At The Zoo

So, we realized how spoiled we were with the St. Louis Zoo growing up - both how big and diverse and good it is as well as how FREE it is:). In the last few states we lived, we have visited multiple zoos only to be disappointed. They were nice but generally expensive and generally offered less than what St. Louis offers.

We hit the Philadelphia Zoo last Friday, a bit skeptical, but pleasantly surprised. We only made it through about 1/3 of the zoo, mostly because five moms had eight kids, but we enjoyed what we saw.

It is expensive - nearly $20 a ticket - but apparently it was the first zoo in the United States. They have a wide variety of each animal and lots of room for most of them to move as well.

Here are some pictures of my cutie boys in the stroller. Ethan loves his cheesy grin now and rarely gives me a normal smile, but it's still cute:).

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Update On Jayden

We are so happy to report Jayden is doing very well and breathing easily - the first time since January. It looks like the combination of meds they have him on are doing their jobs.

He still has to get tested for CF, but all the doctors were very pleasantly surprised with his progress. He is now getting to do some "normal" baby things like practice rolling over and trying some baby foods.

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The Washington's Crossing Property

So Jim and I didn't know it, but our future home is currently being built in Washington's Crossing. We were driving by and it was a big surprise to us. We decided to take a picture .... "Future Home of Ria."

Looks like the 3,000+ square feet may be enough for now:).

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Some Good News

I just spoke with the doctor and the lab found two bacteria in Jayden's lungs is two of the most common bacteria around. That is great news because if they found weird ones, we would be very worried. They are going to start him on a course of antibiotics along with his 5 other medicines and hopefully the combination will clear up his infections and keep him healthy.

We will repeat the sweat test in a month or so, but hopefully he's on the side of kids who just have really bad asthma and acid reflux and just was having trouble fighting off everything at once.

Thanks again for your prayers. Please keep praying we can make it safely to summer.

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We're Back Home

We've made it back home on our 6th day back in the hospital. We think we're getting more answers now, which is helpful. They did find increased white blood cells in his lungs, which signal an infection. Now we have to figure out what caused it and how we can treat it. We are still awaiting the full pathology report.

Here is a cute picture of him in the hospital. He spends a lot of time flirting with the nurses, but is sure happy to be home. Now we are hoping to get a bit of rest and spring cleaning in.

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Plan Of Action

So I spoke with his pulmonologist this afternoon. She said a lot of the irritation may be aggravated by the acid reflux, so we are getting a new acid reflux medicine. They are attempting to grow cultures in the lab to figure out what was in his lungs and we should know that by Friday or Monday. If that shows bacteria, they will give him the appropriate antibiotic.

They are going to wait a few weeks for another sweat test in hopes he gets bigger and healthier.

Finally, if he has a good night, we can go home tomorrow! Yeah:). Hopefully we can keep him out of the hospital for awhile:).

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Done With The OR

Jayden had his bronchoscopy and the flexible tube down his nose. They decided not to do the larynxoscopy because his larynx looked normal and he had a lot of inflammation they want to minimize causing extra inflammation.

He does have some trancheomalacia and a lot of bronchialmalacia, which pretty much means the cartilage in his trachea and bronchial tubes is very soft and floppy and collapses easily with inflammation.

His left lung had some thick mucus and was inflamed, but is right lung had a lot of mucus and was very inflamed. She tried to suction some of it out, but his right lung kept collapsing in on it. They sent samples to the lab to be tested, which may or may not tell us much.

I asked her about the cystic fibrosis and she just said we'll wait to see what the pathology reports say. They may tell us something or may not, they are not all conclusive. He will still do the sweat test when we can.

For now he is sleeping off the anesthesia and they are going to continue giving him steroids to help reduce the inflammation.

He is also going to do a course of antibiotics in case there is bacteria growing in his lungs.

We'll update everyone when we know more.

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Halfway Through

Jayden's Upper Gi came back completely normal today, which is fabulous. It means he does not have anything from the outside pushing on his airways (any growths or tumors). We tried to do the sweat test, but the think he was too dehydrated from not eating before the upper GI because he didn't have enough sweat to test. The doctors are thinking more and more that cystic fibrosis is not the cause of his medical issues, but still want him tested.

We just entered the period of his no eating for the procedures later today. He is on his IV fluids, but it's difficult for babies to understand why they can't eat when they are hungry. He will not be a happy baby come morning, but pray they can get him in the OR early. Also pray for the anesthesiologist and all the doctors who will be looking at his airways. He will have three procedures done and then they may take some biopsies as well to test, especially if they see any abnormalities.

I will update more as more test results come in.

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Preparing For Testing

Not much to report. We are just waiting for all the testing to begin. Jayden is doing well and his oxygen levels are doing well.

Hopefully we will start to get some answers soon. We will be in until at least Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning and if they find some serious stuff, it could be longer, but we will just see. His CT scan is also scheduled for Tuesday. Not too shabby, we could get them all done in one shot:).

Love,
ria

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Saturday Fun

Jayden is doing ok. He had a better night and is getting to eat again. He will be here until at least mid day Tuesday because they have him scheduled in the OR for a bronchoscopy with the ENT, whom he saw last night, and the pulminologist on Tuesday for a bit. He still has an upper GI on Monday, but now as an inpatient and he's doing the sweat test here as well.

Nothing else fun. He's just recovering from whatever he got this time and we're setting up shop here.

Bonus: This hospital offers free meals for nursing moms. I guess they figure if they aren't feeding the patient, might as well feed the one who is feeding the patient:).

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New Lozano Family Picture

Well, we all got together after Becky's wedding last weekend and took a new family picture. Amazingly, we got with all the kids looking at the camera and all the adults smiling. Enjoy:)

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We're Back ... In The Hospital

So Jayden got admitted into St. Christopher's this morning. He was having trouble breathing, not getting mucus up, an increased heart rate and respiratory rate, etc. etc.

He is going to be here until at least Tuesday morning so they can stabilize him and then run the tests they need to run. He was temporarily taken off feedings, but one of the medicines they gave him here is helping a lot, so he got to start nursing again this afternoon.

At least we can get all these "appointments" out of here quickly:). Hopefully this will be the last time for a long time.

As always, prayers are appreciated.

We're at a new hospital and Internet access is limited so cell is better to reach me on.

Love,
ria

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