The doctor's plan of attack

So far Jude is still tolerating the food he took in overnight which is good news. The doctor came in and was again very nice and very straight forward. Today he would like to keep Jude on his pain relievers and proceed with his regular eating schedule. If Jude throws up.......we aren't getting out of here until he keeps food down. If he keeps the food down then tomorrow they are stopping the Motrin and the Tylenol rotation....if he spikes a fever we aren't getting out of here until he is fever free. If he stays fever free then we are looking at about 72 hours later we could possibly take him home to care for him there. YAY! I miss my bed already, I admire parents that are here for months or even years.

The doctor explained that for how sick Jude is he really does look pretty good. He said that many children in his condition just look really awful. He explained that the chemicals produced by the body when fighting such a hard infection can have various effects on the body. One of which is the skin color changes we see in Jude. When he woke up this morning his cheeks had color, but now we are at about 1pm and he is very pale again. My cousin and my great friend Carolyn came to visit today and they both noticed how Jude varies from one hour to the next. One minute he is smiley and flush the next he is very pale and aggitated. He is also sleeping a lot. The doctor said his main goal is getting Jude better, but that he also doesn't want to send him home to early. He said he has seen in the past where children went home with this effusion issue and bounce back critically ill. So we want to avoid this issue.

So that is the plan of attack. So the next 48 hours are crucial to see if Jude is truly getting better or if the pain relievers have just been masking the problem. The doctor told Jude, "For someone so sick you sure are a happy little guy!". He also said Jude is really a fighter, but we already knew that ;)

Thanks for the prayers!