I have been working on a post that went over the rest of our hospital stay and CJs recovery since being home. I still plan on posting that; I'm afraid life got back into full swing when we got home, and I didn't do a good job of keeping up.
Now, however, I wanted to post an update on our last two days. CJ had been doing amazingly well. He until yesterday, he hadn't had any pain medication (prescription or over-the-counter) for several days. He was active (within reason), and he was sleeping in his own bed instead of in a recliner.
Yesterday, all that changed. CJ went to a lake with some friends. We had warned him to be careful and not overdo his activity. Unfortunately, he did a little bit of canoeing and swimming in deep water. (He had been to the pool but had been staying in waist-deep water.) At 2:00PM, he called and asked us to come get him from the lake and to bring pain meds. (Something you should know about CJ: this child was born to be outside! He loves any outdoor activity, especially if it involves water. If he's calling us to pick him up from a lake outing 5 hours early, he is NOT doing well!)
As soon as my husband got to the lake, CJ asked for medicine. When they got home around 4:00, he was still in a lot of pain (pain level 9 out of 10) and was complaining of not being able to take deep breaths. By 8:30 (after another dose of oxycodone), he was so agitated about the pain not being relieved (pain level 8) and not being able to take a deep enough breath, that we gave him some Valium. At 10:00PM, the pain still had not let up, and he still couldn't get a good breath; his breathing was shallow and rapid. We decided it was time to go to the hospital.
Thankfully, we didn't have much of a wait in the ER. In triage, we were surprised to find that CJ was running a fever of 102.7!!! Quite frankly, I felt guilty as his mom that I hadn't noticed he was running a fever; we were just so focused on the pain & breathing. Almost immediately, we were sent for a chest X-ray. The first priority was to make sure the pectus bar had not shifted. Secondly, they wanted to make sure fluid wasn't building up in the lungs (pneumonia) or around the bar.
He was continuing to complain about the pain, still at a pain level 8, the highest it had been since leaving the hospital 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately, he couldn't have anything more than Tylenol, since it was too soon for anything he'd already had, and they didn't want him having anything too strong in case he had to have surgery. The attending physician called for a surgery consult to look at the X-ray. Thankfully, the bar was firmly in place and had not shifted. There also was no fluid in the lungs or around the bar. The incision sites were healing nicely. The cause of the fever was a bit of a mystery.
The surgeons said they will have the surgery clinic call on Monday to check on us. Since we wouldn't be admitted or having surgery, they went ahead and gave CJ a shot of Torodol for the pain. They also prescribed an antibiotic to combat whatever may be causing the fever. We came home, and CJ was able to sleep through the night with me next to him on the couch.
He woke up at 7:00AM asking for pain medication, so he got some oxycodone. He had a temperature of 101. Two hours later, he got ibuprofen, and we began the regimen we were on when we came home from the hospital. At 10:50, he threw up. An hour later, he threw up. Then his fever went up. It's been holding steady at 102 all day, even though he's taking ibuprofen. He hasn't eaten all day, and continues to be sick.
We are frustrated about this. It feels like one step forward, two steps back. CJ is feeling down, obviously. We are hoping this is short-lived.
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