NO! NO! NO! THIS WAS NOT IN THE PLANS!

Colby has been sick. Enough said. Blog readers, that's why I haven't posted much lately. Family and friends, that's why I haven't called or texted much lately. Here's the recap:

Last week they sent a new nurse to go to school with Colby. She is freakin' fabulous! Day 1 she showed up 10 minutes early. Day 2 she showed up 15 minutes early. Love her! She was also professional, bubbly, interactive with Colby (that's a biggie), and a very fast learner. I took the 3 of us to school Tuesday and Wednesday so I could train her on Colby care. Wednesday Colby was crying in class, was trying to fall asleep in class. I was hoping it was just him trying to get back in the school groove, but no such luck. By Wednesday night, Colby's nose was streaming a river of snot. Sorry, no way to sugarcoat it. By Thursday morning his secretions were thick and difficult to suction, not thin. They were also a lovely color, somewhere between lemon tart yellow and chartreuse green. Dammit. Then his heart rate started creeping up, yep, a fever. Called the pulmonologist, got Colby started on an antibiotic. And you know the rest of the story. Increase cough treatments to every 4 to 5 hours, including overnight. Hover over Colby. Pray. Stress. Friday was a bad day. I called Cincinnati and said we needed to come up. The nurse was going to ride up with me to take Colby. We decided to give it 1 more hour. We went old school. Put cold rags and ice packs on Colby to get down his fever. Suctioned out his nose, mouth and trach, then left him alone for 20 minutes! The poor kid was irritated. We finally got his oxygen back to normal and slowly but surely, his fever broke and his heart rate started coming down. Called Cincy and said we weren't coming up, YET. Rough day for everyone.

Now I would say Colby is 80% well. No fever since Friday. His numbers (oxygen saturation and heart rate) are more stable. He's still having some trouble with his cough treatments. Once those secretions start moving around, his heart rate sometimes goes whacko and his oxygen drops into the high 80's. But it's progress from where we were, that's for sure. I'm a little freaked, okay a lot freaked, because Colby has appointments in Cincy on Thursday. That's just 2 more days! He needs to do a lot of improving between now and then. But if anyone can do it, it's my sweet boy. He's a tough little dude, for sure.

I've decided to go ahead and put Colby on Home/Hospital. Originally I wanted him to go to school until May 13. But now, not so much. We have to not only get him well from this illness, but also keep him well so he's ready for VEPTR surgery. I hate that he's missing riding the bus, getting a little freedom from his mama, attending his school. But it really is in his best interest. And no, we can't get the freakin' fabulous nurse to watch him here at home. She doesn't work for the agency we use for our home nursing. And that's a shame, because I would have loved to have her work with Colby.

Very little else is going on around here. It's been Colby got sick, let's get Colby well. It's Derby week around here. Yeah, okay, whatever. I'm lucky if I get to bathe daily, certainly not worried about getting out and participating in Derby activities. Maybe next year. Wait, that's what I said last year! Oh well, isn't meant to be I guess.

Colby's IPV treatment is done. Time to cough him, suction the bejeebers out of him, make his food, do his ADL's and maybe, just maybe, I can shower before the nurse gets here at noon. Keep you posted on how it all turns out.