Still continues to have a fever (under 38). I have been setting my alarm clock to get up at 2am to give him Tylenol to keep it down.

He went to his Calculus class today as it was a review for the final exam. He looks like an 80 year old walking skeleton shuffling into the school (he’s lost a lot of weight). Really pushing himself as he does best...

Dr. Bond doesn’t think he needs another x-ray, so discharged Jordan early in the morning. I wasn't able to get in that quickly so he just watched some movies until I could get in with the kids.


12:30pm .. Jordan is now home and is really weak and in pain.


9:53pm .. noticed that Jordan has developed a fever (38.8)

Dr. Bond has him on a 21 day course of antibiotics.

1:29pm Jordan is still in substantial pain, most likely due to the chest tube. The doc wants to do an x-ray today, another x-ray in the morning and if things look good, take the chest tube out tomorrow and then maybe home tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday). I am home with the kids today as Kirk needs to be at work.

6:14pm So Dr. Bond wants to take Jordan’s chest tube out now to see how he would go without it. More x-rays tonight at 9pm and again tomorrow morning. If all goes well he will go home tomorrow morning. (I recall saying that before …)

Didn’t sleep too well.. I am not feeling good today. Taking a bit of time to get myself out of bed and to the hospital .. heading out to the hospital now - 9:30am.

Jordan had a night full of pain and didn’t sleep well. I would have thought he would sleep well with being put under for surgery.. I guess his “grogginess” wore off. I didn't stay long. I left him to just rest and let him take a break from thinking about doing any schoolwork.

8:30am So apparently Jordan had a bad night as when he was trying to get up for the washroom in the middle of the night he accidentally yanked on his chest tube, so was in pain all night. Of course in true Jordan fashion, he found a way to blame his mother for that (even though I wasn’t even there). Tube output was minimal overnight so I assume they will be taking it out today.


11am Dr. Bond came in and said that the x-rays still show that there is fluid in the lungs, so they will leave the tube in awhile to drain more. Jordan is off the subq dilaudid so he is not enjoying having a bit more pain. They are doing oral meds only now to try to wean him off to go home. Made him catch up on some UFV classes and now he’s having a nap (his new favorite thing). Doc says surgery is not off the table, it’s still a wait and see game.

11:31am Dr. Bond came in again and said he doesn’t like something in the X-ray (looks like there is something building up in the lining of his lung) so they are putting him on Level 1 for surgery and hopefully be in there within the next few hours. Jordan is upset as this makes him even further behind in his classes. They are hoping to operate by 4:30pm.

1:14pm Dr. Altaf came in and had me sign some paperwork for surgery, including on signing off on a possible thoractomy. I do NOT want Jordan to go through that hell.

4:38pm he is being prepped for surgery.


Dr. Bond is going to do it and says it will be quick and short (10-15 min) and that he won’t do a thoracotomy .. Dr. Bond is great! They wheeled him in just before 5pm and I quickly went out to White Spot for a burger and fries for take-out (yes, it made me feel horrible later). Just as I walked back into the hospital to the surgical waiting area, Dr. Bond walked out and told me that it was the original surgery spot that had somewhat opened and was intermittently leaking. Any type of extended movement was just causing it to tear and leak more. Now on to the next leg of recovery .. again.

7:09pm - the nurses let me go in to post-op to wait with him..


His blood pressure is good and he is doing well (although totally groggy). Will wait until they take him upstairs and then once he is settled head off to home again and try to get a good sleep before coming in the morning. Amy (former neighbor) came to help out with the kids in the afternoon so Kirk could come in to see Jordan before the surgery. Kirk headed back home by 8pm and I got home very late.

8:15am Dr. Bond wants to do the surgery to clean everything up inside. Not sure when that will happen but it will be today (he says). He hasn’t eaten in a week and would really like to start. He actually is almost back to his normal self today - very good to see. He asked me to wash his hair and says he now feels a bit more human. Julianna is actually due at the hospital here in Surrey today for a review by a heart specialist. Last check at the pediatrician revealed something she wanted a specialist look at.

3pm Jordan is very grumpy and hungry. They won’t let him eat in case a surgery time opens up. Apparently they want to do another x-ray. Julianna’s appointment turned out okay. She just has smaller arteries which creates the heart murmur. Finally some good news.

4:30pm - the x-ray shows less fluid in his lungs so the doc says we will wait it out and everything should resolve on its own. If the leaking stops altogether we will take the tube out tomorrow and hopefully be home on Sunday. He is very fatigued.

9:30am They made Jordan sit up in the chair to prevent clots in his legs. Very painful for him and created some nausea.


