Thursday, August 29, 2013

Brown Recluse Bite, Joshua, Hospital

In case you did not know, Joshua, my fourteen year old son, was bitten by a brown recluse spider earlier this month. He had to be hospitalized because he had a rare, severe, systemic reaction to the toxin.

The bite was severe, but not the main concern.

 His fever was persistent and he was suffering from hemolytic anemia, which threatened to compromise his kidney function.

The first few days were miserable, and he was on morphine for the pain of the bite. When he finally started showing improvement, I was thanking God. For those first few days, I was planning a funeral and choking back my sorrow and terror. He was very very sick.
As he started improving, we snapped some photos. Shhhh, don't tell him. He would kill me if he knew I posted these pics of him all sick and hooked up to an i.v....

Joshua with my Chromebook. That stuffed dog has been to hell and back. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to sew his head back on or sew on his eyes. Josh has had that stuffed puppy since he was tiny.  Lately it sits by my serger, but when I packed up stuff for him, it caught my eye and I brought it with me. 

Joshua is stoned out of his mind here. Hurray for morphine! His nurse made him sit in a chair because his lungs were sounding a congested from all the fluids he was getting and him laying down for days.

My poor baby. He ate MAYBE one whole meal, total, out of all his meals put together. He was so sick and just kept getting worse.  Then like the parting of clouds after a storm, he suddenly turned the corner and when he started eating again and walking, I knew he was going to be ok. 

The doctors and staff in the pediatric unit of Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City were THE BEST! Thanks to Dr.s Mayo, Banner, and Corbin, and all Joshua's wonderful nurses and aids, Kevin, Jessica, Elizabeth, Selena, and all the others whose names I regrettably cannot remember. 

God bless them, and WATCH OUT FOR SPIDERS.........!!!!!

...and speaking of spiders, here is a picture of Spider, our goofy cat that thinks he is a rabbit. I snapped this tonight as I was preparing supper. I am CONSTANTLY shooing his nosey self off the counters when I am in the kitchen!

Bug and Simon fighting over Rosy the Robot stuffed toy. She's my sweetie! I have not posted a pic of her or Simon lately, so I thought I would tonight! 

10 comments:

  1. Brandi, your son is so handsome. Thank you for risking his ire and sending these pictures to his fans. You all are champs. I have decided that nothing like this EVER gets to happen again. Sigh...if only that were in my job description. I do think it is time for the black kitty to take legal steps to get a name change. I do not want to read or hear that word again. Wish Josh the bestest school year ever.

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  2. Some more great news it just gets better and betterI pray that life continues to get better!I have to say that Spider is a gorgeous Kitty as is Bug and Simon,love you guys,xx Rachel and Speedy

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  3. Joshua is just getting over a full-body skin peel. His kidneys were not functioning at 100% and he was on i.v. fluids, so he swelled up like a toad. Once the edema went away, he could peel sheets of dead skin. It was very gross, especially since he was fascinated with it and kept bringing me the skin to look at and tell me where it came from. His favorite was the skin from on top of his butt crack where it meets his back. I even had to shave his head because his scalp was peeling away and making his hair disgusting! No, Joshua, I DO NOT want to hear about the skin peeling around your crotch! Boys are gross.
    And I had to tell Mr. Bubbles to please stop emailing me Reddit posts about spiders.
    But one great thing that happened was that ALL those dang antibiotics he was hooked up to cleared up his acne!
    Now he is going through another growth spurt, losing some weight, and HAS CHIN WHISKERS (peachy fuzzy).

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  4. It's great he's getting better! Spider the cat is so cute :)

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  5. It's great he's getting to gross you out! However, I am wanting to hear he is ALL well and has to be more creative to get you grossed out. Why am I still shaking in my boots? I hope Josh is having enough fun peeling stuff to not know how much he scared us. Be glad for today. Sorry, I don't mean to sound preachy. It just seemed like a really good idea. Love, Juana

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  6. So kids like bunnies are on the mend when they start eating and .. uhm, being gross? ;)

    I am very happy to hear he's so much better!

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  7. Brandi, There is a missing comment at HOR that I was intending to treasure. What did you think about the football games?

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  8. Good news - and good luck with the rest of your life having posted the pictures! (Actually they are not bad ...)

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