MAX!!

Here is the long version of our week...........
Sunday: after spending all day with dad in South Dakota for the Bison football game, Max started complaining that he didn't feel well on Sunday afternoon. When he didn't want pizza for supper we figured he had the bug that the girls have had, although he kept complaining more about a headache. He had a fever, but I didn't even take it, as I thought we were just dealing with a quick virus.
Monday: vomited in the morning, fever and still complaining of a bad headache. Monday night he actually seemed to be doing better, Darren and I left him with Cam and went for a walk and discussed if we should send him to school. We decided to see how the morning went and send him after that. Monday, night, however, in the middle of the night, he was still having a bad headache.
Tuesday: vomiting again in the morning, fever and intense head pain. Tylenol and ibuprofen seemed to help, but once it wore off the fever and severe head pain were back. By Tuesday night, when he woke up from a nap with intense head pain, I decided to take him to the walk in clinic. They said it was a virus and to give it until Friday.
Wednesday: same symptoms, but now saying his mouth hurt so took him in for strep culture. Came back negative. Head pain has him in tears and fever persists
Thursday: Head pain still severe, and getting concerned about dehydration, we took him to a different clinic for another opinion. Again they said he had a virus and to quit focusing so much on the headache (pretty hard to do when your son is crying in pain about the intensity of the pain). Said if we didn't get on top of the hydration he would likely need to be brought in for an IV. After we got home, Darren looked at me and said, "we are going to end up in the ER, aren't we?" I hate the ER, especially in the middle of the night, so we went in as soon as the girls got home from school. They gave him an IV, drew blood for some tests and immediately did a CT scan of his head. Thankfully the CT scan was clear, but his white blood cell count was very elevated. They decided to admit him to peds. The doctor wanted to make sure that we weren't missing anything in his lungs, even though he wasn't showing those symptoms, and ordered a chest xray. Again, that was clear. The doctors are clearly puzzled, which is alarming. That night was horrible. He had perked up that evening, but woke up about 1 with a lot of anxiety about being here and in a lot of pain in his head. He threw up and cried about the pain until 6 a.m.
Friday: Drew blood for more tests. He is very lethargic and in a lot of pain still. When the doctor finally came around, he discussed that although he isn't showing all of the signs of bacterial meninigitis, we really should rule that out and do a spinal tap. We waited for the morning blood work to come back - again, didn't show anything they were looking for - and went ahead with the spinal. It was awful. I will never get that image of him laying on that table crying and screaming that he couldn't breathe and then turning around to see Darren in tears. It was awful and will haunt me for a long time. There were so many people in the room, which made it even scarier and he was just so weak and helpless. Ick, I'm crying as I write this. After we got through that and got him settled he asked when the girls were going to come and see him. I immediately grabbed the car keys and went and got the girls for him. He napped with Darren while I ran home and I cried the hardest I have ever cried on that drive home. It has been so hard to now know what is wrong or how to fix it and make it better for him. Seeing him in so much pain is more than I can take. He woke up from his nap about 4 and the doctor came in and said that the spinal results aren't really pointing to bacterial meningitis, but full results won't be in for 48 hours. He was given an antibiotic just in case, but it is looking like they are leaning towards viral meningitis. He loved seeing the girls. He also loved that one of Camryn's friends, Grant, called him, and Grant's mom brought him hockey trivia cards for him to play with Grant sometime. He thinks 7th grade boys are the bomb:)
Sidenote: While I was home, Max's teacher called, as she had heard he had been hospitalized. Word spreads fast when you have a 7th grade girl:) She offered to come and stay with the girls so Darren and I could be together with Max. The girls were taken care of, but I am still amazed at her kindness. Love her!
Saturday: Max slept all night, and so did I. Because of the kindness of our friends and family, the dog is Camp Moulds, Camryn is at a church camp, and Lauren is with a friend. My laundry is done, my floors are apparently vacuumed, and more prayers than I can even count have been prayed for my baby. I am eternally grateful! Darren was able to spend the night with us last night which was just what I needed. Since 4:00 yesterday afternoon, Max has been in great spirits and pain free! They think that maybe some pressure was relieved in his head when they did the spinal. We have also been very vigilant about making the nurses stay on top of his meds, something that wasn't done on Thursday night. Not sure if that is what is making him better or if he is on the mend, but I will take anything at this point! It has been fun to have my boy back. He has eaten, last night, and this morning, been playing hockey trivia, so that he knows the answers before he plays it with Grant, and just been fun and goofy. He made me cry this morning, when he rolled over and said, "good morning, mama - did you bring me something to wear for today?" I had been laying there nervous about what his condition would be as he woke up so that was a pleasant surprise! Darren is running home to get his Bison shirt so he can watch the football game today. We'll see how they do - Darren's friend claims that Max and Darren's presence has been the good luck charm for the Bison football team. We have been joking that if they are losing, Mark will probably be coming by to push Max's hospital bed over to the Fargodome!
I still cannot quite get over everyone's kindness and concerns for our boy. We feel very loved! Keep the prayers coming, they are being heard!