And also brought out a new talent for swearing. Just waiting on an x-ray to see if there is any issue with his lungs as he has been saying he feels like there is another bubble in there. They also want to do a CT scan (done at 2:26pm).. should have results back by 7pm to get a clearer picture of his lungs.

4:47pm .. the tube has been leaking a lot more in the last hour. Seemed to kick in after the ct scan.

5:08pm Apparently the surge of blood from the tube isn’t common. There are reasons for it that can explain it but Dr. Bond might take him back into surgery. He said the CT showed some clots that need to be cleaned out. They might come out on their own but he’d like to just do a clean run and make sure (via scope) that it’s all clean in there by removing the clots and cauterizing or stapling that problem spot. Will do an x-ray later tonight to help decide whether they operate or not.

10:40am .. Jordan is in extreme pain. They gave him a double dose of demerol but it’s not working for the pain. We are waiting for a bed to open up in Surrey, but don’t know if that will even be today.

11:25am was informed that an ambulance will be coming to pick him up and take him to Surrey as a bed has opened up. Still in significant pain.

(Ambulance arrived at noon). He was too weak to get on their stretcher so they had to slide him over on to their stretcher.


Arrived in the afternoon in Surrey.

2:32pm Carolyn brought me lunch (starbucks coffee too!). Jordan is npo (nothing by mouth) in case they want to do surgery. He is on the same floor as last time but this time in a “treatment room” with no windows BUT at least it’s private. Haven’t seen the doc yet as apparently he is at Royal Columbian. (3:36pm)

3:58pm saw a different doctor (Dr. Altaf). Apparently he says it’s just a waiting game now. Regular blood work to see if he is losing blood over the next day or two. They will operate again to clean things up in there. Until then they are doubling up on his pain meds to manage the pain and keep up with the x-rays.

Just popped in to see Jordan quickly in the morning while Marilyn watched the kids. Brought him a gingerale. He said he didn’t sleep well and was restless all night. I asked if he asked for demerol and he said no (grrr) .. so I asked the nurse to give it to him and left the hospital to come back home. Apparently they won’t give him pain meds unless he asks for it.


He ate an egg for breakfast -- so that is a good sign that he may start to eat again (although he said he was still feeling nauseous). He said he is bored laying there in the hallway only having a partition to look at, but said he isn’t well enough to play any of his DS games yet. I am just waiting for Kirk’s dad to come by so I can go over there to see if there is more info from the nurses as to what is going on with the fever and antibiotics, etc. (as I was only there literally a few minutes). He should be here in another hour and then I can go over. His temp is up to 37.7 and that’s all they will say. I will have to wait until the doctor comes and am told that it can be any time between now (10:53am) and 10pm! All that will be done in the meantime is periodic checks of his temp. Frustrated.

12:58pm resting heart rate is 103. Met the manager Trena . asked if we could get Jordan out of the hallway as this is NO place for someone this sick.

2pm .. said he feels like there is a bubble in his lung and has difficulty getting a good breath. They will take him for an x-ray soon.

3:15pm .. they just gave him his FIRST dose of antibiotics now!!

5pm .. nurse said that the doctor wants to do a CT with contrast. Still haven’t seen any doctor.

8:54pm .. CT shows what they think is 2 liters of fluid in his chest. Doing another chest tube to drain it and then transferring him to Surrey by ambulance in the morning to their surgery ward under the care of Dr. Bond again.

10:15pm they did a heavy conscious sedation. They inserted the chest tube but he was having difficulty breathing and is panicking because of that.. they are doing an x-ray to see if the chest tube is in properly.

It turns out it’s just that the fluid escaped very quickly from his chest (1.1 liters) so that is what was so difficult for his body to handle. They are going to do a blood transfusion as well (2 units) as his hemoglobin went down to 88. Also, they are going to give him an actual room upstairs. Just gave him a few shots of fentanyl.

When I arrived to the Abby Hospital in the morning, I found they had admitted him to a hallway .. no rooms available. I couldn't believe as sick as he was, that he was placed in a hallway!

By 5pm, I was told he was running a fever. They decided to start antibiotics, but it seems they didn’t have any in stock and will try to get some tomorrow. Doesn’t a hospital have access to this kind of thing? Very frustrating. He is still in a lot of pain and still isn't eating any food (too nauseous).

Jordan woke up not feeling well. I took him in to Abbotsford Emerg at 10:30am while the rest of the fam headed off to church. They took an x-ray (after hours of waiting) and informed us at 1:22pm that they wanted to do an ultrasound and blood work because he was feeling dizzy when he stood up for the x-ray. They said his hemoglobin was 116 (should be 160) most likely to him losing all that blood post-surgery. This would explain the dizziness. We are supposed to go to the in-laws for a family dinner this afternoon, and Jordan still wants to go so I tell Kirk to postpone his departure to see if Jordan will feel better and then be able to come. Rest and more rest, they say -- go home and rest. It was 3:00pm when we get home from the hospital.


