Liam had an infection that setteled in his hip joint as an infant and he had surgery to clear out the infection, but as he grew the hip and the hip joint did not grow quite as we had hoped and expected. We have been watching his hip and going to the Pediatric Orthopedic Dr. every so often for check ups to see how things were progressing. This year when I took him in, the x-rays showed the femoral head was not sitting in the socket where it ought to have been, but up out to the side, and the acetabular joint wasn't formed like it should have been to hold the ball joint down in place like it should have been.
From looking at the x-ray we wondered how he could even walk, let alone run and jump and all the other things 4 yr old little boys do, with seemingly no pain! The only 'pain' he would exhibit was in the middle of the night sometimes, and he woud complain of leg pain, cramps, etc. from the muscle being over tight and working so hard, as he walked with a limp or up on his toes of the right foot to compensate for teh disparity... Freqently he would wake up in the night crying and wanting me to rub his leg. With "Wotion!" (Lotion)...
So after the x-rays and then an MRI that the dr sent us to the hospital to do it under sedation, he told me that it would probably take surgery to repair or try to repair the problems. I asked how soon we 'needed' to do this surgery, and he said not IMEDIATELY, but certainly within a year probably at the most. If we didn't do something then, the arthritis would be worse, etc. as well as the younger the child, the quicker the bones heal and regenerate new bone growth, etc.
This was the same surgeon that did the initial surgery on him when he was an infant, and it sort of just felt like, 'Oh, this is just Liam, and more of what we/he has to deal with in his life...'. From what I with my untrained eye could see in the x-rays, it seemed pretty obvious surgery was probably what he needed. I showed the x-rays to Liam's Physical Therpist, and our Chiropractor, and they both concurred as well.
After a few months and hearing a few stories from other people about children and surgeries, it occured to me, perhaps we ought to get a 2nd opinion before having Liam undergo a major surgery. After getting in with my family care provider, then getting them to send in a referal for a 2nd oppinion to our insurance, and then finally hearing from the other Dr. in B'ham and making the appointment, the only time available was the day before his surgery was scheduled here in Huntsville.
Time went by, and it turned out that we took Rebekah to Tuscaloosa for new/transfer student orientation at the University of Alabama. We ended up staying with a sweet 'old' friend who is now a young married student/graduate and with a brand new adorable baby boy. On saturday, Rebekah stayed behind with our friends, and we came on home. Jessie ran Rebekah around a bit and helped her look at apartments. It was great, since she knows the areas and knew which apartments were in bad areas, and to not even bother looking at them...
Anyway, Rebekah found an apartment, so Bill and I drove with Liam back to Tuscaloosa on Wednesday morning to look at the apartment. It looked fine, and was a decent price, and it was close enough to school, she might even be able to walk to classes, and she gets an extra visitor guest parking hang tag so on game days, dad will have a place to park! yippee!!! So, Bill ad rebekah went back to the office to sign the contract for the apartment, and I went back to J's with the two little one's.
After visiting for a little while, we headed out to Birmingham for Liam's 2nd Opinion Dr. apointment. I figured 'IF' the Dr. had a completely different sort of diagnosis, and recomendation, then I would call and cancel the surgery for the next day, but we took the x-rays and the MRI results, and the Dr. said the exact same diagnosis and surgical treatment. He did explain it a little bit more clearly for me, or in more detail I think, and Bill was there this time, but it was the same. We thanked the Dr. and drove back home to get ready for Surgery the next day.
So, below is the running comentary I made on facebook through out our time in the hospital.
-Liam Hip Surgery –
June 2010
16 June 2010
Today we drove back to Tuscaloosa, to pick up Rebekah who stayed there with a friend and found an apartment. We have a signed lease... and then we went to B'ham for a 2nd opinion from a Ped. Ortho for Liam. We go in for surgery tomorrow morning for his hip.
Thanks all. We are expecting 6 weeks in a body cast. SO if anyone has any ideas about that? I welcome all suggestions to keeping a 4 yr old occupied/entertained.
17 June 2010
6:02 am
Waiting to get started... they haven't messed with him yet, so he's happily playing nintendo ds.
7:34 am
He's on his way back to surgery.
10:51 a.m.
We were waiting for an update... the surgical nurse finally called: Everything is going well. She'll call me again in another hour or hour and a half with another update.
