After 4 days... Micah is home!

Wow... I just have to start out by saying that I have NEVER been so scared in my LIFE. Really.

Ok...so... Micah was discharged from the hospital yesterday late afternoon. He's doing well aside from being really fussy and exhausted. Here is what they think may have happened, though the doctors admit it's a "far fetched" explanation:

I'm going to start from the beginning. Micah started getting sick about 3 weeks ago (around March 5th). About a week later he was diagnosed with pneumonia and a HORRIBLE ear infection (March 12th I think) and given a shot of Rocefin in the office, followed by prescriptions for Augmentin, neb treatments, and ear drops. After being on all of those meds for a week we thought he was getting better. He hadn't been acting that sick at all, and wasn't even coughing much. So Monday March 19th we went in for another follow up. He had a low-grade fever (99.8) and his ear and chest still didn't look/sound good, so the doctor ordered two more weeks of the same meds. The following evening, Tuesday evening (March 20), Micah developed a fever of 102.5. I called the doctor because I was concerned that he had a fever even though he was currently taking one antibiotic and had received the shot of the other antibiotic. The doctor said "don't worry, if he's already on antibiotics then he's covered. Unless it's a virus." Apparently those were the key words!

Wednesday afternoon, around 2pm, we were in the play room and I noticed that his fingernail beds were slightly blue. I kept feeling his hands thinking maybe he was just cold, but they were warm. Then his lips started turning blue. Same thing... I kept thinking he was cold. After about 5 minutes of that he started to really get blue... it was progressing up his hands and now it was around his lips. I ran upstairs with him and sat him in the chair to do a nebulizer treatment (because it would help open up his airway). At the same time I called my sister and while I was on the phone with her he got more and more blue until his hands were completely blue and his face was blue and grey. My sister said to hang up and call 911, so I did... and then called my neighbor Christine. Christine ran over and sat with Micah while I got things ready for the hospital. Micah was fading in and out so she worked at keeping him awake/responsive. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the rescue squad came. The put a face mask on him with oxygen and off we went to the hospital (by the way, the paramedics were calling him a "blueberry".) By the time we got to the hospital he was pink again, but his temp was 105.1 (and just to re-cap his other vitals were sky high as well). In my 7 years of nursing, I have NEVER seen a temp that high! He was SO hot. They tried 5 times to get a line in him, and finally had to start it in his foot. They drew blood cultures, labs, and did a chest x-ray. They showed us the x-ray and said that he had "retro-cardiac pneumonia". Then we were sent by ambulance to a bigger hospital (because the one we were at was a small community hospital).

For 3 nights we were there, and Micah was still really sick for the first 2 nights. He was still having fevers, but the GOOD thing was that his oxygen saturation never dropped, so he didn’t' turn blue again. More tests were done including a 12-lead EKG and an Echo-cardiogram of his heart. Both were normal (THANK GOD!). Then, Saturday afternoon, after 24 hours of being fever free, he was discharged.

The doctors still aren't sure what happened. The doctors at the second hospital think that the x-rays were just blurry from the first hospital and that he never actually had the "retro-cardiac pneumonia" that the first hospital said he had. We had his primary group, the Infectious Disease doctor, and a bunch of residents following him, and the general consensus came to be... (and here is where the "far-fetched" explanation comes in)... They think that while he was recovering from the pneumonia he caught a virus... since his immune system was already low from being so sick for a couple of weeks he was REALLY susceptible to it. The virus caused his fever to skyrocket so rapidly (like within an hour or two) that he vaso-constricted (meaning that his blood vessels clamped down) causing him to become cyanotic.

That's it. That's all we know. We are going to consult with a pulmonoligist to have him check for Asthma and see if that was a contributing factor or not. We also want to have him allergy tested... just because at this point I want him tested for EVERYTHING.

Last night I was too scared to let him sleep in his room, so he slept with us. I just really wish I knew why he got so sick and cyanotic. Scary scary scary.

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes... our support network is amazing, and we are truly blessed to have such great friends and family.

Micah was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Yesterday afternoon Micah was in the play room when I noticed that his lips and fingers were begining to turn blue. About ten minutes later his whole face was blue, and his hands were blue up to his wrists (cyanosis), he was also starting to act strange and really sleepy. I called my sister who told me to call 911 (duh!) and then I quickly gave him a nebulizer treatment to try and open his airway (he was breathing well... just fast). Also, if you'll remember, he has been really sick for a couple of weeks with pneumonia, ear infections, etc.

Anyway, the paramedics put him on oxygen in the ambulance and he was pink when we arrived at the ED. When they admitted him his vitals were:

Temp 105.1
Heart Rate 192
RR 48
Oxygen Saturation 98

The good thing is that his O2 sats (oxygen saturation) has been good since the cyanotic episode. The fever of 105 however has been an issue. The doctors at the (small community) hospital did a chest X-ray and lab work. His white count was elevated which means there is an infection. We are still waiting for blood cultures to come back. The x-ray showed "retro cardiac pneumonia" meaning that he has pneumonia behind his heart. After all the tests were done, Micah was transfered via ambulance to a HUGE hospital where he is now so that he could get better care.

They still aren't sure what's wrong. In fact, now there is dispute over weather the x-ray showed pneumonia or if it was just a blurry film . Both hospitals have their own opinions.

The Infectious Disease doctor is involved now as well, so tomorrow will bring more x-rays, lab work, and possibly a cardiac echo. Today they did a 12 lead EKG that was normal... good.

Micah's fever came back tonight, but luckily we caught it at 102.5, so it didn't get CRAZY high. He will be in the hospital at least two more nights while they monitor him and give him IV antibiotics and try to figure out some answers to #1) Why he became blue, and #2) Why his fever spiked so high. The plan is to keep him until he is fever free for 24 hours.