He is pretty weak and in lots of pain so we up his T3s. Jordan wanted to stay home and I felt it was best to not leave him alone. He doesn’t feel up to going. By 7:34pm his pain was so severe he could hardly walk. It was a challenge to get him into the van to get to emerg in Abbotsford. He said he couldn't take it anymore (the pain). He can barely breathe. While in the triage area, he threw up everywhere all over the floor (and himself as the small dish he was holding couldn’t hold what his stomach threw out) Saw Dr. Delvecario in emerg. He is in so much pain he cannot move and doesn’t even open his eyes or choose to communicate much.

8:30pm .. came in the treatment room and brought a portable ultrasound.
8:41pm .. found fluid in his lungs so they are going to admit him.

They think he will stay for a day or two until he recovers. All the tests look okay and the doc thinks it’s just the post-op pain gone crazy. They will try to keep the pain down with IV Demerol (the only pain med that seems to be working as Morphine makes his blood pressure drop).

I have to do a bunch of emailing to profs, etc. to cancel things for this next week so I head home and let him sleep. They are keeping him in Emerg until morning and they will admit him upstairs.

He is still in a lot of pain... the worst to date.

Jordan spent the day resting and studying, but improving. He was much better today! Kirk decided to get festive and pulled out the Christmas tree to decorate. The kids were super excited and decorated it in true kid fashion, but Jordan was only allowed to rest and watch :)

Feeling very tired but not too bad with pain. Lots of study to catch up on his classes. He is sore and moves slowly and has spent most of the day just resting.

I slept about 6 hours last night. Still really buzzy but have been having coffee every morning since Tuesday .. just to stay awake each morning.

Chest tube was taken out at 8am .. felt horrible. The nurses were the ones in charge of taking it out and they did a great job at being careful.


Due for another x-ray at 10:30am. He was able to get up and move to the washroom now that the chest tube was out and not hurting him when he moved.

At 12:45pm - he was discharged and heading home!

On the way home I said I would go to the university to quickly grab his homework, but that turned into an hour's worth of walking around from classroom to classroom, finding all the profs. Jordan got really tired and probably overdid it.

He spent the rest of the evening laying down, wiped out.

I actually had a great night sleep last night. Kids are all over their fevers and coughs. Jordan was doing well this morning and asked to play his DS. Improvement!!


Jordan, after a lot of dilaudid, was able to get up and walk a bit and use the washroom. His pain is a little less and he keeps forgetting to cough to stave off pneumonia. I will go in tomorrow morning again.

Dr. Bond said they will leave the chest tube in another day. The fluid leaving his chest has slowed down so they will continue to monitor it. They will up his pain meds to see if they can get him out of bed and walking around. (he is still too scared to move because of the pain). He still can’t cough (which he is supposed to do to exercise his lungs). I decided to go home a little early (12:45pm) so I could spend some time with the kids ... been a few days since I've seen them since I leave before they wake up in the morning and get home after they are in bed.

Jordan called me on the phone later and told me that they will pull his chest tube out in the morning and he can go home.

I had only fallen asleep at around 5am, only to have my alarm wake me up again for 6:00 .. as I was heading out the door at 6:30am to head into Surrey. Jordan slept okay but was still in pain from the chest tube. At 9:55am was wheeled in for surgery to fix the “bleb” on his lung.


At 1:00 pm he was back from surgery and quite groggy from the anesthetics.


Had a bullectomy and a pleurectomy .. left lung lobe wedge .. as the spot was on the lower part of the lung, rather than on the top. Had a rough day of pain and not being able to move much.

Dr. Bond performed the wedge resection of his left lower lobe. Later at 3:00pm Gary & Joy came in to visit him as they were in town. He was a bit more awake at this point and it was so great that they could take the time to come and see him.


By 4pm we noticed there was a lot of blood coming out of his chest tube post-surgery, more than normal. They made a note of that to watch it, do bloodwork and an x-ray. Jordan is not eating (hasn’t for a few days) and it in a lot of pain. Will head home shortly and come back in the morning.

Monday morning .. I had scheduled my van to have the snow tires put on at 8am. Why did I do that? I just spent an entire Sunday in bed, unable to move and I really didn't want to get up early to take my van in. One thing with MS .. you get really good at pushing yourself when you really shouldn't be pushing. I am feeling a little better so I don’t have to be in bed, but feet and hands still buzzing and still feel off and very wasted. I made myself get up, and head over to the auto shop. I thought, at least I'll walk over to A&W and get them to make me some eggs while I wait. Little did I know more stress was looming around the corner.

