oh, grady!

On Sunday afternoon we wrapped up yet another stay in the hospital for Grady. I brought him into the doctor Monday morning of last week and was not prepared to be sent over to the hospital for six nights from the doctor's office. Yes, I believe Grady has spent somewhere around 27 days in the hospital in his short two years here.....which has many of you asking, "Why in the world is he getting pneumonia and being hospitalized so often?"

Well, we have a little better grip on what's going on after this last visit. They've diagnosed him with "restrictive (or reactive) airway disease". No, this is not asthma. It's actually just kind of a fancy term used as a specific diagnosis can't be made - if you can make sense of that! In Grady's case, he has had a history of very labored breathing and wheezing when he gets sick...causing him to be a lot worse off than when the average kid gets sick. We've adopted a nebulizer at home because of this and need to use it to help him breath almost every time he gets sick. For the first couple of bad illnesses, they called it "bronchialitis". Since it has been a recurring thing, his doctor now classifies him as having this "restrictive airway disease". Yes, he has had pneumonia as well, and although he's been on antibiotics each time, they don't believe these bouts have been true bacterial pneumonia, probably just viral. The steroids and breathing treatments are what it took to get this kid back to normal.

Anyway, his doctor has explained to me that as Grady grows, his airways will get bigger and will hopefully outgrow these problems. Good news! For now, we've started him on some preventative medicine that he takes each day to hopefully prevent future hospitalizations.

Grady is a true trooper at the hospital.....and if I might add, a favorite patient among the nurses! We're so happy he's better, and so are his sisters! Thanks for all your prayers, help, and all the generous offers of help over the last couple weeks. We're so blessed to have a great support system!

Grady getting a surprise visit by Ella.

Showing her his cool play room at the hospital

Our last night here, and on the mend! I think he's going to miss the ice cream at every meal!

I think he was getting a little bored in the play room when he wanted to be in the baby swing!

Ready to go home!

Bye-bye hospital!

The night we got home, he wouldn't take off Ella's sunglasses for anything! He's getting good at giving himself the nebulizer treatments!

Back to playing "jumping janes" in Ellas crib! I love you, sister!