In The Woods

This is my beautiful son.

And his gorgeous brown skin.

One of the most loved little brother's in all of history.  I want him to have that skin back with everything in me.

The pictures in the last post are not those of a yeast rash as he was diagnosed.  It took a trip to the ER, 6 IV attempts, 2 spinal taps, multiple blood draws, and a urine sample via catheter to find that out.  

It's actually staph scalded skin.

Bacteria in his little body is growing and shedding toxins that are literally burning the skin off his frame.

After 5 days and 4 nights in the hospital, things looked to be under control.  The staph was dying off as a result of the strong IV antibiotics.

 Skin treatments ensued as we attempted to get his skin to heal and regenerate.

 He began to heal, and not be in pain for the first time in weeks.  We got to see his sweet smile and hear his coos and first attempts at making real noises. 

On the 5th day there they sent us home.  We joyfully packed our bags, picked up his prescription he would be on for the next 2 weeks, and rejoiced to be done with the pain and anguish that accompanied our time there.  We had the most incredible staff of nurses and doctors and were so well cared for, but hospitals are just not a fun place to be.

His first 2-3 days home went well.  He seemed to still be happy.  We were attempting to get him used to life back at home.  We thought we were out of the woods.

Then things started to get bad again.  His skin is showing signs of redness and peeling in areas where it was previously healed.  His demeanor is returning to one that shows us he is in pain.  His ability to sleep is diminishing.  All signs that the staph is still alive and well in his body.

We had a follow-up appointment yesterday and the doctors were not pleased.  They started him on another antibiotic in fear that the staph he has is becoming antibiotic resistant.  He has 24-48 hours from starting that to show improvement or we will be readmitted.  We just hit the 24 hour mark and while he is acting slightly more comfortable, he's not looking or sleeping any better.  We've been instructed to wait it out until tomorrow at his follow-up so they can reevaluate.  We've been told to come with our bags packed though if things don't look better.

If the staph migrates to his blood we will be in the ER though and then most likely the PICU.  We have to watch him very carefully for fever because that would be the first sign.   Thus the reason he is on no pain medication right now.

For now he's resting.  And we are mentally and emotionally preparing ourselves to be back in the hospital.  We greatly appreciate all the offers for help, shows of support, and prayers for our little fighter.

Update:  He is being hospitalized again.  The doctors are unsure why his skin in continuing to be red and not heal.  He is having an entire battery of tests run to try to get to the bottom of it.