It all started on Jan. 28th, when my back went out. I was loaded up with drugs and dealing with that for a good week when......

On Thurs. 2/2, I noticed cold symptoms starting in all 3 boys. The next day, they weren't sounding so good...it was obvious that the cold had gone straight into their lungs. I took them all into the Ped. While we were there, Tristan had to get 2 nebulizer treatments and a steroid shot. Jackson had to get one neb treatment and a steroid shot as well. Logan sounded ok. Tristan's oxygen sat reading was (85 - Dangerous). He wasn't really responding to anything, and while we we in the Ped's office, he turned a spooky shade of gray and his eyes started to close. They called an ambulance who took us to Stony Brook Hospital . He was on oxygen support. He stayed in for 2 days.

Once we got discharged, I had not even been home for a whole hour, when Jackson just really wasn't looking good AT ALL. He literally couldn't stop coughing, and he was breathing extremely rapidly. I counted 68 for his respirations, which are usually somewhere in the 30's. His chest was retracting, and so was his throat area. Luckily the Ped's office was open, and they said to bring him in. I know he must have been REALLY bad, because they took us back there relatively quickly bypassing a good chunk of the people that were already there...They ended up working with him for about 3 hours in the office. He started to look better, so we eventually went home. The Ped kept calling us until late that evening making sure he was responding to treatments. We made it through the night, but by morning he was way worse...The ped had us meet him in the office really early. His oxygen sat number was (86). Respirations were once again way too high, and this time he was not responding to much.

The Ped called the hospital, and had him directly admitted..bypassing the ER completely. Stu was home with the boys without car seats (I had the van), so I called my cousin who came with her husband. She drove my car while I held the oxygen mask up to Jackson's face. Jackson got admitted, and they were having a rough time getting him to respond to anything. They were getting ready to transfer him to PICU that evening when one of the residents decided to try a different type of med. It worked... Jackson responded to it for a while. The next day Jackson started having the same issues, and they were having a hard time keeping his oxygen sats up high enough. They again told me if this med didn't work he was going to go to PICU. They had a bed ready for him there already. Thankfully that med worked again. That was the last time he needed that med, but he was still in need of continuous oxygen support.

Jackson still needs oxygen support completely at night. We are home now after 7 more days at the hospital. The Pulmonologist said that it could take weeks for his lungs to heal because of the BPD (Bronchio Pulmonary Displaysia) from his prematurity. They said his alveoli (air sacks) are not functioning properly, and that he is not exchanging air as he should be. He needs time to heal.

So we got home, and all the equipment that he needs was delivered....an oxygen concentrator upstairs along with a pulse oximetry monitor that he has to be hooked up to, and oxygen tanks downstairs, as well as portable tanks that we have to tote around with us wherever we may go for the next couple of weeks.

So after 9 days collectively at the hospital, you would think that would be enough....but noooooo. Saturday late afternoon after we got home, I started feeling quite nauseous and dizzy. I had to lie down. Anytime I moved, I felt like I was going to pass out or puke. (I never did either). By Sunday afternoon I was fine. I thought it was just stress after everything else, but the next morning Tristan started, and poor thing puked 6 or 7 times. After returning home from 9 days in the hospital with 2 of the boys, that nasty stomach virus hit us hard. It went through ALL of us, including my Mom and Dad who had flown in to help out. It actually hit Tristan twice.

Both Tristan and Jackson had been hospitalized for pneumonia and bronchiolitis, and Jackson had something going on in his larynx as well. Jackson is still on oxygen when he sleeps, along with being hooked up to the pulse oximetry monitor. He is de-satting a lot less at night now, which is an improvement...but it's obvious that he still needs the oxygen. During the day he is able to play normally for the most part, which is great to see.

In addition, we were back at the peds office, because while changing Tristan's diaper, something did not look right AT ALL. Turns out he now has a pretty bad hernia on his left side now (he just recently had surgery in Oct on the right side)...and has to have surgery right away. Tristan's surgery was scheduled for Feb. 24th...see below

I was FREAKING OUT, because he is still on meds for the pneumonia/bronchiolitis he was just hospitalized for...and now was supposed to go under anesthesia again. Last time they did the surgery in the main surgical OR instead of doing it outpatient like they normally would. That way they would have access to all the equipment and the ventilator JUST IN CASE. They will be doing it this way once again, and he may have to stay overnight for lung observation.

Well, off to the hospital we went. They started prepping Tristan for surgery, and when the surgeon listened to his lungs, he called the anesthesiologist over for a listen as well. Apparently Tristan's lungs are sounding pretty crackly, so that means no surgery will take place.

The anesthesiologist told me that his lungs probably are still not healed from the pneumonia/bronchiolitis...so she said that means if he were to be put under with the anesthesia, that his chances of having bronchiospasms, and not being able to come off the ventilator skyrocket!!!!

We go back to the Pulmonologist on March 14th, and the surgeon has rescheduled Tristan's surgery for March 17th. However, he is concerned that we might not be able to wait that long. We are supposed to check for any changes in Tristan's groin area at every diaper change. He said if it becomes an emergency situation, that the surgery will have to be done right then and there no matter what the lungs are doing, but for now...we are hoping this will give Tristan's lungs additional time to heal.

Please pray that we can get Jackson off his oxygen soon, and also pray that Tristan's surgery is a successful one.

The saga continues.....