Only 15 minutes in to my venture, I got a phone call from Kirk asking me "Where are you"? I thought that was rather interesting, considering he knew where I was. He proceeded to tell me he had heard a frantic knock on the front door, and found Jordan standing there telling him that his lung had collapsed again. Looking past him, Kirk saw that Jordan had dropped his backpack on the road. Kirk at that point called me.

I asked Kirk (on the phone) if Jordan could walk over to the hospital. (You see, the last collapse he had was minimal and he was able to do almost everything normally). Kirk told me Jordan could barely move. I told him to quickly take Jordan to the hospital himself and I would be back as soon as I could. I went in to see Jordan in a few hours as I knew the course of action would be to get x-rays, which is time-consuming. When I went in to see him, he had already had his x-ray and I was informed his collapse this time was 50%. The nurse told me that a doctor in Surrey had a surgical opening for the next morning. My first instinct was "who is this doctor .. is he any good? Should I trust him? I don't even know him!". Then they told me his name was Dr. James Bond. Seriously? Ok now I am more worried hehehehe ..

Bottom line -- he needed help and so we agreed to sign off on his transfer, which would happen after Abbotsford docs inserted a chest tube. It wasn't until early evening that the chest tube was inserted and the ambulance called for the transfer. Until that time, he started to feel a little better, and asked me to bring in his DS to pass the time...


When it was time to do the chest tube, the attending doc did it without any meds.. just cut him open and inserted the tube.


Rather painful!! Jordan was NOT impressed (neither was I).


Shortly thereafter Kirk came with the kids to visit Jordan. As the kids were saying hi, the ambulance crew walked in .. took one look at our crazy family (two kids in casts and Jordan in the bed with his nasty chest tube), and with a suspicious look on one attendant's face, said "What kind of family ARE you?". Rather humorous.

As Jordan was transferred by Ambulance to Surrey Memorial Hospital, I drove home and packed up a few things for Jordan and headed off to Surrey to meet him there.


It was now nearing 7:30pm and I drove in to Surrey to see how he was doing. I was told surgery would be sometime the next morning and told to be back by 7:30am to talk to the doctors. So at 10:30pm, I headed home. Once I finally hit the pillow, my mind was racing and my stress level through the roof. I couldn't believe all the craziness our life had taken on in the last month.

I proceeded to have a brain which did NOT shut off .. followed by insomia and didn’t sleep that night. Talked to merv & dorrie at 3am .. as they were up .. having their own issues with sleep.

I was in bed entire day, slept most of it.. ears ringing, hands and feel super buzzy.. everything just felt off.. horrible feeling.

I started to crash today .. didn’t sleep much last night (or the last 8 days!)... had a 2 hour nap in the afternoon but woke up feeling MUCH worse. Now at 10:30pm still feeling horrible. I took some cold meds (just to see if it would make me sleep better) and hopefully I will sleep. Tonight is Daniel’s last 3am dose of antibiotics .. that is the hard part of having to wake up nightly.

I didn't have to take Julianna in to the hospital last night. It seems the steroid puffers are finally kicking in for Julianna and her breathing is better.

It's been such a stressful month. I got a call from Safeway, asking if I was going to be home today. Odd, I thought. I didn't remember filling a prescription? They then proceeded to tell me that I was going to have some flowers delivered. Shortly thereafter, someone delivers a dozen white roses, with Keg & Starbucks gift cards!! Wow.. what a wonderful and much needed surprise!! I don't know who it was that sent them .. (it was an anonymous gift) .. but THANK YOU !!

Julianna has now had her high fever for three days. It takes constant doses of Tylenol & Motrin to keep it below 39.9. She has developed a cough that's affecting her breathing.

10:30pm .. thinking I may have to take Julianna in to the hospital tonight, her breathing and cough are quite bad.. but have been using essential oils at bedtime which seem to help.

I am still up at nights giving Daniel his antibioics which have to be given to him at 2am every night.

Julianna wakes up with a fever in the late evening, 39.8 and saying her head hurts. Up all night watching TV with her. .. didn't someone tell her we haven't slept for days because of all the hospital visits and casts?

