Children's "Hostibal" and Whooping Cough

In the later part of June Eli came down with what we thought was a summer cold and cough. Unfortunately after a week or two he wasn't getting better and seemed to be getting worse (and while Raymond was away for the MS Bike event no less). Over the weekend of June 30, I took Eli to the doctor once and the ER twice. Finally after a second trip to the doctor and another ER visit (3rd ER visit to be exact), Eli was finally admitted to Children's Hospital on Tuesday, July 3rd for fear of viral meningitis. Viral meningitis was fairly quickly ruled out thankgoodness, but he was kept for 4 days in the hospital while the doctors tried to figure out the cause of his illness. Thankfully Raymond was back by the time we went into the hospital. Long story short (sort of), Eli was diagnosed with whooping cough (after we left the hospital) which was causing recurring high fevers, pnuemonia, sinusitis and ear infections.

While being in the "hostibal", as Eli called it, is never a joyful experience, we made the best of it. Grandma Cook sent balloons and we went on plenty of walks through-out the hospital and outside. There was also a very cool ball machine in the lobby that Eli really enjoyed.