exhausted but excited...

well today we heard what we have been waiting to hear!! we are headed home today!! finally, after day 8 in the hospital, jackson is well enough to finish recovering at home.  he has a very bad case of pneumonia that just didn't seem to respond well or quickly to any treatment.  we have had some ups and downs that included some lows that brought me and my husband to our knees, literally.  kneeling at jackson's hospital bedside, praying and crying over our precious miracle, was so far, one of the hardest things i've ever gone through.  it was only faith and the power of tons of praying friends and strangers that helped us through this crazy week.  the hospital staff here at ochsner has been amazing and we are so happy to be in good hands.  had i posted yesterday, it would have been an update full of gloom and dispair.  a pediatric pulmonologist was consulted and took over care from jackson's regular pediatrician.  jackson went down for a CT scan and we were sure he was going to have to have a bronchoscopy.  some of our pastors from church came and prayed with us, cried with us, lifted jackson up to the Lord, and then we waited.  when the specialist came in, he said that jackson was just one very unlucky kid to have such an atypical course of pneumonia.  the chest x-ray and CT scan showed pleural effusion and infiltrates but no single area of consolidation that would have indicated aspiration or foreign body in his lungs...that was good new and bad news.  when he said he didn't feel the bronch was necessary yet or maybe at all, we took the biggest breath we've taken all week and thank God for an answer to prayer.  dr. hernandez changed a bunch of medicines around, added some, dc'd some, and increased some, and jackson is responding well so far.  he had been on iv vancomycin, which is a very powerful drug, and we were concerned and ready for him to get off it.  he is now on iv zithromax and will go home on yet 2 more, different antibiotics to try to knock the rest of this junk out.  we will have to continue breathing treatments and follow up with xray next week, but are hoping and praying for an eventual complete recovery with treatment at home now!! will update more later!