If you had not already heard through other channels, Brendan spent four nights in the hospital after I had to take him to the emergency room on Sunday. He tested positive for RSV, and then developed secondary bacterial infections of pseudomonas and moraxella. His diagnosis was “Acute Tracheitis” and he just needed air at 65% oxygen to maintain his saturations. (The air we breathe is about 21%)

I won’t go in to detail about our stay, it was miserable for the whole family. Trevor was not allowed in to the hospital as part of their attempt to control the spread of viruses, RSV in particular. It made our “shift changes” a little more complicated. Brendan had IV antibiotics, chest xrays, nasal swabs, and all kinds of pokes and prods and tests that surely felt like pure torture to him.

Over the weekend, we maintained with breathing treatments, but it just wasn’t enough

At least the cafeteria has good food.

Warm towels after a pretty lame sponge bath

Getting some “work” done, he says

As far from the bed as he was able to get. We were on the 9th floor with a pretty spectacular view of the city and airport or even the sunrise. He couldn’t look.

The Child Life Department brought in different toys every day to try to keep him entertained

He started feeling better pretty quickly once all the meds kicked in. But he was stuck until his oxygen levels went down. Even iPad got boring, he had to find new ways to play and relax.

We had a great team of doctors that worked hard to get Brendan discharged on Thursday night. They trusted that we could continue to take care of him and that he would get better faster at home. I did not expect to be home before Friday.

Brendan negotiated with all of his might for the most “rewards” for all of the suffering he faced. He could not decide between minecraft legos, an air patroller plane, a color changing Mack truck, or a giant bat cave. He would see commercials and keep changing his mind, so he tried to convince me that he should get them all.
He settled on the bat cave, he pushed hard to go to Walmart on the way home from the hospital. (didn’t happen!)

He got his bat cave this morning.

He told me about 20 times that he loved it

Trevor had a tough time with Brendan and I being gone so much. He missed his whole school week last week being sick, but he went his three days this week. Next week is his Spring break!
I was so tickled by how much the boys really missed each other. They were nothing but giggles and wrestling for a while.

Brendan has a lot of recovering still to do. RSV can cause long term issues and so Brendan started taking Singulair to try to help prevent further swelling and attacks.

I leave you with some selfies taken by Brendan.