Counting Our Blessings

Monday, everything was fine. Tuesday, too, until Jack woke up a little stuffy after his nap. Wednesday brought even more congestion - enough to keep him from being able to breathe well while sleeping. Thursday, the congestion had moved to his chest and by Thursday night there was fever and some awful-sounding wheezing. Thursday night also found us cleaning up vomit and staying up all night with a little boy who was having trouble getting a deep breath. Friday, we scheduled an appointment with Dr. Keith. It was at this appointment that Jack received a breathing treatment and we began to hear words like asthma, extreme tightness of the lungs, really bad wheezing and possible pneumonia. A short time after that, we found ourselves at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital filling out paperwork for a chest x-ray.

Throughout this whole ordeal my little boy has been amazing. As bad as I know he has felt, he has kept that sweet spirit about him that so quickly embeds him into the hearts of those who come in contact with him. All day yesterday, I had doctors and nurses and technicians - many of them complete strangers - telling me what a wonderfully sweet, polite and kind little boy I had. Don't I know it. They were all amazed by his positive attitude, his smile and his courage. So am I.

Praise God, the x-rays showed no pneumonia. Just a really, really nasty viral lung infection. Jack is now taking oral steroids once a day and breathing treatments 4 times a day. Plus Motrin and Benadryl for comforts sake. Needless to say, he is a wild man. Literally bouncing off the walls. And the furniture. And no doubt the ceiling, too, if he could climb that high. I'll take that over a hospital room any day - I just may need to put a safety helmet on him!

Please keep Jack in your prayers that he gets better quickly. He very much wants to be well enough for the first day of school next week!