Botulism

Poor little Jack! He contracted botulism and was hospitalized on February 3rd. We've been to two hospitals, spent time in an emergency room, pediatric ICU unit, and a regular pediatric unit. He has seen zillions of doctors, residents, attendings, nurses, and aides. He has seen respiratory, physical, occupational, and speech therapists. Jack has been intubated and then extubated (4 days on the ventilator), hooked up to a bipap machine, two IVs, a feeding tube, pulse oximeter, flux capacitor, and various other probes. He has taken lots of medication including one very special drug flown over from California that costs around $50,000! Overall, not a fun 12 days (and counting) for him (or me)!

As you can tell from his photo, he is doing very well now. He still has a feeding tube, and will keep it for a couple more weeks until he is strong enough to swallow, gag, and nurse on his own. He is feeling great and loving the nurses. He plays with toys and waves his little hands all day! We're so grateful to see him recovering so fast and looking forward to getting out of the hospital in a couple of weeks. He may have a little delay with walking, sitting, and rolling, but he will catch up soon and be perfectly normal! We're very lucky to have wonderful family and generous friends who have helped us get through this.