Anthony's Big Adventure

At least that's what we're trying to tell him.

Unfortunately, he had to check into the hospital Monday due to a high fever, labored breathing and refusal to eat. He'll likely be here until tomorrow (Wednesday). We don't have a firm diagnosis yet, but it's apparently some type of virus.

We took him to the ER on Saturday evening when his fever spiked a little high. The ER doctor -- who had a soap opera name (Drake or Ridge or something) and was all of 16 (one of the disturbing things about getting old...people you need to trust, like ER doctors who are poking and prodding at your firstborn, look half your age) -- diagnosed pneumonia.

Doogie told us to give antibiotics and fever-reducing meds, but the high fever continued Sunday, accompanied by a refusal to eat and other symptoms that led us to fear dehydration (I won't go into the gory details). So, we dragged Anthony to his pediatrician Monday, and the pediatrician admitted him to the hospital.

Check in was a bit of an ordeal. The man who checked us in was very nice -- and I know part of my impatience can be blamed on the fact that I was holding my listless, feverish child -- but it took FOREVER. First of all, no one in South Florida can spell Josephsen. After repeating "it's s-E-n" 12 times, we were onto Brandon's email address: "Hotmail? Is that two words? With a dash? No? One word?" Seriously? I though 90 percent of the world's email accounts were on hotmail. Then, when we were finally done, we discovered he'd used Brandon's middle name on the form. So, after re-inputting all the information he somehow managed not to run out of toner and finally we were on our way.

But really, everyone at the hospital has been great, even though the Joe Dimaggio Hospital motto is to provide "Very Good" care. So they need to start giving worse care to even out to "very good." But still, there's nothing sadder than a children's hospital and its' accompnaying tiny medical stuff (tiny blood pressure, tiny IV, tiny hospital gown).

Anthony has been a trooper through it all, even managing to play with his toys using his bandaged IV hand.

That said, I know we're so lucky compared to a lot of the people here, and we're so grateful for that. The doctors say Anthony is going to be fine, and he does seem better today -- perkier, breathing better, less feverish, etc. Hopefully, he'll be back to his old self before we know it.

Some more pics...the little guy rests in his crib as jealous mom and dad try to sleep on the cold tile floor:

Anthony's pediatrician ordered the BRATT (Banana, Rice, Applesauce, Tea, Toast) diet at the hospital. No one seemed to think it was odd that they were bringing a whole banana, cup of tea, plate of rice and piece of crunchy toast to a 7-month old. I at the rice and banana and applesauce for lunch (I asked Anthony first):

Anthony when we first arrived...he was so lethargic...now he's scooting around his crib and trying to charm all the nurses: