Okay, today is Monday, time to regroup and update where we are at. We are still at the hospital and have a “no earlier than Wednesday” leave date. Michael’s culture’s grow very slowly, so just when they think they are in the clear (and normally would be), the next day they start to grow something. His first three days of cultures grew bacteria, Friday’s we should know pretty well by tonight, which, of course, we are hoping are clear. Apparently bacteria can lurk a bit in corners of the heart and etc. and they want to be sure they have nailed any lurkers, so Wednesday is the earliest.

Of course, if any of the cultures grow anything new, then plan B would have to be enacted. It sounds to me like plan B would be pulling his PICC line and replacing it (although at that point I would discuss whether we could just pull it, be without it for a couple weeks until his central line goes in on the 30th–although they are talking about IV antibiotics at home so then we might as well have the PICC, we’ll see).

Michael is feeling better, no fever spikes, no hives, still a nasty cough but it doesn’t have the really nasty sound of last week. Those cultures (respiratory) are all in the  clear so at this point its just a cold we are dealing with–one benefit of all these antibiotics for the blood infection is I doubt pneumonia even had a chance to grow in that climate!  He is, understandably, tired of being here, tired of being in this room, and ready to go home. Still, as far as hospital rooms go, he has a pretty sweet set up with most of the comforts of home.

One interesting twist, we cringe at colds with him, for good reason. When we hear the sound of a cough shift we get a cold knot in the pit of our stomachs, especially now with his respiratory function so low. In this instance, though, having that (unrelated) cough was hugely important. Sepsis becomes incredibly dangerous if not caught in the first 24-48 hours, exponentially so for kid with compromised immune system. It takes a lot for Michael to have ANY kind of a fever so I doubt that he ever would have gotten a blood culture done that soon if it hadn’t been for us  going in Monday for an x-ray of his lungs. Conversely, without the blood infection he probably would not be nailed with high powered antibiotics which have certainly kept pneumonia away. Just saying. Things happen for a reason and him having two unrelated issues whose treatments interplayed to benefit the other ends up being a good thing—-though obviously having neither would be best!