New Tube, New Room, and request regarding visitors

Shortly after posting the last update, a feeding tube was ordered for Shane. This is a good call since the kid never stops eating (something that Kylee can attest to, as she has made mention of the fact that she feels like a short order cook 24 hours a day—a sentiment with which I'm sure roughly 100% of the other moms out there can commiserate) and he hasn't had solid food since Tuesday night. They decided to administer the tube nasally, it's the yellow-ish one in the pic below. The tape that's holding the breathing tube in place was re-administered since he woke up once and gave the tube a nice little tug. The tape in the pic below is the old tape, that's why it's covering his mouth.



Shane is holding up okay. Like I said earlier, he's working really hard to get the junk out of his lungs. Every time he just breaks down crying silently, sometimes to the extent that his little body shudders from the exhaustion.

He's been given the first chloral hydrate and he's sleeping (turns out they just added the chloral rather than replacing the versed with it—to calm him down overall). Prior to that, he was nearly wide awake and trying so hard to talk to us. The best we can tell, he was asking for water and telling us his mouth/throat hurts. Needless to say, it was very frustrating for all of us as we'd love nothing more than to hear his little munchkin voice say things like "I have drums in my mouth!" (after he discovered he can beat-box) or "Dad, I'm making two of you" (when he figured out how to cross his eyes).

I joked to Shaney that he's drinking formula and wearing size 4 diapers...his little brother Casey (a brute) wears size 6. He didn't laugh all that hard.

Last note for this afternoon's update: we LOVE all the visits, but please call first. We're pretty worn out and Shane has had a rough day (arguably, any day in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is a rough day). I don't want to scare anyone off, just saying we're tired and I think we're cashed out for the day. Tomorrow is a new day and will bring new adventures for all of us.

Please keep praying. Shane's little body is fighting hard, he's bouncing back...he just needs time. Below is a pic of his sweet little hand grasping the strings of a couple "get well" balloons (it wasn't staged, he insisted on holding them—shortly after this pic was taken, he was holding all three balloon strings). Love you all.



As an addendum to this update, here's an update to the update (didn't really warrant a new post in my estimation)...we're moving into a new room. It's really not news, but I thought I'd share.

Apparently Shaney's keeping his nurse super busy and the room next to us is also busy (each room/patient has their own nurse). However, they like pairing rooms and nurses together that aren't collectively 100% busy, so they can help each other out when a patient really needs it. So, that's that.