Son is hospitalized...

[Ice fyre]

My thoughts go with you Werewoman! Hope he's up and about soon take care.

[Wybren]

Good to hear that he is going to be ok. Our thoughts are with you WW.

[Perpetual Man]

I can only echo what everone else is saying, wishing your family and your son all the best.

[tangaloomababe]

Werewoman all the best, what a terrible time it would have been. Glad to hear he is on the mend though. Best wishes to you and your family.

[katiafish]

Healing thoughts and wishes to you and your family..

[Werewoman]

Thank you all so much. It overwhelms me the amount of support we've had from everyone, which right now, we could use all we can get. It's just my husband and I. The staff here is some of the most compassionate people I've ever met.

He has paricarditis (sp?). It's an infection in the lining surrounding the heart. We don't know yet what the infection is. They are focusing on viral, but they are being very thorough and looking at auto-immune disorders and bacterial as well. We probably won't know the cause until next week, if we ever do.

Right now, his chest tube is out, and he's stable enough to move to another ward, so at least he's getting out of CVICU today. I don't know yet where they're moving him to, but once we get settled in, I'll be back.

You all are great. Thanks for the support!!

[Rodders]

Thanks for the update Werewoman. I hope he get's better real soon.

[Overread]

WW Very sorry to hear what has happened to your son and very glad to hear that he is on the mend. I hope that the doctors are able to find out specifically what is causing his problem quickly and get him onto a course of treatment!

[Werewoman]

They just moved him out of the CVICU a little while ago, so he's off the critical list. I'm looking at Monday to be the earliest they will let him go home. Now the focus has shifted to the cause. He has an infectious disease specialist that is running tests on the fluid drained during the surgery and an immunologist testing him for auto-immune disorders.

I can' t help but wonder if it was caused by the same viral strain that my husband and I had in the last month. The doctors told me it's possible he was infected as well and that it could have manifested itself in his paricardium (outer lining of the heart).

Right now my son is getting used to his new digs and contemplating what he wants to eat for dinner. He hasn't eaten much since he got here, so if he's showing hunger, that's a VERY good sign.

I am holding up just fine. If I hold to my usual pattern in such circumstances, I will keep going and doing what I have to do, put all the stress and emotion behind me, and then when I get home and a moment to mysefl...have a really good cry.

At the moment, I just had a wonderful dinner at Ronald McDonald House. Various organizations and restaurants cater dinner each night. I"m going to do a quick blog entry, and then it's back to the hospital.

All my love to my Chronic Friends (stole that one from Rosemary)

WW

[Overread]

Certainly good to hear he is out of CVICU and ready for a good meal!

And definatly don't forget about yourself in such cases - make sure you get that moment alone to recover yourself from the shock!

[dustinzgirl]

Good to hear werewoman!

[Grimward]

*Wills strength and health to son, Double W and family*

We'll mind the "store" for you; take care of that boy, ma'am!

[Rosemary]

Oh Werewoman! I'm so glad to hear your son is feeling much better now. Hope you are managing ok, tears can be good at times like these - thinking of you sweetie.

[Werewoman]

The cardiologists have given him a clean bill of health as far as his heart condition is concerned. So that's great new.

The immunologist has determined he does not have an auto-immune disorder - like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and multiple sclerosis - so the fluid wasn't caused by that.

So now they are focusing on viral or bacterial and they think it may be the same virus that gave me the flu. Apparently, viruses can manifest themselves in other parts of the body, not just make you very sick. I didn't know that.

They are going to do an MRI under general anesthesia on Monday to look at his brain and spine. The reason for this is that there's been a question since he was born as to whether he has neurofibromatosis, or in layman terms, Elephant Man disease. They say he doesn't, but some of the cafe au lait spots he was born with have become 'hairy moles' and those can go all the way through the skin, so they just want to make sure the moles haven't gone all the way through to his spine and head. It's just a precaution. I don't think they'll find anything but it's worth checking out.

They also want to do one more electrocardiogram before he leaves, and of course we are still waiting on some of the studies done on the fluid.

If none of this makes sense, read the blog.

It's going to be on loooooooooong weekend!

[dustinzgirl]

I know its tough now Were, but that is actually really great news! A virus can be cured with early intervention, where many chronic diseases have no cures, just care.