Visit from Raija and Dade

Sleepy

Waking up from nap with a little Buzz and Woody

Swim lessons

The amount of effort it takes for a 30 minute swim "lesson" is crazy. Packing, getting into suits, participating in songs and swim for 2 back to back classes, showering off, putting on jammies, eating snack and getting home takes a good 2 hours. It is fun to see them enjoy the water so I guess it's worth it but man are we exhausted.

Willy Street Fair

Thank you Aunt Corey and Uncle Thad for coming to visit, and for the presents too!

Buzz and Woody

Every day, "Can we watch Toy Story"?, "Where's Buzz and Woody?", "Mom, Luca took Woody's hat", and Luca with both in his hands just walks around saying, "Woody Woody, Buzz Buzz"with a huge grin on is face. Can you guess what they are going to be for Halloween?

bussy day at the zoo with friends. long long naps afterwards!

Nap with George

Dinner time - silly time

Playing with ketchup, feet on the table and a lack of clothes - dinner time at the Dolezaleks.

Nothing too exciting to report. Luca had his follow up appoitnment, still awaing one lab result and if that result is negative then we're blaming it all on bad luck. A little frustrating to not know what's causing these infections but better than some icky diagnosis. Ava had her three year old appointment today, she threw a total fit about stepping on the scale to be weighed but didn't make a peep at the flu shot. Strange child.

The picture is from the Union terrace. Ava was very well behaved (minus the temper tantrum in the public bathroom), Luca on the other hand enjoyed throwing rocks at the ducks and sucking on cigarette butts. And we wonder why the boy gets sick.

Within 5 minutes of being home from the hospital life was

back to normal; fighting kids, a messy house and tired parents.

WE'RE GOING HOME!

The infectious disease doctor said Luca went from a grapefruit to a

walnut and he's happy with the way things have improved.

Oral antibiotics and some follow up appointments this week!

Superman

We took a nice long walk around the neighborhood this evening, had dinner at Tex Tubs and did some quality racing around the unit on a little scooter. It was a good night.

Bad news

We were hoping to be able to go home today and do 2 days of IV antibiotics at home with Luca's PICC line in place but I guess that was too difficult to arrange on the Sunday of a holiday weekend. So, we're here again tonight and will talk with the docs again in the morning to come up with a plan. Bummer.

Good news is that Luca has been super happy today. He got to play with lots of family this morning (cousin Joe in picture above) and was non stop giggles with Ava. Our wonderful nurse said we can take Luca outside for a stroller ride and to run around when he is up from his nap so at least that will break up our afternoon and allow us all some fresh air.

Home???

There is a rumor buzzing around that Luca may go home today...

We're waiting for the attending MD to come see Luca and talk about the plan.

Cross your fingers.

He wouldn't let me do it but Shalicia could clip Luca's toenails.

Thank you Nic, Shira, JP and Leah for visiting and bringing treats :)

Uneventful evening - no new news to report except that the gauze drain accidently came out and we're hoping that's not a big deal. He is very happy and played hard until bedtime.

Puppy Pals

Low key afternoon - got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa and played with Maddy the dog.

Dustin and Luca watching Toy Story before nap time
Happy to be disconnected from IV tubes for lunch in the cafeteria

Luca got the biggest smile when Ava came to visit and was
sad when she got on the elevator to go away

Calm Night

With the exception of an occasional beeping IV pump we slept! No one came in to wake Luca up for a thing, it was wonderful. This morning he was super excited for pancakes and eggs and a few cartoons. We cruised the halls in a little car and said "hi" to all the nurses. One of the ENT docs came by to pull part of the neck drain out; Luca was not a big fan of that. Hopefully the whole thing will come out tomorrow morning. We're waiting for the infectious disease doctor to round on Luca since he is the one who will make the big decisions. Still waiting on test results. Waiting sucks. Big sister Ava is coming to visit soon. Dustin and I both miss her tons after just two days in the hospital. We'll probably start sending one of us home with her at night once the grandmas and grandpas are off duty. What would we do without family. Thank you to everyone who has called, sent emails and volunteered to help out in whatever way you can...we love you!

Now that that's over, we wait.

This is the face of a happy boy who after 24 hours without a bite to eat or drop to drink was FINALLY allowed to chow down. Yay!

According to the ENT doctors everything went fine in the OR. They were able to clean out the abcess and collect some pus to test for all kinds of gross things. There are a few stitches in the incision and a small piece of gauze that drains excess "gunk" from inside onto the big gauze dressing around his neck. . Sort of gross but if it works we like the gross drain.

Mema, Papa and big sister Ava came to visit while Luca was still asleep. Ava had a lot of questions about his face and IVand just being in the hosapital in general but didn't seem to freaked out. I think it it will be better tomorrow when she can come and see Luca up and playing. It took him a long time to fully wake up but when he did and realized that he was able to eat he was a new boy from the grumpy starved toddler we had all day. It has been a long day. Right now we just have to wait for the cultures to come back and also do some more blood tests to check for a few other possibilities to explain what's going on.

Night night!

Going into surgery

I love my boy

We're going to the OR...

A long long night

Last night really sucked. Luca got his first traumatic IV placed around midnight and then it came out around 1:30. We got another one in him sometime in the middle of the night. Another big super sucky event. Our CT got postponed because he couldn't hold still and since it wasn't an emergency they didn't want to sedate him in the middle of the night. This morning he was doing ok, cranky but he hasn't had anything to eat or drink since 6pm yesterday. Another big time sucks in Luca's world. This morning after almost losing IV #2 we were able to sedate him for his CT scan. The wonderful nurses in the sedation clinic sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Itsy Bitsy Spider to him to calm him while they put the good drugs in. He did great. I got a little teary eyed seeing him laying there sedated but he was calm and looked pretty peaceful. Once sedated he got IV #3 put in since the last one wasn't working well and is currently having a PICC line placed. (an IV for longer term use) He'll need to have an x-ray to make sure it's in the right spot. I'm hoping that by the time the PICC is in we'll have a report from the CT scan and know whether or not he needs surgery to drain the area. That would be the biggest sucks in the chain of sucky things happening. Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Here we go again

We tried 4 days of oral antibiotics for another infected lymph node; this time under Luca's jaw. It seemed to be improving but then came back with a vengance. It is huge, red and very tender to touch. After an early evening appointment with an infectious disease doctor we are now admitted to UW Children's Hospital and waiting to find out what is going to happen. So far we know that he will need and IV and a CT scan. We're ohping he can do the CT scan without having to be sedated. Depending on what the CT shows he will either try a course of IV antibiotics and hope it clears up or will need surgery to drain the area and culture the stuff inside. No fun at all...poor boy. They said to expect 3-7 days in the hospital. Besides being a little irritable

he is doing great, as long as you stay away from his face. He is sleeping on Dustin right now who is also dozing. I may take a little nap too until the docs come back in.

This sucks.