Ianchito is home!

Thank the Lord! It was a big surprise but the drs felt that Ian was up for coming home today! Instead of a 5 day dose of steroids, he only got 3. Apparently he was responding well & they didn't feel the need to keep giving him more. It is a "less is better" type of situation. His ataxia has already decreased quite a bit & he is able to get his hand to his mouth quite a bit now. His movements are more deliberate & he seems to be more relaxed over all.

Of course, we have not gotten anywhere near close to where we were before all this happened. He is being referred to ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) & will need the physical & occupational therapy to relearn gross & fine motor skills. The drs also said he will do much better at home, being motivated by familiar surroundings as well as his 2 sisters.

Honestly, we are just glad he is well. I have missed having my whole family under 1 roof. Through all this, we have had an outpouring of support. I want to particularly thank the mommies in my Just Mommies Playroom, the Northwest MOM group & also JV Baptist Church for reaching out to us. We are relieved to not have to cook meals as time is very precious around here & it happens to be used up on caring for the kids rather than cooking. Todd & I are very blessed to have the family & friends we have. There have been endless phone conversations & shoulders to cry on these past 2 weeks. THANK YOU GOD! We are some of the luckiest people in the world!

Making progress & pics!

Our little boy is making progress! Today he wasn't nearly as "spastic" w/ his movements as he has been. We really think the steroids are working. We have some AMAZING drs working w/ Ianchito. I'm not sure of them all but I believe they are Dr. Clark, Dr. Hopkins, & Dr. Luko (not sure about this last one though). I'll have to verify tomorrow when I go in & make sure to thank them every day for helping my boy.

Ian's movements are a bit more controled today which is a huge difference. He was able to get his hand to his mouth on several occations, something that hasn't happened since before the illness began. He also was able to put his hands on his bottle tonight. YAY!!!! When I went to visit, he was able to breastfeed & did it like an old pro. Another big WOOT! He is able to control his neck a bit more & isn't so floppy when he is sitting up. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Here is my little man & his IV. His hair was all spiked b/c of the gel they used to connect the electrodes to his head.


My boy & his flirty smile.


My man & my boy!


I also have to share a couple of cute pics of the girls. On Sunday while I was worried sick, they decided to be cute & sit back to back.



Also, that same morning, my parents got the girls right after they woke up & played w/ them in bed. TOO CUTE!


I want to also thank so many of my friends for coming through & providing us dinner. Thank you Erica & Phil, Amanda & Mark, & our neighbor Julie for coordinating dinners for the rest of the week. WOW!

Post-infectious Cerebillitis

Ian has been officially diagnosed tonight. Ian has a condition call post-infectious cerebillitis. Basically, his body's autoimmune system went in to hyperdrive & after finishing off the flu decided it needed to continue to destroy things so the antibodies decided his central nervous system sounded good. I'd like to refer to the antibodies as being on crack.

The course of treatment is 5 days of pretty serious steriods, enough to keep him in the hospital through Saturday. It is going to aggravate him, not allowing him to sleep well or be able to sit still much but this is what we have to do to shut this thing down. He will also need some physical therapy & possibly occupational therapy to catch him up on the skills he may have lost. It could also be that he regains them after the course of treatment but there isn't a way to know until after.

I am so relieved at this point. I can't even begin to let you all know how much your support has meant to us. We still need prayers. The next 5 days are going to be hell for Ianchito.

MRI this afternoon.

The MRI had to be pushed back to 4:30 this afternoon so here is to more waiting...grrrrr. Nothing has changed as of yet. I am about to leave to go see him. Please pray for a good outcome on the MRI at 4:30.

Testing has begun.

The testing process started last night. They did a CT scan & it came back normal. They also did a spinal tap & have ruled out meningitis. We will have results for 3 other tests tomorrow that were done from the spinal. Also, an MRI will be done tomorrow, his 2nd in 10 days. They want to make sure everything is ok. I assume they will do another EEG also.

Mentions of a metabolic issue (such as sugar low/high), reaction to medication, autoimmune system attacking motor functions. If anyone has any experience w/ any of the mentioned issues, please comment.

Keep the prayers coming!

Ian is back in the hospital.

Mother's instinct is strong for a reason. I KNEW something was wrong w/ my boy & I'm glad that I was insistent enought w/ Todd to send him back to the ER. Ian has been readmitted to the hospital. They are doing the same tests all over again (CT scan & EEG) but are also going to do a spinal tap. Encephalitis has been mentioned & I have a feeling from what I have been able to gather that this may be the answer to what is going on w/ my son.

PLEASE PRAY! We need them all for our boy to be ok. I will update tomorrow.

Still waiting...

My little boy is still not back to normal. I talked to Dr. Nguyen yesterday & she restated that we needed to wait a while (up to a month) to allow his motor skills to get back on track after everything he has gone through. That is not helping ease my worries. He has a beautiful disposition, giggling & smiling at us & overall enjoying life, or so it seems BUT he doesn't have any motor skills back. He is not doing anything that he was doing before. It seems like he has reverted back to being about 3 months old. If that is the case & he relearns the skills, I don't have a problem dealing w/ that. I just hope there isn't something bigger going on. Everyone around me seems to think the trauma he suffered warrants this type of reaction. I really hope that they are right & I'm just being an overly worried mommy.

Anybody out there in blogger land have any ideas? Feedback/comments are welcomed!