Week 9:

I know I'm late in updating this but I promise it's worth the wait.

 

For those of you who didn't know, my son was hospitalized Thanksgiving Day. Eli is 22 months old and is the greatest blessing in our lives. Last December Eli got RSV and a strange rash all over his body, after taking him to the doctor we were rushed to the emergency room and eventually admitted. While in the hospital we discovered Eli's body wasn't producing neutrophils, these are cells in the white blood cells that help your body fight infections. For most of Eli's first year of life we have been in and out of hospitals, and doctor's offices. Eli's had more blood work done in his 22 months of life than Oscar and I have had done in our 25 years of life.

 

The day before Thanksgiving Eli woke up with a raspy voice and a cough; because of Eli's medical history we tend to call our doctor anytime he is sick. We had plans to fly out to visit my family so we wanted to make sure it was still safe to fly. We spoke with a few different professionals and were told it would still be safe to travel with Eli. We went ahead and kept our plans and got ready to head to El Paso, Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. Eli did great on the flight but his voice was raspy and his breathing was getting heavier. We got to my dad's house gave Eli a breathing treatment and let him take a nap. His symptoms weren't getting better. We decided we would take him to an emergency room and see a doctor, because Eli was miserable.  

 

We arrive at the ER and saw the doctor within 20 minutes. After the doctor examines Eli he informs us we are going to be admitted and transported to a different hospital and Eli is going to be placed in Pediatric ICU. The doctor diagnosed Eli with croup, a common illness in kids Eli's age. However, for some kids this can become very dangerous because croup can cause the airways to close up and make it difficult to breath.  We then informed the doctor of Eli's history and a full work up was ordered. This is typical protocol with our son when we take him to the ER. While the nurses were working to get labs and IV's in Eli, he tried to fight them and his breathing got worse quickly and he began turning blue. He wasn't getting enough oxygen. We immediately began breathing treatments to help open his airways.

 

With tears in my eyes I held my son and prayed God would heal him. I began praying out loud and Eli's breathing started to improve. His oxygen levels began to increase and his color was coming back. His body was doing everything it needed to do to fight.

His vitals became normal. His blood work came back with normal numbers his body was even producing neutrophils. This is a sigh of relief for us because if there was an infection he was capable of fighting it on his own. That in itself was a huge blessing.  

By now the EMT's had arrived and were preparing us to be transported to another hospital.

 

As we left I took a moment to thank the nurses and doctors in the ER. I asked them to tell their families they saved my sons life that day. I know they would've rather been home eating turkey with their loved ones but my family was blessed because they weren't.

 

I told the same thing to EMT who transported us to the hospital. I told her to hug her family tight and remind them how important her job is, she looked at me with a smile and said, "I needed to hear that today."

 

When we arrived at the next hospital we were greeted by a doctor and his nurses. They were ready to put Eli on a ventilator. His vitals had improved so much that by the time we got there that was no longer necessary.  Praise God. As the doctor and nurses came into our room we made it a point to thank them for working on a holiday. We encouraged them to tell their families because of their work, knowledge, and skills our son was still alive. We wanted them to know how much we appreciate them and their hard work.

 

Eli's health continued to improve and we were sent home the next day. As we got ready to leave one of our nurses stopped us and shared a beautiful story with us. She told us when they got the call that they would be putting Eli on a ventilator, her and the other nurses stopped what they were doing and formed a circle and prayed for our son.  She said they asked God to heal him and improve his health before getting there so they wouldn't have to put him on a ventilator.  Their prayers were answered because Eli's health dramatically improved while we waited in the ER for the ambulance.

 

These nurses didn't even know my son but they believed in the power of prayer and prayed for him anyway. My simple "thank you's" will never measure up to their prayers, but I think my "thank you's" are the reason they felt comfortable to share the story of their prayer.

 

I pray none of you have to go through what we've been through, but the next time you see a doctor, an EMT, or a nurse take a moment to thank them. You have no idea how many lives they've saved today.