Well, shortly after my last blog update I talked to Brian again and Jacob had taken a turn for the worse.  His fever came back and his oxygen levels dropped again, requiring blow-by oxygen to be restarted.  Brian wanted to prepare me for what I would find when I got to Cicny and told me that this was the sickest he's seen our son since the actual transplant days.

When I arrived Jacob couldn't talk, only mouth words.  He had a piercing bark like cough and seemed to struggle with each breath he took.  His heart rate was racing at 150-160.  His oxygen level was still only 94%, despite the added oxygen.  His face winced with each cough and swallow.  It was a pathetic sight.  Brian had just found out that Jacob tested positive for the parainfluenza virus and that he had croup.  They had ordered a CAT scan of his lungs as well because they were concerned about a fungal infection or pnemonia.  The scan was cancelled for the night because Jacob wasn't going to be able to keep the contrast down that they needed to perform the test.   They would reschedule in the morning if they could.

Not only did Jacob look rough when I arrived, but Brian too.  I got to the hospital around 8pm and Brian got on the road to head home around 9pm.  He hadn't had any sleep the night before and now was looking at a 5 and a half hour drive into the wee hours of the night.  After stopping to pick up Justy at my dad's in akron, Brian pulled in to our house around 3am, only to be greeted by a locked house and no key to get in.  Ended up my resourceful husband got a ladder out of the barn and climbed in through Justy's window.  Not what he needed.  He had to turn around and be at school by 7:20am and then he had to work the cross country meets after school and wouldn't be back home until 7pm.  I talked with him briefly then and he was turning off the phones and heading straight to bed.  He's pretty amazing and sacrafices a lot to keep our family going.

Jacob and I had a pretty rough night too.  His coughing kept him up moaning much of the night and he just couldn't get comfortable.  His fever finally went away and at 5am he asked if we could play blocks together.  That was a good sign.  And sure enough in the morning he started to do a lot better.  His heart rate was back to normal and his oxygen levels were good around 96-98% with the blow by oxygen most of the time not even near his face.  When the doctors rounded in the morning they were pleased with how he was doing and felt that the CAT scan was not necessary because the croup really explains all the symptoms he was having.  The only concern is getting his IGG level up a little higher to help prevent the virus from getting worse or turning into something else more serious.  It's 11pm and he's currently getting a subcutaneous dose of IGG (antibodies from 40,000 different people)  He's fast asleep and I"m heading there too.  I'll post tomorrow with more info.  Thanks for the prayers and for checking on us.