Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?

  • Post category:Holidays / Hospital
  • Reading time:3 mins read

If you’re wondering why I ended the title of this post with a question mark, you’ll have to wait until the end to find out.

 

Christmas

James resting on a carpeted floor with a blanket under their head near a lit Christmas tree, wrapped gifts, and a wooden dresser, with an overlaid holiday message expressing love, joy, and gratitude.

 

As the above picture card says, we were thankful James was home for Christmas and didn’t have to spend it in the hospital after his surgery. We would normally visit with my family on Christmas Eve, and with Stacy’s family on Christmas Day, but this year we stayed home to let James rest and recover.

Ready to open gifts Christmas morning:

 

James in striped pajamas lying on a blanket near a small Christmas tree decorated with colorful lights and surrounded by wrapped presents, with holiday figurines and festive décor on a wooden entertainment unit in the background.
James is ready to open his Christmas gifts

 

Let’s see what he got:

 

James asleep on a pillow in striped pajamas, resting beside a new Spider‑Man pajama set and Christmas‑themed gift bags in a festive home setting.
Spider-Man jammies from grandma and grandpa

 

James lying down with mouth slightly open while an Jeff holds a Despicable Me Blu‑ray gift set nearby in a carpeted living room with furniture and electronics in the background.
Despicable Me movie

 

Jeff gently kissing James' forehead as he lies on a soft surface in a striped shirt, with folded clothes and Christmas‑themed ornaments nearby in a cozy home setting.
Clothes and Christmas ornaments

 

James lying on a pillow under a handmade multicolored crocheted blanket while Jeff leans close and gently kiisses his forehead, with a red couch and a striped stuffed toy in the cozy living room background.
A handmade blanket from a releative in New York

 

James lying on a pillow with a stuffed dog wearing a winter hat resting on his head, set against a red couch with a green monkey‑themed blanket and Christmas decorations in the background.
Stuffed dog from palliative nurse

 

James lying on a pillow wearing a gray‑and‑blue striped shirt, resting beside a black stuffed dog on a carpeted floor with nearby furniture and blankets in a calm home setting.
Black lab puppet

 

James lying on a carpeted floor with a pillow and blanket, surrounded by folded new pajamas with tags and several family‑friendly DVD movies arranged around him in a cozy home setting.
Pajammas and movies from Mommy and Daddy

 

Not a bad haul, kid. But that’s not all he got for Christmas.

 

Happy New Year?

Now we get to the part where I put a question mark after Happy New Year. In addition to the gifts above, James also got something else for Christmas, but I’m not sure I would call it a gift. Before James left the hospital on Christmas Eve after his surgery, they sent some blood out for testing. The pediatrician called us Christmas morning to let us know those results. It showed that he had coronavirus. The doc wanted us to keep an eye on him and call him if anything seems abnormal.

 

“Everything about James is abnormal doc.”

 

This is not the first time James has had coronavirus. James was in the hospital back in early March with pneumonia and they called two days after he was home to let us know that James had coronavirus. Looking back at Stacy’s notes in the medical binder, he had some congestion, and respiratory issues towards the end of the month, but nothing that required hospitalization.

We’re not sure if this is the coronavirus, or if something else is going on with James, but he started to do some of his double breathing (two inhales for every exhale) on Wednesday, which then seemed to snowball into some digestion issues Wednesday night (New Year’s Eve). After his last feed that night, his stomach became distended. We thought that this was a result of his breathing in so much air with his double breathing. Stacy vented his belly to relieve some air and some of his food.

We asked for a nurse from palliative care to come out to look at him Thursday morning. She said his lungs sounded clear so there was no concern about pneumonia, but she was concerned about his high heart rate and his breathing. She recommended trying Pedialyte at a slow rate to keep him hydrated, but it started to come out of his g-tube site, which is obviously not good.

We put a call into the pulmonologist to get his opinion on the breathing. He said to rotate through nebs (breathing treatments) throughout the day and also do CPT (chest physiotherapy) treatments to help break up any mucus that may be lodged in his airway causing him to double breathe.

Friday night we finally threw in the towel and took him to the ER to get checked out. He was admitted. It is now Tuesday, and they’re still trying to figure out what is going on with him.

And that is why there is a question mark after Happy New Year. This year has not started on a happy note for us. If you want to keep up to date with how James is doing, please be sure to follow him on Facebook. And as always, please send prayers.

 

James resting in a hospital bed with a nasal tube secured by tape and a patterned hospital gown, surrounded by medical equipment in a calm clinical setting.
In the hospital January 3rd