11:56 am
Liam is about done with surgery. They called. He did great. He did end up getting a pint of blood... (not his first transfusion). They are closing him up now, and then they will do the spica cast and the Dr. should be out to talk to us in about an hour. Deep breath... now for the 'fun' part. When he wakes up in a cast, in pain and can't move... Hopefully he'll like all the fun new toys, and games, etc. to try to keep him busy.
3:12 pm
He's in his room. Snoring away - doped up on Morphine for the pain. the Dr. did a femoral reduction (cut a piece out of the femur bone) - it has a metal plate and 4 screws holding it in place, and Acetabular Osteotomy (cut the hip joint, added a bone graft), He is complaining that he itches, and he wanted us to take off the thing that was under the covers that was on him... The CAST! He doesn't really get it yet. he is still drugged up and not sure about what all of this means. He knows he has to lay in the bed somehow, but he's definitely not happy with the i.v. or the pulse-ox little thing on the end of his finger.
3:24 pm
Sorry for all the double photo's... I clearly don't know how to do the whole mobile upload of photos from my phone...
We found this Super hero Squad Bedding on sale a month or two ago. I got it and hid it away... so he'd have something cool at the hosp. He already asked where the blue bed was at (when we had folded the covers down for a bit). I showed him some of the pics of the guys on it, I said, “Isn’t it neat-o?” He is now determined that ‘MAGNETO’ another SHS Character is on it somewhere and he wanted me to show it to him!
3:58 p.m.
Random weird comments from drugged boy: "What if I want to climb on the wall?" I don't think he was fully aware of what on earth he was really saying. Or perhaps he knew exactly what HE was saying, and I just didn't understand.
4:43 pm
Screws and metal plate on his femur
We will have to do a day surgery/outpatient to remove them in 6 months to a year... If you wait closer to 2-3 yrs the bone starts growing around the metal plate and it's much harder to get out/off, if at all. Anyway, he will need another endoscopy in another 6-9 months, so we'll have th offices start coordinating all of that so they can do both at the same time under anesthesia one time for both.
6:58 pm
He wakes up because of a sleep jerk. He starts crying and saying, “help me, I'm stuck!” Then he asks, "why are my underwears off?" Poor little guy is so confused
"I can't move my leg! I can't move my leg because of the thingy (the cast), and I want to move my leg, but I'm stuck!" He's so pitiful!
On the other hand, he's watching Diego and starting to interact with the show and say the things Diego asks the kids to say/shout. He's still in between sleep and wake though.
8:32 pm
So the nurse comes in and talks to him... trying to get him to interact with her while she does vitals... he is SOOOO NOT impressed! He will ignore you and fight you, and he's so DONE already and we are JUST getting started!
Then he tells her she's a meanie, and starts saying Bye Bye! (meanwhile she continues to try and engage him in conversation... "I'm going to get you some medicine" "NO I don't want any medicine!!!!" "it's o.k. you don't have to 'take' it, I will just put it in your I.V...." meanwhile, he's saying NO! and getting more and more unhappy! and she is still trying to chat with him and make it ‘all better’.
Just do what you absolutely have to do, and then be done, please don’t spend 5 minutes trying to explain it to him. He’s not going to be any happier about any of it, and most likely he’s just going to get madder and more upset!
It’s going to be a long couple of days at the Hospital, and a Looooonnnnngggg 6 weeks in the cast!
9:08 pm
She also tells us we need to turn him every couple of hours. (I had read about that, but no one had said anything about it so far today, and I had forgotten to ask...), Bill asks if we can just turn him ourselves, so she doesn't have to come back and bother him again. She was sure she would need to do it. He didn't care who did it, he did NOT want to be messed with to turn on his side.
Shortly thereafter, Liam says his butt itches. (he is having lots of itches, and keeps wanting dad to reach under the cast to scratch his itches…) “Scratch my butt” he says, so dad sneakily suggests we turn him onto his side so we can reach to scratch… It Worked! Usually I don’t think I’d be thrilled with this word or the insistence it was used with, and I probably wouldn’t be posting it, but, it was kind of funny!
