Hospital Day #4

Weston's enzyme levels went down again today (yay!), but they didn't go down very much (boo!). He is still above the level he needs to be and Dr. Poley doesn't want to try clear liquids until he is at normal levels so no clear liquids today - just IV fluids (yum yum...). Weston went most of the morning without pain medicine which is great! They are going to try and get him to walk this afternoon so pray that that doesn't cause him pain.

And since my birthday is supposed to be this Saturday (in two days on Feb. 7th)... I am hereby changing my birthday to February 12th (next Thursday) a relaxing day, hopefully Weston will be all better, we can eat dinner as a family, Carolina will have beat dook the night before, I will be caught up on all my school work, I will have gotten the awesome camera I want... so February 12th is now my 20th birthday. Just kidding.... kind of.

Thanks for the prayers, I will keep you updated!

Also, I came back to Chapel Hill yesterday because I had to teach my precious (ha) 7th graders. It was worthwhile though... even though my favorite student that I tutor was in the nurse's office all afternoon after being tackled in flag football during gym class. I have some funny quotes to share with you, spoken by our country's future leaders...

(I changed the names)

Me: What is the name of the collection of Confucius' teachings that his disciples recorded?
Johnny: OH OH I KNOW MS. CASE!!!
Me: Ok, Johnny what is it?
Johnny: THE AZTECS!
Me (inside my head): HAHAHAHAHAHA ... HAHAHAHA
Me (spoken): No, the Aztecs is a group in Central Mexico. Does someone want to help Johnny out?
Matthew: Johnny, it's called the Analects you idiot!

They are so nice to each other. Oh how I love 7th grade.

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Ester: Would that be Confucius or Lao Tzu?
Luke: Or would it be Gandhi? (I have no idea why he would ask this because we were not even talking about Gandhi)
Peter: Wait, who's Gandhi again?
Sam: Some Indian dude.

HAHA!

Wednesday Hospital Day #3

The GI doctor (Dr. Poley) FINALLY came today around 2:00 pm. He was pleased with Weston's progress, but would like to wait until his enzyme levels and WBC go down a bit more (which they did a great deal from yesterday to today) before giving him clear liquids. So hopefully he will continue the same progress tomorrow! He hasn't thrown up today though, which is fantastic!

This morning he got a bath and some playstation time before going back to sleep again for the whole afternoon. I can tell that he's doing better, even though I can see that he still has a long way to go.

So if his levels go down to where they need to be tomorrow then he will hopefully try some clear liquids. If that goes well, maybe more food?? They will be watching him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't relapse.

Sleeping away!

Teddy after his bath (haha)!

Yes, he did cut his eyes at me... I'm okay with that though!

Grandma also went to the school today to pick up a special delivery!

His classmates all made him Get Well Soon Cards! He really liked them & so did we!

Here are some favorites:
A rapper guy saying "Come on man, come back to school. Your going to make me cry" HAHA!

An AWESOME drawing of Garfield! Weston said this girl can draw anything!

This card was cut out in the shape of a baseball bat and ball. On the inside it said, "You hit it. Home run! Off of my head!" hahahaha

This was a sweet one. It says "Hey Weston I'm sorry (about) what happened because my cousin had that but he was okay just leave it to God I'm not saying don't push, push Weston. Push with God" Sweet!

How cute is that drawing? I love the wink!

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers! Keep 'em coming!

Also, Special Shoutout to Beaty on his birthday! Happy Birthday Beaty Bass!

Tuesday Night Update on Weston

Still no GI doctor and boy is my mom about to go off on someone (So am I)! Apparently this GI doctor (if he exists) is the only children's GI doctor for the area. We have been told that he is coming tomorrow (but, we were also told that he was coming yesterday... and today... and this afternoon...)

However, we DID get to have a great, long talk with the pediatrician on call tonight. He was fantastic! He said Weston has improved on paper and we can tell a slight improvement from yesterday to today. Because of this improvement, he said we can afford to be more patient with this GI doctor. If Weston was not improving/getting worse, then he could be transferred to a different location where there was a GI doctor on staff. He also said that Weston might can try food in the next 24 hours IF (that was a huge IF) there is some more improvement - but the doctors would have to discuss it first. Weston is still having a lot of pain and is still on pain meds.

