dad and the kids at home Tuesday night. We were missing them so much.

Wednesday he sat up in the chair for a little while and built a fun LEGO toy that Liz and her family had given to him the previous day. That must have wore him out because he fell asleep right afterwards!

Thursday, the kids wanted to see me and I was missing them too, so Brian brought them down to see me. (They were not allowed to go into the room where Jacob was since he was on an ICU floor.) I met them downstairs where we walked around, had fro-yo (frozen yogurt), and examined all the fish tanks in the building. I hugged them and said that I would be home soon! The other picture below is Jacob playing a game on the laptop with his cousin Josh. I thought it was great that they could play together. It really helped Jacob to want to get out of bed and cheer him up! Thanks Josh!

Friday came and we were told that he could maybe go home! We were thrilled! It was an answer to our prayers! This was the first day that he had been more happy than sad and had eaten much of anything.

Here he is, so happy to be leaving! Love that smile! He was still going to have to be on oxygen and medication for the next 11 days. He ended up missing 3 1/2 weeks of school as well. He lost 19 pounds from start to finish. Right when he was headed back to school, he got a nasty ear infection. BUT, he is fine now. He is healthy, back in school, and happy. 

It ended up being a month from start to finish and man what a month it was! February is usually when our family gets sick, but I had no idea what was in store for us this year! (We had all gotten our flu shots even!) 

Even though it was a frightening thing that happened, I learned many valuable lessons. I learned to trust in Heavenly Father and his plan. I learned to be more patient. I learned how much Heavenly Father must love us to give us these precious children to take care of. I learned about letting others serve me when I usually like to be on the giving end. Most importantly, I learned that I am very blessed. I already knew many of these things it is true, but to have them reiterated to me, made my heart so full.

Thank you to everyone that helped me and my family out that week. Thank you Brian for coming down every day to spend time with me and Jacob. Thank you to my family that came by more than once, played games, brought gifts and food, called and checked in on us, and cheered us up! Thank you to many friends that made my family meals, visited me, watched my kids, and made things run smoothly. You all are truly a blessing to me and I love each of you!