A shot, another shot, some antibiotics, and a bronch

Well, cold and RSV season are officially here. Along with that comes a slew of things to worry about and precautions to take. Eli has started taking RSV shots. He gets one shot in each leg, once a month. He just received his second injections yesterday, which he will continue through April. The RSV shots are horrible. The dosage is huge (much larger than other vaccinations or the flu shot) and thick- a thick medicine requires a longer, thicker needle. And the fact that because of Eli's weight (who would have ever thought Eli's weight would be a negative) he has to have an injection in each leg, makes it all the worse. I have never, through all of the blood taking, through all of the therapy, through all the IVs, through all of the surgeries and procedures, heard Eli REALLY cry until he had these injections. It breaks my heart for my baby boy. The things these babies go through is mind-boggling. I wouldn't wish these things on a grown man, let alone my sweet baby. His sweet smile disappeared for quite a while.

Last Wednesday, Eli had his latest bronchoscopy. Daddy and Eli had to be at the hospital for 6:30am, and the procedure was at 8:30am. Eli was put under general anesthesia, so he slept through the procedure. Vic said he did great. The results were pretty good- no additional surgery is recommended at this time. His airway looks good. His vocal chord had not improved a whole lot- still banded down with scar tissue. The pulmonologist believes that as Eli starts to talk more, the scar tissue should loosen, hopefully, freeing the vocal chord. The vocal chord is what causes Eli's noisy breathing- air passing through runs into the vocal chord, as it cannot move out of the way because of being held down by the scar tissue. The dr feels that laser surgery at this time is too risky (significant risk of further damaging the vocal chord- permanently), as Eli seems to adjusted have his breathing to work around the vocal chord issue. So, good news, but now we just have to give him more time. A bacterial infection was discovered in his lower airway during the procedure, so he is now on antibiotics (again) but not showing any outward symptoms, which is very good.

Then, this morning, he had his final flu shot (you have to have two your first year). He did the lip when the nurse gave him the injection, but amazingly enough, never removed the bottle from his mouth and kept sucking. Nothing comes between Eli and food. Which is what he wants now......more updates later.

Eli's First Playdate

Today was the first time I have ever taken Eli to a playdate (yes, I do realize that it is the beginning of cold season). He smiled more today than just about ever. He amazes me with his happiness.......things like this make me so sentimental about all he has been through. Things as silly as his first playdate, brings me to tears. The first time we took Eli to tailgate and other people (besides family) held him, I had to hold back tears. It is so silly, but I am still amazed after everything he has been through, when he gets to just be Eli, not Eli the preemie.

Here are a couple of bonus pictures- Ava enjoying a little snack, and Eli after a jog with daddy.