PJ's Hospital Visits

The week of February 25th, we had a bit of a scare of the unknown with PJ. He came back from a trip to Nana and Grandpa’s house not feeling well and running a fever. The next morning, he still had the fever and also complained of his neck and the back of his head hurting. Jennifer contacted the Doctor’s office and explained the symtoms…they asked her if he could turn his head and look up to the sky. When she asked PJ if he could do it, he tried and could not do it and it obviously hurt him to try. They told us that we should go ahead and take him to Children’s Hospital and have him checked for Spinal Meningitis. At this point, both of us were a little freaked out because we didn’t know much about Meningitis, but we knew it wasn’t a good thing and could be deadly if not treated in time. When the Dr checked him out, he said it didn’t look like meningitis, however during the checkup, they did find that he had strep throat…which was a surprising relief compared to meningitis. They gave him a shot of antibiotics and sent him on his way.
After a couple of days of antibiotics, he was still not getting much better at all. Jennifer took him to the Doctor for another check up and they discovered that he may have an abscess in his throat….for anyone that doesn’t know, this is a pocket of fluid that gets infected and starts to swell. The danger is that it could cut off the air passageway. We took him again to Children’s and they confirmed that was in fact what he had. To treat this, they had to give him another separate round of IV antibiotics and steroids in hopes of healing it without having to do surgery. Luckily, the abscess was in a favorable location for antibiotics and was caught before it got too big. That evening, Pop (Jennifer’s Father) and I gave him a Priesthood blessing that he would recover and be well taken care of should he need the surgery. As soon as the blessing was finished PJ looked at us and said, "The blessing didn't make me feel better." We told him it might take a little while to feel the effects :). Thankfully, the antibiotics took effect and he only had to stay 2 nights at the hospital while they monitored everything. With having strep throat and an infected abscess in his throat, it’s pretty safe to say PJ had a rough week. He was a really tuff guy though…he was definitely not himself, but didn’t complain very much and really appreciated all the visitors and gifts he received at the hospital. He specifically asked that Zoe (his "beautiful" best friend) come visit him, and it really lifted his spirits when anyone came to visit. The nurses really seemed to enjoy him as well….they kept wanting to call him Raymond, but he would always correct them and say that he was PJ….and only his brothers and family could call him Peej. In the photo, you will also see him wearing a headband, Nana gave him this to help his head feel better and he was convinced that it worked because he hardly took it off the whole time he was sick…what a cute fellow!