Staph=Staying Longer

We saw our Pediatric Infectious Disease doctor, Charles Ruskins, today , with some updates on the staph bacteria. He started talking about all the options that we could take, but each of them seem to circle around us being in Minnesota. I told him that our reservations to return home are for tomorrow--and he said that Nathan won't be able to leave tomorrow. I asked him how long Nate will need to be on the IV antibiotics...and after consulting with Dr Trousdale's resident...it won't be any sooner than Tuesday. If the bacteria was caused by an infection in the bone--then it was best that his femoral bone was removed. If it was present from contact with the skin...then the time frame for treatment could be different. What it all boiled down to was that Nathan definitely has Coagulase Negative Staph and they are continuing to culture the bacteria to check it for susceptibility. He'll continue on the Vancomyacin and there won't be any definite plans for release until Dr Ruskins talks to our surgical team on Monday. The original plan was for Nathan to be released today and fly home tomorrow. But with this latest development, we can't go home tomorrow, and Nathan is bummed.

The antibiotics are potent and Nathan lost his good IV site this morning. Infiltration is a dirty word in the medical field. It took a specialty team to set him back up with another one. The doctor mentioned a pic-line for the Vancomyacin, but would decide if that might be a better route to go down with his other doctors on Monday. Thank goodness for numbing creams and distractions. The nurse put ice on his other arm to get the swelling down.

Physical therapy came today and got him out of bed. That was a challenge. But he knows how to use a walker and position himself in the bed. It still took almost an hour to go 8 feet. He had a nap in the chair and made it back to the bed in time for medications.

I took a leap of faith, and rebooked our tickets home for Wednesday. Southwest rocks!! The first call got me no where. I was given the customer relations number, which only operates M-F, 7-5pm Central standard time. So I called back and got somebody different and she worked wonders. I explained the situation and she put me on hold for a few minutes. She came back on the line and said that everything was taken care of, that we had the exact same flights and times, but now leaving on Wednesday! I was kind of stressed about the cost difference with a three day notice. She said that Southwest would honor the same discounted fares because it was a medical emergency. That saved us almost $800!!

While I was on the phone, a nurse came around the peds floor handing out Get Well balloons. Some nice lady went and bought a bunch of balloons and brought them to the hospital for the nurses to hand out to all the kids here today. I thought that was pretty awesome and so uplifting. I've never seen anything so anonymous and random while Nathan's been hospitalized before...and that's been quite a bit!

Earlier in the day, a volunteer came to each of the kids' rooms and let each kid choose a cute stuffed animal. The stuffed animals were donated by an organization called Allie's Friends Foundation. They are intended to comfort children during medical emergencies. It's amazing to me how people take their own traumatic experiences and become inspired to do something for others who may be in similar circumstances now. The Ronald McDonald house is full of things for the families that have been donated by generous locals. Yesterday, Nathan and Cameron each received a fleece blanket and cool pillowcase, probably made by somebody's grandma that had stayed there before.

We've seen many ethnically diverse people in this hospital. And the little Amish girl loved her stuffed pony as much as the Somalian boy loved his stuffed elephant. And the boy from Spokane picked out a puppy...because he misses his. (Cameron picked out the grizzly bear because it reminded him of the one he just read about on the Internet that had been saved from a fall from a tree, only to be run over by a car later.)

Tomorrow holds the answers for the questions of today. We're hoping for good things to come. We've seen other obstacles overcome in shorter periods of time...so here's to dead bacteria!