Day +23: Still Here

Kal got yet another fever last night. It lasted through until the morning, around 8 a.m. before it broke. Around 9:30, though,, his fever was back again. The good thing was the fever was very mild, just on the borderline of being a fever, around 38.0-38.2. Around 1 p.m., his fever subsided again and his temperature was the lowest it has been in a while: 36.4! Around 8 p.m., Kal was stuck with a fever again. It was only 38.2, though, and with some Tylenol, his fever broke yet again, and his temperature was back down.

Today Kal was still kind of sleepy, but definitely more awake than he was yesterday. He still doesn't have the energy to be awake for very long. Sometimes it will only be a few minutes, and at other times he reaches his max after an hour and a half of being awake. The physical therapist tried working with him today, but Kal was exhausted after trying to roll over once- he seriously fell straight asleep after he was turned to be on his back again. It was so sad but adorable at the same time.

Exhausted after physical therapy and then a nice bath!

In other news, so, since Kal has been continuing to have fevers, the doctors wanted to change things up a bit. They changed his antibiotics to different ones to try and cover different possible bacteria. Also, they changed the type of antifungal Kal will be getting. They also took several blood tests and a nose swab to check for possible reasons for his fevers. While most of his test results are still pending, we do know his viral respiratory panel came back negative- just meaning the certain common viruses they tested for with the nose swab came back negative.

Furthermore, Kal has still had issues today with "squeaking" while he's sleeping. It's called stridor, meaning it sounds like the airway is a little smaller and makes a higher pitched noise as he breathes. When my mom, Kayelee, and Jonald came to visit, Kal's oxygen levels dropped to 82 as I was leaving the room. It stayed pretty steady around 85 after that, so the nurse decided to put the blow-by (oxygen blowing on his face) next to him. Also, after talking to the nurse practitioner, they ordered an X-ray to be done. They found he has a little bit of fluid in his lungs and some of the small air sacs have collapsed. They didn't seem too entirely concerned, though, as they said this is common among patients that stay on the bed a lot and do not have much movement. It's because the lungs are not getting worked enough to stay as strong. Anyway, they said as long as he didn't get more fevers or have more issues with his oxygen levels, that is ok. We just need to try and get him up out of bed more often to get his lungs working more. On the other hand, if he continues to have those issues, they may possibly take a CT scan of his chest to make sure there is no fungal infection going on the there, just for good measure. The only other thing they saw in the X-ray was that his heart looked a little enlarged, but upon comparing it to the X-ray done in May, it looked about the same. Therefore, they're not too concerned with that unless other issues persist or arise that would make them want to do an echocardiogram.

So, now we continue to watch, wait, and pray.

Still gave me smiles for a short moment tonight- I'll take all I can get! :)