Prayers would be GREAT while we wait for some answers!!! Right now all we are left with is a BIG FAT QUESTION MARK.

Pictures

Pics of Elaine and Micah. Some are from Elaine's 5th birthday. She got to have breakfast in bed (a birthday tradition), and she had a party at Chuck-E-Cheese's. With all of the tickets Micah won at her party, he picked out the fake "red-neck" teeth that you see in the picture above! I LOVE that picture!!! We also took pics of Micah with his nebulizer mask on (for his pneumonia). He is slooowly getting better, but not much. I"ll update more on that later. And the last picture is of Elaine pretending to be a balerina. (I refuse to put her in ballett lessons... I just can't stand watching them and I can't even begin to imagine her standing still long enough to learn anything! She does, however, take gymnastics.) Enjoy, and sorry there are no pictures of Arie this time. Elaine has been in the spot light the past few weeks!

I AM A NEW...

...Discovery Toys Consultant! I have been thinking about doing this for about 2 years now, and I FINALLY decided to go ahead and sign up. The toys are great and my kids LOVE them. They are fun and educational, and each toy has many uses. As a consultant I get big discounts and free toys... AND I get to play with toys and make $$ at the same time!

I've set up MY OWN WEBSITE(through Discovery Toys) so that you can look at the toys and purchase them online. Please at least check it out. They are a great investment and I KNOW you'll love them!!! Just click on THIS LINK.

Oh how I need a BREAK!

Since February 26th we have all been sick. It started with Elaine having what we THOUGHT was pink-eye. Then it went from her to Arie to me and Micah. Turns out it wasn't pink-eye but some sort of "bug". She worked through it pretty quick, but Micah and Arie got the full brunt of it.

Micah and Arie have been really sick since last Monday. I kept waiting for it to go away but it didn't. Micah (who has ear tubes) has so much drainage/blood coming out of his ear that it is LITERALLY dripping on his clothes. Both boys have goopy eyes, bad coughs, and on/off fevers.

We finally made it to the doctors office yesterday... we were there for three hours.(Me, Elaine, Micah and Arie... UGH). Micah has pneumonia and a HORRIBLE ear infection. Arie also has a bad ear infection. Arie had to get two shots of Rocefin in his legs (the amount of fluid was too much for his skinny little legs so they had to divide it), and Micah had to get one shot... but as she was giving it he kicked his leg and the needle jabbed and then he kicked again and again the needle jabbed him (it was in his skin the whole time but the direction of the needle changed so his leg is SO bruised). Then we had to give him a nebulizer treatment (face mask with liquid for 10 minutes) and Micah screamed through the whole thing while he was being held down by me(he is STRONG!!!). Now, at home, I have to give them every 4 hours... even during the night.

After our appointment we waited for our 7... yes 7... prescriptions to be filled at Wal-Mart for 1.5 hours. Long story about that too. (The doctor screwed something up). All three kids were SO exhausted and didn't get to eat lunch until 3:30.

As for me, I have a lingering cough, but nothing major. I'm beyond exhausted because all three kids have been waking up during the night the past two weeks. Elaine wakes for various reasons (nightmares about bugs, leg cramps, thirsty, etc), and the boys are obviously waking because they are sick. I've spent the days wiping snotty noses, wiping down the house with anti-microbial wipes, and dosing out medications by the bottle full. I really need a break, or at the very least a full night of sleep!

Video on Transracial Adoption

Here is a video on transracial adoption. Thanks Steph for the link!

Olympic star in tearful reunion with Korean dad

Toby Dawson hugging his biological father.

By Jon Herskovitz
Wed Feb 28, 9:32 AM ET



SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Olympic medalist Toby Dawson hugged his weeping Korean father on Wednesday when the two met for the first since he went missing 25 years ago as a toddler in a busy street market in South Korea.

Dawson, 28, became an overnight sensation in South Korea, the land of his birth, when he won the bronze in men's freestyle skiing moguls at the Turin Winter Olympics last year.

After his Olympic glory, pictures of him beaming with joy in Italy graced the front pages of local papers along with a shot of him as a sad, small boy wearing a tattered shirt at an orphanage waiting for his someone to claim him.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time," Dawson told his Korean father when they met in front of reporters.

"My life until now has been very confused," Dawson told reporters during a news conference with his father.

His biological father, Kim Jae-soo, a bus driver in the southern city of Pusan, apologized for losing his son in the market. Dawson spent several months in an orphanage before a Colorado couple, both ski instructors, adopted him.

After the Olympics, many South Koreans claimed to be Dawson's biological father. Recent DNA testing confirmed Kim as a parent.

"I'm so sorry. I went to so many orphanages looking for you," Kim said.

Dawson's biological mother divorced his father. She has been located but did not come to the reunion, local media reported Dawson's lawyer as saying.

Many children sent to orphanages come from broken homes or are born of unwed mothers, who often face scorn in South Korea for having a child out of wedlock, adoption agency officials have said.

Dawson said part of the reason he made his reunion with his father public is because he wanted to change perceptions in the country about adoption.

"I would like to change the negativity," he said, adding there were difficulties in growing up with white parents and being one of the few Asians in his Colorado town.

"I realized I was adopted every time I looked in the mirror -- or every time you go to the grocery store when people look at your parents and then look at you differently," he told a small group of foreign reporters before meeting his father.

Dawson said skiing helped him come out of his shell.

He would like to see more South Koreans adopt abandoned Korean children because of the difficulties those children can face growing up overseas.

"They are very fortunate and it is wonderful that they were given another opportunity like that. At the same time, there is a lot of confusion and a lot of heartache about who they are."