The month of Pneumonia

I swear it feels like we live at CHNOLA these days. We are on our 6th hospital admission since September, so I'm pretty sure they should just reserve a room with Parker's name on it. I mean, we were literally just here two weeks ago. The nurse sort of chuckled when she came in to greet us and said "Parker, Parker... Did you miss me? Didn't I just see you a few weeks ago?" Then she looked at me and said, "Mom I think we have the file under control, I won't make you go through that again. Nothing has changed, has it?" Nope. Nothing has changed in 14 days.. promise!

The day after Mardi Gras we came in to Children's with a nasty cold-like illness. I thought he just missed his buddy Cooper, who was here with RSV, and wanted to come hang out with him. They did bloodwork, viral panels, and chest x-rays. Low and behold Parker's x-ray showed bacterial pneumonia. We spent several days here getting IV antibiotics and fluid before being released with a 10 day prescription of oral antibiotics. Only a few days after his oral antibiotics finished, he started with the same symptoms again, hence the reason we are back. Sure enough, the x-ray showed that the bacterial pneumonia had not shrunk in size, and he needed another dose of antibiotics.

I told Parker that if he wanted to play hooky from school that bad, he could have just told me and we would have stayed home. He didn't have to land us back here. As you can imagine, this cold/flu season has taken a toll on all of us. His anxiety is through the roof, and is showing signs of PTSD due to all of the medical complications he's had. Mom and dad are exhausted both mentally and physically. Every day/night that we spend in the hospital is emotionally taxing. No parent should ever have to hold down or force their child through so many procedures. We just need a break. Please take this into consideration when you go out in public while sick. The simplest of sniffles and sneezes affects our son much differently than it does the general population. He deserves a break and so do we, so please keep your germs to yourself!