Sad to say but we are still in the hospital here at Wolfson's Childrens Hospital. The blood test came back this morning and the sodium is lower so we got all excited only to have the doctor come in and tell us... yes the level is lower, however... being he has been hydrated for over 48 hours and the level still isn't normal brings questions as to if there may be an issue with some diabetes something hormone and the kidneys??? They are bringing in a kidney specialist ... I thought today but they must have gotten busy... so maybe tomorrow am we will see him. They also took a more extensive collection of blood to run some more in depth tests to see if there is anything else going on. His sodium level has never been an issue with all that we have gone thru until now. I am thinking the dehydration has triggered something else... we shall see tomorrow! We will probably be here thru Friday as I have already told the doctors that I am in no rush to get out of here until we know what is going on because I don't want to end up back here in another 48 hours. So until he is eating and drinking pretty normal and the levels of sodium are normal... we have become residents of Wolfson's! We had the swallow test this morning... I took video of it so I could share with all of you..... you know how I like to show you all aspects of our journey, lol..... however there is a glare so you can't see it... ugh! He did well and it revealed that he can actually swallow substances of nectar consistancy which is one step down from the pudding consistancy that he was swallowing. He still CANNOT swallow the thin liquids as he began to aspirate during the test this morning. This will come in time once the swelling goes down and his muscles become stronger. The ENT came in today and numbed his nose and went down his nose into his throat with a scope to see what was going on down there.... his epiglottis? is still really swollen as well as the whole area down there.... his right vocal chord is NOT moving at all and we know that the left vocal chord is paralyzed so that is why he is having trouble swallowing as well. She ordered a steroid of 3 doses .... one every 8 hours to reduce and help with the swelling... another watch and wait. She said that this is why he probably hasn't been eating because of the swelling and it probably really hurts when anything goes down the throat. He has been eating today... clap clap..... first signs of actual hunger today now that he is hydrated! For breakfast he ate french toast sticks and bacon with a choc chip muffin that I bought him at the coffee shop.... not so much any lunch- couple tater tots and double choc choc chip otis spunkmeyer muffin ... but dinner he had mac and cheese, double choc chip otis spunkmeyer muffin (his new love) and just told me he was still hungry so I let him have a vanilla pudding. It seems his appetite is picking back up however.... I am not just going to let him eat himself back to plumpness, lol! This time I will monitor and not just give in because I am happy to see him eat... lesson learned last go round... on top of things now!
He has been in great spirits most of the day... still complaining of a back ache... there seems to be a dip in the bed... we have been trying to get him a new mattress since yesterday... our sweet precious nurse Margie did give us an eggcrate for him last night however... this isn't doing the trick! Hopefully tomorrow we get a new mattress for him and that relieves some of the aches going on in his body.
Tonight Randi, Aaron and I enjoyed a great game of Rummy with Alex! We set it up to where his tray was across his bed and we layed the cards out to where he could look at them one by one and he actually did pretty good and scored 55 points! Amazing to all of us that he can actually sit here... 5.5 months after being shot in the head and process a game of Rummy! A strategic game of Rummy.. nonetheless! he loved this game prior to his injury and used to kick some serious butt playing it with the family! My God is an Awesome God and even though our road has been bumpy and never a dull moment... I know he will pull us through this with flying colors! We will get our own set of wings! I keep telling myself... it could always be worse and don't I know it! Alex Michael Ross is very much ALIVE and heck... playing RUMMY... WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST, LOL! Very thankful tonight for the gift of life that God has given me and Alex.... enjoying my time with him as well as Randi and Aaron.
Back at the homefront... Missing Nick (haven't seen him since Sunday.... Nick is very sick with some congestive respiratory funk and coughing is extreme...and haven't seen Chad today... he rolled his ankle at work today and is hopalong Cassidy at home hopefully with his foot elevated and iced... Two little sick ducklings at home while mom is away with the other sick duckling in the hospital. PLEASE SAY PRAYERS FOR THEM..... I hate that I can't be there to take care of them as well! Brooks came to hospital yesterday... he has been chilling at his dad's having a lazy summer day today. Even though I know we need to be here until we get this resolved... I miss my family all being together and look forward to going home with ALL MY BOYZ! MOMMA LOVES YA'LL!
Randi leaves Tuesday.... not much of a vacation for her since we have been in the hospital since Monday... BLAH! Maybe I can get her to the beach sometime before she leaves... hopefully!
Mr. Alex is fast asleep and you will all be happy to know that since he has slowly been hydrated... the craziness with the water bottle... spraying and spitting is dying down as well. Poor baby was just dying for water and his mouth was terribly dry from being dehydrated! ALL IS GETTING BETTER... just takes a little time... some things just can't be rushed and we all know that Alex is on his own timeline, lol!
I will keep you posted on the kidney situation... hopefully will know tomorrow.
HERE ARE SOME SMILES FOR TONIGHT... I LOVE WATCHING VIDEOS OF ALEX... HE IS A HAM! He usually comes up with a birthday dance for me every year... found these from last year... HE IS A GOON, lol!
MISSING THE OLD ALEX BUT KNOWING HE WILL BE BACK SOON!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA
