When Joshua came 1 week ago he was sweet and adorable inside his 20 layers of clothes and he didn't look too bad like that, but as I started stripping off his clothes I saw something else.
By the time I got him mostly naked I was telling myself, "you have got to be kidding, this kid isn't just sick, he is dying."
That he made it to MSFH in that condition is amazing in itself, that he is alive 1 week later is a miracle.
Joshua arrived in severe respiratory distress. He could barely breath. We had been told he had just recovered from pneumonia, but that wasn't the story that his little lungs were sharing with me when he arrived.
I called the hospital but they didn't have any beds, so we started treating at home, in our own little isolation unit. The next day we saw a doctor who advised we continue the treatment he was getting, but by Sunday night he was worse. We rushed him to the ER and he was admitted.
On Tuesday morning I received a call that made the rest of the day crazy. Basically the call was that he was not going to live unless he received surgery asap. The surgeon said they would not do surgery asap if he has pneumonia, and the pediatrician said there was no chance of improvement without surgery. It was all confusing and complicated. We ended up making calls to hospice foster homes to see if they could take him, and made arrangements with the surgeon to do one more echo of his heart.
Yesterday we spent all day at 2 different hospitals, and finally the answer was, "we will do surgery."
We are waiting for the head the cardiac surgery to return to the hospital and then Joshua will receive surgery from him, probably early next week.
He was discharged from the hospital he was in back into our care until Monday when he will be admitted to the heart hospital.
Amazingly the $10-$12,000 surgery has been already PAID for!
However, when he was discharged yesterday we were given a $4,000 bill from the hospital he was in, and though they gave us a discount they were not able to do better than that.
I am so amazed that God keeps sending such sick babies, and then He keeps protecting them and providing for them.
I can't wait to see how this little boy grows and thrives with a healthy heart!
