Memorial Day

I wish I had a happier picture of what our Memorial Day was like, but I don't. Tal was in the hospital for 3 days (Sunday through Tuesday), while we tried to determine what was causing his 101.5 degree temperature. He woke up feeling quite warm on Sunday morning and pretty tired. While he slept I took his temperature and is was 100.3. I decided to wait until he woke up to see if it had gone down at all. When I checked it again about 1 hour later it had jumped to 101.5. I called Matt at church and he met us at the ER. When we finally were able to be seen, they quickly started all kinds of tests: blood samples, a spinal tap, a urine sample, and a chest x-ray. After 4 different needles, poor Tal was filling like a pin cushion, and his temperature was still very high. After the tests came back, his urine sample showed a high white cell count. The doctor was concerned and decided to take another sample using a catheter. This test showed an even higher white cell count and into the hospital we went. Once we were in our room the nurse came to get him so they could start an IV. After 8 tries and 1 1/2 hours later they finally brought him back with the IV horribly stuck in his head. After a day like we had had, Tal was not a happy boy and exhausted from all the screaming, and mom and dad's heartstrings were barely hanging by a thread.

The next 2 days brought more tests and an ultra sound of his kidneys each showing that that's where the problem was. A culture of his urine showed that he had a staph infection causing a urinary tract infection and the ultra sound showed that his ureter (the tube that connects your kidneys to your bladder) on his left side was very dilated and that there might be a blockage into his bladder. Our doctor transfered Tal to St. Louis Children's Hospital for more testing to see what was really wrong. We were able to go home for one day before going to Children's Hospital, but still had to take Tal to the doctor's office every day for a shot of strong antibiotics (he had to do that for 4 days). Emma would come to help him be brave!

Our trip to Children's Hospital brought over 2 hours of tests, another IV, and finally the results. Tal has what they call grade 5 Reflux, which means that the ureters are bringing urine back into the kidneys causing bacteria to settle and infection to grow. Reflux is graded 0-5 so Tal has the worst. The good news, I guess, is that he has a chance of out growing it. So for the next year, Tal will have to be on an antibiotic every day to hopefully keep infections from coming back. After a year, he'll have to redo all the tests and we'll see if there is any improvement. If not, then they will have to fix it surgically. They'll also have to do surgery if the infection continues to come back while on the antibiotics, because that could damage his kidneys. Tal's already giving us a run for our money!

We are so thankful for the nurses and doctors that took care of Tal. They were so knowledgeable and kind. We are also thankful for loving friends and family who were so willing to help. Tal was as good as he could have been... our sweet little man. Memorial Day was definitely "memorable." And we couldn't have BBQed anyway... it was raining!