If Children's Mercy had an A-List, John and I would be on it. Let me rephrase that. Bruce would be on it. John and I are just the ones who carry his luggage and change his messiest diapers when the nurses sneak out of the room when they smell that smell.
But really, Bruce has caused quite a commotion among the doctors and nurses in this place and just about every department has heard his name and a brief synopsis of his case. And as Bruce's parents, we spend a fair amount of time in hallways and in the cafeteria and just passing by updating all those who are curiously wondering about the latest this mystery child has produced.
And latest would be the brain abscess. We came in for pneumonia, which led to meningitis, which led to seizures, which led to the brain abscess. It has taken three procedures to drain it, so far -- the most recent first thing this morning, and many tests and cultures to determine what caused it. We're making progress, even though it seems like one step forward and a half mile back. The highly intelligent brainac docs tell us that it's common to have to drain these multiple times and eventually it'll subside. On a side note, our current neurosurgeon has one of the greatest & driest sense of humor I've known...it's been refreshing.
A sample of the abscess was sent to the University of Washington last week to see what was causing it. Today we learned the name of it and I can actually pronounce it. John, however, cannot. He said it right the first time and every time since has been a complete different version...I bet he failed as a child playing the telephone game. Bacillus pseudomycoides. Commonly found in soil, but then again so is everything else. We live on a cattle ranch. I make a living selling agronomy products to dirt farmers. I ate a healthy dose of dirt as a kid and I am willing to bet John did too. Bruce, on the other hand, is having an adverse reaction to what's in soil and he's never even seen it before. Let alone swim in a mud puddle or lick the popsicle he dropped on the ground.
The infectious disease doctors have no idea how he got the bacteria into his system. There are several theories and lots of possibilities but there is no way to tell now. We all just hunch, for lack of better medical term. And it sucks. Another medical statement we hear from the docs often. It could have come from anywhere and is actually a common skin contaminant. I probably have some under my fingernails now. But how he got it is in the past and now we need to focus on zapping it out of his system so his head can heal.
Bacillus pseudomycoides is not known to cause brain abscesses and herein lies where the highly intelligent team of docs are confused...why now. Why this time. Why Bruce. He's been on some hefty antibitiotics and now he will be on some different ones. There really is no antibiotic specific for Bruce's case but the team has confidence in this different antibiotic and hope it will do what needs to be done. Again, Bruce is a medical wonder. At 10 weeks of age.
So, that's the latest. We lost track of how many different rooms we have been in when we hit eleven last week. We have learned that when Bruce is feeling good he loooooooves the night life and the ladies. He has spent many an hour out at the nurses' station "just cuddling" while either John and I are away for the night or we're sleeping because that's what diurnal mammals, or parents who are awake during the day, do. That habit will have to change when we get home or John gets to hire a cute nurse to tend to the baby in the wee hours....which ain't happening, let me tell ya.
Moral has been tested but it hasn't been lost. John and I are doing as great as can be expected, maybe even a little better, and we still have not killed each other yet. My mammary glands no longer hate my guts and I am sad to have seen them go. Maybe one day I will get those implants...I plan to unpack the bags underneath my eyes soon with a little rest and relaxation but I'm not too worried about how frumpy I look as long as John looks at me the way he still does. Oooh la la....
Bruce has proven to be a perplexity to raise and I feel a little robbed of some of the mommy time I'm missing out on when he's so cute and cuddly. Soon, he will be a raging ball of testosterone with the capability to walk and drive and form his own opinions that probably will differ from mine...but nonetheless, he is and always will be my handsome and truly amazing little boy whom I undoubtedly love more than anything in the world.
No matter what he's got going on inside...
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