The latest with Max

So much changes so fast when you are in the hospital. I arrived at the hospital with a happy Max but also thinking we were headed for a long long hospital stay and possibly going home with a picc line to administer intravenous antibiotics. We've gotten some good news in the past few hours that I'm so so happy to share with you!

So let me back up - yesterday as I was leaving the hospital his fever spiked back up to 103.8 and he was super unhappy. I felt terrible leaving and it broke my momma heart but I knew it was the right thing to do for Ceej and Mia. While I left Daddy had his night full of tough tests and pokes and prods. His neurosurgeon had the infectious disease team come in to evaluate Max and do some testing. They did a physical assessment which he wasn't really happy about and drew blood which is proving to be super hard because all of his veins are blown out. They were testing for all sorts of viruses and infections. They also decided to do an ultrasound on his back and try to draw some fluid from the surgical site once again to see if they can determine if that's the source of the infection. Dr. Bowman wasn't able to get any fluid out so she assumed that everything is a-ok there.

As can be expected he was totally exhausted and got some good sleep. He's been a pretty happy guy today and momma got to take him on a real stroller ride which he loved! He's been macking on all of the ladies on the floor - he especially loves his current nurse Ingra - she's amazing! She loves to eat his piggies and he just giggles.

The infectious diseases doctor just came in a little while ago and all of the tests are coming back negative so far. As confusing as it is right now we just cannot find the source of the infection. I asked the infectious diseases doctor where do we go from here? What stone have we left unturned? He mentioned that the only option would be to go back in to the surgery site and clean it out - but it's Dr. Bowman's opinion that it's too early to go back into a wound that's not yet completely healed. So where does that leave us?

I should talk to his neurosurgeon Bowman later today but her nurses came in and the preliminary plan is that we will get him off the IV antibiotics (yay no picc line!) and start oral antibiotics. He will be on a strong course for the next 10-14 days and we will then see after the antibiotics if the infection comes back. The hopes would be that whatever the source of the infection - the antibiotics would take care of it. If the infection were to come back - we would end up back in the hospital and it mean another surgery to open him back up and clean out the surgical site.

So how am I feeling? I'll feel much better when I talk with the neurosurgeon and hear it from the horses mouth. I am also a little uneasy thinking there was this crazy infection somewhere in my little man's body and we don't know what it was. And I worry about facing another surgery so soon. But at the end of the day I trust her and her staff and I trust that the prayers of the thousands we have praying for him will be heard and this will be a distant memory really soon.

So I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures over the last week of our stay here and ask that you keep praying for our sweet little man.

XOXO

K