Some History

So here is the history of the illness, sorry if it boring.
June

• 22, Tues Emma starts to get sick with diarrhea.

• 23, Wed Emma is still sick, a slight fever. We left for camping in my parents RV. Had hamburgers and went swimming in the lake. We thought it would be fine since it was air conditioned. Pick up Ben from Spokane Airport at 1 am.
• 24, Thurs. Camping at Clear Lake by Spokane, Emma still sick, getting worse, trouble sleeping, abdominal pain. We leave in the morning to take Emma back to Moses Lake. Austin seems warm, but exhibits no other symptoms, and seems otherwise happy. We leave him with our family. They leave a couple hours after us. We call Dr. Milligan's office (a Dr in Ben's parents ward, that I have been seen by before) for Emma but he is on vacation. Now Austin seems really warm when he gets home, and has a fever of 100.3. We can't decide if this is from being out in the sun too much, or something other, so we let him sleep.
• 25, Friday Austin and Emma did not sleep well. Austin started throwing up, shivering and his lips, legs, and arms started turning blue. Rushed him to the ER. Gave fluids, took blood. Found nothing conclusive, so they sent us home. Emma and Austin both now have severe abdominal cramps and will not sleep more than 20 minutes at a time, waking screaming in pain, then poop and go back to sleep. We are changing them every 20 minutes or so.
• 26, Saturday, Austin and Emma still can't sleep. Emma is very lethargic. We take her to the ER to get fluids, and they run labs on her. The Dr informs me it could be up to two weeks before we get and results on the stool sample, tells us there is nothing they can do, and send us home. Austin continues to throw up, including the dissolve-able anti-nausea medication Zofran. We call Children Hospital in Seattle to ask if their labs are faster and consider driving over, eventually we get a hold of the lab in Moses Lake that informs us the Dr. was misinformed and the labs should get back to us on Monday. Since the kids were around farm animals it could be parasitic. We decide if the labs are inconclusive we plan on going to Children's Hospital in Spokane. In the evening Emma is feeling better and eating a little something. Austin is still sick, but now consistently has small steaks blood in his stools. The ER Dr will not take our calls, and they say we have to bring him in again. We speak to our pediatrician in Ca and he agrees to our plan to take him to Children's hospital. We are confused about what to do since the ER Dr said there was nothing they could do for him, and his labs had been clear earlier.
• 27, Sunday, Austin's symptoms have not changed, but that the amount of blood is growing. Emma is getting better and better. We are hoping since Austin appears to be two days behind his sister in symptoms that he will hopefully feel better soon.
  
• 28, Trying to decide what to do, we try to get a hold of Dr Milligan, but can't get through to him. We try and take Austin to the walk-in clinic to hydrate him while we wait for the lab to call us for the test results. Since the walk-in clinic is in the same building as Dr Milligan I (Cortney) stand in front of his office and through half drawn blinds flag him down, he comes out and we make an appointment for 1:30. At the appointment they give him an IV, and have a CT scan done. It looks like it might be appendicitis, so they call ahead and we drive to Spokane Children's. They say that he is really sick but it is not appendicitis, and they run tests, they think it might be HUS, among other things. He starts asking for water, but under Dr's orders he can't have any. We are admitted to the hospital, and told we will have to be there for 3 or 4 days.
  
• 29, Tuesday. We are told he has HUS, and are introduced to Dr. Hernandez, a pediatric Nephrologist. He explains the HUS to us, and explains that his kidney's are shutting down. Austin is still in pain, and they give him some pain medication that let him sleep for the first time in 4 days. He is officially diagnosed with aggressive strain of E. Coli 0157. Emma's test is confirmed negative for E. Coli, we are still watching her, running labs at Dr. Milligan's office.
  

• 30, Wednesday, Austin goes on dialysis, and receives a blood transfusion.

July

• 1, Thursday, Austin is making progress, he can drink an ounce every three hours, and he is more alert. Also his stools are improving, little to no blood, so the E. Coli is working through his system. He also responds to us more and more. It is truly a blessing.
  
• 2, Austin is having better and bigger poop, that is good because it is the only way for body to flush out the E. Coli. He is in more pain though today from the abdominal cramps (think of having the worst diarrhea cramps a couple times an hour for a week=not fun). Our Dr said the HUS is slowing down (good), but his white blood cell count is up, so that might be a sign of infection in his blood.
• 3, Austin's blood culture was negative, which is good. We backed off the pain meds because they slow his gut, but he is in a lot more pain. He also can't have very much water and that is all he wants (and juice). So between that and the cramps we feel pretty helpless, it is sad, but we have to buck up and be strong for our little man. His story was on the radio in Moses Lake to encourage people to donate blood. Every other person that goes into the clinic donates blood in Austin's name. The CEO of Samaritan Hospital calls for permission to have a blood drive in Austin's name. Here is what we put on Facebook: Our dear friends and family, thank you for your love and support. All blood types are welcome so please encourage everyone who can to donate blood to an Inland Northwest Blood Center (http://www.inbc2.org/) in Austin's name (and address, see comments). Again, all blood types are welcome. This will offset the cost of the blood we get and pay it forward for the blood we are using. Please see link for locations. This is the most helpful thing you can do, other than pray for us.

• 4, Sunday, Hundreds of people fasted and prayed for Austin. His white blood cell count is down, but he slept last night. They put the pic line in so we have another spot for blood transfusions. Austin is doing well. He did have to get a blood transfusion, but his numbers are holding surprisingly well, and they said he is in the clear as far as not having an infection. We are so grateful to Heavenly Father who listens to our prayers, and blesses us with continuous little victories.
• 5, Monday, Our Dr said that Austin's red blood cells rupturing will peak in a couple of days (so it has to get a little worse before it get's better) but when that happens he will hopefully get the E. Coli through his system. Other than that he is holding down the Pedialite and the Dr was asking what his favorite foods are. Tomorrow he might get some jello. I am trying not to get too excited just in case it doesn't happen or something else happens, but I am so grateful that we are so blessed. Heavenly Father listens to prayers, and loves us.
  

Sorry this post is so long, and some of this is repeated on Facebook, but I plan on scrap booking this. I will be truthful that this has been the hardest thing that either Ben and I have been through. We appreciate all of your prayers, and good thoughts. Thank you!