18 June 2010
A Looooonnnggg Night! Fever, discomfort, not understanding what is going on. He would drift off to sleep, then have a sleep jerk, and wake himself up. Very sad! He wanted physical contact...
somtimes with dad, sometimes with mom... so we had to play musical beds and figure out how to sleep with him so he could hold a hand, rub my cheek, etc... or he'd want me to rub his leg with lotion, etc... or dad to scratch his itches, (mostly way up underneath the cast on the fully enclosed leg).
the Good news is, the I.V. was disconnected (he still has a hep-lock, just in case he needs something else), and he should get the catheter out soon. The Dr. said we should be able to go home tomorrow. Yay
3:00 pm
the catheter is out! He was NOT happy!!! he yelled out, "she's a bad girl!" about the nurse. Now to see how going potty in a body cast will go! JoY!
5:00 pm Success! Yay!
Chloe Raum
I bet Liam will be a pro at peeing in a bottle by the time this is all over. He might just find it so convenient that he gives up toilets all together!
We had a BM earlier - that was interesting. Bill said, 'he just needs to hold it until dad gets home from work in the evenings, to help hold him over the toilet!' he's quite heavy and not at a very good angle for sitting up!
5:30 pm
We're Mobile! Liam has a wheelchair that reclines, so we're out of bed and cruising the hallways, and playing in the game room! he remembers the game room - the only positive memories he has of this place...
I made him a pair of shorts earlier in the week. I sewed the front and back together at the legs/crotch and left the sides open and put velcro on them so we could pull them up between his legs over the cast and then he is 'dressed'. I only made one pair so far, so I would know if it was the right size, etc. I might need to make the legs a little bit wider. Otherwise they work quite well. Yay!
This pair is Diego and he's playing baseball.
9:00 pm
The latest exchange: Liam "When can I walk?"
Dad " We'll get out of the Hospital and go home and you'll have the cast for 6 weeks."
Liam "6 WEEKS?!?! I don't want to have the cast for 6 weeks!"
I don't know that he even has any concept of 6 weeks!
Yesterday at 9:57pm
I think the calendar idea is a great one. Thanks Chloe! He loves to put stickers on his charts! (when he potty trained we made him a chart. When he sleeps all night in his own bed... he gets to put a sticker on his chart. I'll get the girls on that once we make the appointment for removal. Fantastic!
19 June 2010
6:30 am
Liam - "It's Morning time!" "I want to get up! Can I go to the game room?"
(It's not open yet for the day... he did get daddy to take him for a walk around the hallways)
8:00 am
Ya know, it's just our life - with Liam. Hard, but it's what we do... and as 'hard' as this 6 weeks will be on us, I just have to keep in mind that It's all so much harder on Liam than us.
11:00 am
Waiting for the Dr. from our Dr's office to show up sometime today to hopefully release us! All Liam can say today is: "I want to go home!" "Can we go home yet?"
Did you know you can hide crushed up medicine in ice cream? Thanks dad for that great suggestion yesterday!
It worked the first time anyway - Mint Chocolate Chip! masked any grittiness, and masked the flavor. The second time around... he asked for Vanilla - didn't hide it as well. I don't know if he got a full dose or not. By the 3rd time trying to take the meds by mouth - since the i.v. is out, I wasn't going to try to get him to eat ice cream in the middle of the night – 2:00 am! So we talked and talked about it. He finally agreed to take it mixed in choc milk.
It was not a happy thing, but it had been around 7 hours since he’d had any meds! He is supposed to or can take meds every 4 hours…
11:00 am
Now he's just pitifully whining about going home! and he even said he wanted his medicine at home - chewable tylnol/motrin... he hasn't had any med's since 2:30 am.
1:00 pm
I had Rebekah stop at the store and buy some chewable tylenol - grape flavored, and bring it to us when she came to visit us today. We gave him one of those and he chewed it up fairly easily. So I guess if he's not hurting enough to 'need' it, I shouldn't be too concerned about making him take medicine for pain.
2:30 pm
Just waiting...
Finally around 11:30 I tracked down our nurse, who had only been in once today thus far, to ask her what our plan was for the day. "Are we just waiting around for a Dr. to come and release us, so we can go home?” Is there anything else we are supposed to do today? The nurse had NO idea, and said she'd find out. Around noon I went to find the nurse to ask if she’d found out anything?
She told me that 'they'd be by around 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. to release us'. Great! we WILL get out of here today! I wonder however if I hadn't gone to ask the nurse after waiting all morning, if anything would have been done at all? We might have sat here into the night, still waiting...
4:00 pm
Going Home!!!! yay!
Showing posts with label Surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surgery. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Huntsville Hospital...
So, Friday night, Liam started running a little fever. He hadn't napped, so he fell asleep at about 8 p.m.
