Pneumonia... Third Time's a Charm, Right?

Monday, May 15th:

Happy birthday to my better half! Josh got his radio fixed, a new video game, and a pipeline book. He's the best!

Monday was also Ms. Jess' birthday! Theo got her a balloon and some chocolates!

After I put Theo on the bus I called the Pediatricians office to see if they could squeeze Theo in. They said they could see him at 11:15 AM, so I called the school and told them I was going to pick Theo up early.

I took Theo to the Pediatrician where he was diagnosed with pneumonia... again. Dr Dave called up Theo's pulmonologist, Dr Stewart, and we all chatted. I told her that we were doing respiratory therapy five times a day and we were keeping him off that left lung as much as we could. The doctors decided that we should head next door to the hospital to get an x-ray and some labs. They also prescribed three meds (two antibiotics and a steroid). We headed to the St Elizabeth where we got the x-ray and labs done. They only had to poke poor Theo twice to get all the bloodwork and then they did a virus swab, which he hated! Poor kid has had a lot of q-tips stuffed up his nose over the last few years. 

Dr Dave said that since we don't know what caused Theo's pneumonia we should keep him home. Ugh. Bummer. He didn't have a runny nose and he didn't have a fever, so you can imagine my surprise when we got the results from the nasal swab: Rhinovirus... again!

Bummer! This week was my selfish week and I had made appointments to get a  facial, a massage, a mani-pedi, and to donate blood. I cancelled some of them and rescheduled what I could for next week. Keeping Theo home and getting him healthy is my number 1 priority! The doctors said as long as we keep his oxygen levels up then he won't have to be admitted to the hospital.

Did you know that May 15th is also International Vascular Birthmarks Awareness Day?! Here are some super cute pictures of Theo when he was a baby. We love our colorful kid!

Here's our schedule for the Western Conference Finals! I can't believe we made it this far! Let's go Lakers!

The next day (Tuesday, May 16th) Theo and I had a Zoom with the Neurosurgery nurses at Lurie's. They just wanted to check in on Theo and to make sure his incisions are healing well. They look good to me! The glue is pretty much gone from the incision on his neck and there's still a lot on his other incision, but it'll peel off.

Oh Chicago and your weird weather!

That night we watched the first game of the WCF between the Lakers and Denver. We lost. Bummer.

Over the next few days we continued with all of Theo's respiratory therapy and made sure he was as upright as much as possible.

[I can't bring myself to cut his hair! It's just too cute!]

[Swing!]

I bought the Obi-Wan Kenobi Legacy Lightsaber for Theo's room. It's so awesome!

The only strange thing is that if you want to display it with the saber you have to change out the neck, so it will fit the universal saber part. Kinda strange. But I was just planning on displaying it without the saber. It looks better that way 🙂

[Thin neck as it should be]

[Thick neck]

Game 2 was closer, but we still lost.

We've been having Theo lay on his right side as much as possible, but his body isn't use to it. He got a little tender spot on his right hip and it made me worried since it's right on his hardware. It didn't seem to bother Theo and it went away a few hours later.

Theo thinks its funny to lean forward and then as far to the left as possible. I told him to lift his head up and be super strong, but he thought it was funny. So, I blocked him with a big pool noodle. He wasn't happy with me.

[Ignoring me]

Disney announced that they are shutting down the Galactic Starcruiser. It's essentially a $1200 per person per night interactive Star Wars experience. It was just too darn expensive. Who can afford that?! Clearly, no one. Bummer. I wanted to do it eventually if the prices dropped!

On Friday (May 19th) I took Theo back to see Dr Dave and he said Theo sounds much better. He told us to stop giving Theo the antibiotics (thank goodness!) and he was cleared to return to school and therapy next week. I'm glad we were able to avoid another hospital stay, but as long as the virus isn't too bad we should be able to take care of him at home.

My parents are heading to Hawaii for two weeks before our CA Family Reunion and they are flying out of Chicago, so they drove up and spent a few days with us. Josh and I were able to sneak away for our 9th Wedding Anniversary and have a nice dinner at Torchio! 

We got the whipped ricotta and tomato fig jam crostinis as an appetizer, then Josh got the spaghetti carbonara, and I got the shrimp and saffron risotto. Everything was delicious! We got the tiramisu for dessert and then ran over to Mastro's to get a couple butter cakes for my parents. 

It was some of the best pasta I've ever had! The pasta was fresh and cooked perfectly! I wish I could say we will be back, but there are so many other restaurants in Chicago that we need to try. BUT I highly recommend Torchio!

Happy early anniversary to us! Here's to many more!

After dinner we headed home to watch the Laker's lose their third game. No team has EVER come back from being down 0-3. EVER! I guess we'll see what happens on Monday.

On Sunday, May 21st, Josh and my dad went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of flowers. I told them not to get ferns this year (since they are too aggressive and took over all my pots last year) and they listened!

They look great! I'm excited to see them grow!

That night we had burgers and they were delicious!

Thanks mom and dad for hanging out with Theo so Josh and I could have a date night and thanks for dad and Josh for the beautiful flowers! We'll see you in two weeks in CA!

[I can totally relate!]

Theo slept a lot this week (it happens when you are sick), but he was still having about 6 observable seizures a day.