Caelum Covid Recovery

On June 2nd we found out one of our kids had unfortunately been exposed to Covid. We immediately isolated, but over the next few days everyone in the family got it. As of today everyone has recovered, except Caelum. He turned six months on June 4th, too young for any of the Covid vaccines. At first he handled things pretty well, getting a fever and a small cough. We thought he was getting better along with the rest of us.

On June 14th he began to show signs of not feeling well. He wasn’t wanting to nurse, became very fussy, and started to show signs he was in pain. At one in the morning on June 15th he began to vomit. We began to worry due to how it looked, but tried to wait and see. Later in the day while still not wanting to nurse, he had a very large episode of vomiting. We called the nurse and were told to take him into the ER as they were instantly concerned. I left with him right away, kissing my other three kids goodbye and Andrew staying home with them.

When we arrived, Caelum was quickly checked over. He was given meds to try to settle his tummy. To rule out other issues, he had to have an ultrasound and X-ray. They wanted to do a fluoroscopy, but the team was not there that late in the evening. When the tests came back not showing anything significant, they discussed sending him home with a follow up with his doctor. They decided to have him nurse before discharge. And he ended up violently vomiting. Things quickly changed and admitting him became the next steps. The fluoroscopy was done, showing no blockage. He got an IV to help his severe dehydration.

We have now been in the hospital since Wednesday, unsure of when we will be able to leave. Each time we think we are making progress, he backtracks. He is now on a slow drip ng tube to be able to continue getting nutrients and stay hydrated, as he is still vomiting two to three times a day. We have also started a couple medications to help the acid production and hopefully protect his esophagus during all of this, as well as one to help the motility of his stomach to get things moving out of his body quicker. These are being done while we wait to see if his intestines start healing themselves or if the doctors need to provide more to help them.

With all of this going on and it coming up on a week of being in the hospital, we are having the costs build up. Andrew is driving from home to the hospital one to two times a day to see Caelum and help me, the cost of food for me while I spend this entire time at the hospital, the cost of babysitting for the kids while Andrew is here, costs of medical, and costs of extras we have needed to buy to make Caelum’s hospital stay as comfortable as possible. We are unsure of what will be coming next, as there are talks of specialists in Seattle as well that we may need to see. I will keep this updated during this process as we work to get our baby boy healthy and back home.

Thank you to all that help support us in any way during this trying time for our family.

Chantel, Andrew, Jaxon, Aeris, Oryn, and Caelum.