The doctor has ordered the same "check up" tests for tomorrow morning to let us know where his WBC and enzyme levels stand. Apparently, the #1 cause of pancreatitis is alcolol abuse (yeah, we KNOW it was Superbowl Sunday and all when he got sick... and we've picked on him a little about it (smile!)). The #1 cause for it in children is injury/trauma ie. car accident, hitting the handlebars on a bike, etc. Since Weston hasn't had trauma (or alcohol!), we're not sure what the cause is, but the doctor said just about anything can cause it and hopefully the GI doctor can help determine a cause. He also said they probably wouldn't do another scan of the pancreas unless things started getting worse.

We had A LOT of visitors today, which I know means a lot to him. He got a little worn out though late this afternoon/tonight from the steady stream of visitors so the nurses asked that everyone restrict their visits to 30 minutes or less.

Please keep praying for him and our family! We appreciate the words of encouragement and sweet prayers! We need all the uplifting we can get!

Also, if anyone knows anyone who had pancreatitis - esp. as a child - let us know what you know about it!

Love to you all,
Laura

Hospital Day #2

Hi fellow prayer warriors!

Still waiting for the GI doctor to come.

His white blood count (WBC) has gone down and his enzyme levels have gone down, but they are still really high. He has slept most of the day, but he did wake up for a few minutes to play playstation (smile). He threw up once today and he is still having pain. This morning when the doctor was feeling of his stomach, he was in quite a bit of pain on his right side. Still no food, drink, ice... still lots of sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.

The hospital teacher came today and enrolled him in "hospital school." She will come for an hour each day to work with him on his schoolwork if he feels up to it. If not, he's still "at school" so he doesn't get counted absent. That way he won't be stacking up absences at school. (He's already missed 8 days from having walking pneumonia the last two weeks.)

Please keep praying! Love to you all...
Laura

Wish I had an update....

So, I wish I could tell you that the doctors have figured everything out and Weston's on his way to getting better...

But all I have to update you on is that he slept all day and I'm still scared to death. Apparently there are 3 other kids in the Children's Hospital that have pancreatitis right now (which we found out from Parker's mom's awesome connections). The GI doctor still hasn't come yet, but he has seen Weston's charts and heard the Pediatrician's plan and agrees. They are running more tests in the morning and will have them back by the time the GI doctor comes in to talk to us.

For now, Weston can't have any food, drink, ice, (anything but IV fluids and pain medicine), which is supposed to give his pancreas a rest which will hopefully cause the swelling to go down which will hopefully make his white blood count go down and his enzymes get back to normal (I do not know medical terminology).

Before we left (me, Dad, and Parker - Mom's staying there tonight), he was awake for a few minutes, but he went back to sleep soon after. He's mostly just complained about having pain in his stomach.

Thanks for the prayers - the calls, the texts, the comments. Please keep praying!!!

Update on Weston

Hey everyone!

I'm back in Greenville at the hospital with my family. Weston is still the same. The Pediatrician didn't say anything that hasn't already been said. I forgot to say in the post earlier that his white blood count is 22000 (which is super high). Anyways, the pediatrician has only seen 2 cases ever in all his years of medical practice of pancreatitis, so he is unfamiliar with it. He has decided to consult a GI doctor who will be coming in later today to run some tests.

He's sleeping now and has only thrown up once since I've been here. Please keep praying and spread the prayer chain!

Pray for Weston!!

Hey fellow prayer folks!

My mom called early this morning to tell me that they had taken Weston to the ER because he had been throwing up all night and couldn't stop. They admitted him into the hospital for 3-4 days (at least?) on the account of it being an inflammed pancreas (probably from the antibiotics he has been on over the last 2 weeks from having whooping cough/walking pneumonia/bad, bad cold/virus). He is on morphine/IVs -- I don't know the whole medical spill -- they are waiting for the pediatrician to come talk to them now. That's all I know to tell you right now except he still hasn't stopped throwing up and pancreatis is rare in children.

So PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!

I'm on my way back to Greenville as soon as I finish posting. Check back here for updates.

God is good and I trust him! Please pray for Weston.