Daniel had a good sleep, managing to keep his foot elevated in bed as suggested. The doc told us to have him stay off his foot for at least five days, so for the first few days we figured we'd let him just stay in our bed in our room. It was probably his first "breakfast in bed" ... so we asked what he wanted and it was an A&W Breakfast Burger. :)


Off I went to the hospital to rent some crutches for Daniel -- so at least when he needed to use the washroom he could stay off his foot. Shortly thereafter I heard Julianna crying. Apparently she had fallen down the basement stairs in the morning and scraped her leg. Thankfully no other injuries. Ryan later in the morning, takes Daniel’s crutches and decides to go down the upper floor stairs, but tumbles down tangled in the crutches and cuts his face and is screaming saying his arm hurts. I was SO done with hospitals having done the procedure with Daniel three times and only getting a few hours sleep last night. So, I pointed to Kirk and said "I am so done.. it's YOUR turn". So, back in Abby Hospital for 5+ hours waiting to get an x-ray. After waiting for most of the day, the x-ray showed a buckle fracture. Kirk & I then traded off as he had a meeting to go to. Ryan was fitted with a cast and was told it would be on for 3.5 weeks.


When I think of how Julianna also fell down the stairs .. to think that I could have had three kids in casts within 24 hours.. unbelievable!!!

We are soooooo overly tired.

Daniel told me his foot hurt a lot throughout the day. Early evening he shows me there is blood on his hand and it’s coming through his band+age on his foot. We took the bandage off and it was then we realized that the stitches had broken and the wound was completely gaping. No wonder it had been hurting so much! We paged Dr. Vershere and she asked us to come back in to Emerg at Children’s and said she will meet us there. Really? It's 8pm ... I don't want to go back again!! Kirk & I packed Daniel up into the van and asked Jordan to babysit the other kids who were in bed.

The doctor met us there and they set us up.
This time at least Kirk was there to be the "supporting" role for Daniel. I didn't think I could do it again -- listen to him scream and plead for help because he's in so much pain. So, as she inserted the needles into his foot to freeze the area, I sat there, listening to his screaming and rubbed his leg and let the tears pour from my face. What a long haul this little guy has had to endure. Kirk was great at trying to get him to stay as calm as possible. Looking back I realize he was a brave little boy amidst the screaming, because I realized that even through all that, with his body shaking, he kept his right leg completely still for her to do the stitches, etc.




It dawned on me that it was probably the fall from the operating table the night before that broke the stitches. He probably not only hit his head on the cupboard, but probably also knocked his foot as well.

Dr. Verschere said we were one crazy family and we should have told her in advance that we do things the hard way (ha ha). So said said she wants to put a cast on his foot and start him on some heavy antibiotics to prevent infection. Also, instead of the regular two weeks for stitches, she said we'll leave them in for three weeks. Sure, he'll most likely have scars from the stitches, but "with the way our family does things" .. she'd rather be on the safe side and leave them in longer.

On the way home, Daniel was so drugged up, that we had difficult staying upright in his booster seat. Luckily, we had the full booster seat for Ryan in the car, which enables you to secure the shoulder seat belt strap in the right place, and also has sides to keep your body from falling sideways. That was the trick! He stayed in his seat the rest of the way home. We didn't get home until after midnight, and I still had to go to Pharmasave to fill his antibiotic prescription for the next day. I don't think I got in to bed until 1am . how exhausting!

Little did we know this was just the calm before the storm ...

Daniel went in for his 2nd operation on his foot to have a mole removal. They are doing it again because of the recent infection and the doctor feels if we do it again, it will be a clean cut and heal faster. He was due in at Children's hospital by 8am. As he was so apprehensive regarding the pain that is involved in this procedure, they gave him some medication to sedate him (yet remain awake) while Dr. Verschere did it again. Still extremely painful. He screamed so much I'm sure the entire hospital and all of Vancouver heard him. Poor guy! I left the room to use the washroom and reminded the nurse in the room that the doctor had said we needed to watch him as he was sedated. (he was still on the operating table). Apparently the nurse didn't take the instruction as too important because when I came back from the washroom, I was told that Daniel had fallen off the table and banged his head on the cupboard. (What!!??)

The doc told us to take it easy for the next week and let this heal.

Have been feeling off for 3 days now. It's the start of my cycle again. Am wondering if there is correlation between degradation of health and my cycle. Just achy all over and inside when I breathe, and minimal energy. Doesn't keep me in bed but I feel like I just want to lay down all day.

DANIEL - Daniel with 40 degree fever for days. Today's fever at 7:30am was 39.9 .. taking motrin then his fever went down to 39.3 at 8am. Not sure if it's due to his foot infection or not. Ended up in Hospital at 9pm because he was delirious .. but back home shortly thereafter and they told us to give Tylenol & Motrin together to work on his fever.

Daniel complaining of dizziness again and also started a fever.