We were in the middle of Marissa's birthday sleepover party... Around 10 pm Liam, who was asleep in our bed, started gagging a bit, and Bill who was in the room with him, got him up and took him to the sink. He started calling for someone to come. Bill thought it might have been blood, but when I looked, it was soooo dark, I thought he must have gotten into some chocolate. Vomiting blood is just not the first thing that popped into my mind!
He watched T.v. for a little while and then fell back asleep. He woke up around 2 am to potty, and was quite warm again, so I gave him some children's Tylenol. At around 5 am he woke up and started crying and throwing a fit, Bill thinks looking back on it, that he may have not been completely in his right mind even then, as it was really unlike him. Then he started jerking a bit and was sort of unintelligible. I told Bill to turn on the lights, so I could 'see' him. His hands were sort of jerking, and his legs were stiff and straight out. I called our family Dr. and yes, woke her up at 5:20 a.m. After running through everything, she suggested it might have been a febrile seizure, which is quite common among children his age, and more so with boys than girls. She suggested we watch him, but make sure he is conscious, can respond to us, and that it is also normal to sleep after a seizure. So, that is what we did.
Liam spent most of the morning snuggling or sleeping in someones arms, while I finished up with the party stuff. The birthday party girls left at 10:00 a.m. and shortly afterward, Liam started fussing again, and then sent into a similar seizure type activity, getting stiff and his hands shaking, and eyes sort of rolling back in his head. Afterward, he went into the deep sleep again, but he was absolutely pale! He had NO color in his face, and his lips were white! IT was very frightening. I decided it was time to take him in...
Amanda, Sariah and I took off with him and we went first to the urgent care center right outside our neighborhood. We got inside with him and they told us they just couldn't do anything for a child with seizures there, and we needed to take him to the E.R. in town. This time I held him in my arms, while Amanda drove us to Huntsville Hospital. He had some color at that point, and was a bit responsive, but was still so out of it. I kept monitoring his pulse and breathing all the way as we drove to make sure he was still doing o.k.
We pulled up to the ER and we got out and I left Amanda to park the van. We were actually taken right back, and only had to sit in chairs in the ER waiting room for a moment. We were back in a room before Amanda even got parked and came inside. I asked the guy at the door to please bring her back to me when she got inside. We found out later they usually only let two people back with a patient, but since they were my children, they allowed them both back. At first they were quite upset, and crying, and I was amazingly together - my heart was pounding in my chest and I felt shaky, but I didn't cry at all. The girls helped as we gave the report about his health history.
They ended up needing a urine sample so they had to catheterize him, and he also had to get blood drawn and an i.v. started. The I.V. took forever, since he was so dehydrated at that point. They had to stick him at least 4 or 5 times to get the first needle in. They tried to draw blood but he just had so little to draw, it was clearly not good. They started the I.V. bolus to hydrate him and later were able to get the second I.V. line in, and it worked much better and they were able to get the blood they needed to run the tests. All this time, the girls were very helpful trying to help hold him down, gently but firmly so that he didn't' fight. Liam cried which made Sariah cry, she is still very sensitive to him and worries anytime he gets sick, that he will 'GET SICK' and here we are! Anyway, after a while, the girls were helping to hand stuff to the nurses, and picking up after them, and they were doing a great job helping out. The nurses all commented on how much help they were! and that they should train to be nurses...
The E.R. Doc had also asked me if he had had any diareah or anything unusual. I then recalled that on Thursday or something he had had a BM that had been very dark, almost Tarry looking. I didn't' give it a whole lot of thought at the time, as kids eat various things and then they will have a BM that is a strange or unusual color... So the Dr. also ordered a stool sample. They got that, and put it on the slide. They put the stuff on it and it immediately turned bright blue, meaning there was definitely blood in his stool. They ordered a CT scan and abdominal x-rays.
They got things ready and were going to admit us upstairs into the Pediatric ICU. I was actually amazingly calm throughout all of this. I guess, even though he was quite sick, they seemed to be giving us answers and talking to us more than they had when we went through the 'mystery diagnosis' 3 1/2 yrs ago with him. It had been so scary that time, as he had been so small - just 10 days old.
As we were about to be moved from the E.R. up to the PICU; Liam threw up again. It was thick and black, but definitely blood. They told us his hemoglobin levels were down to 4. (normal is 12). So they had us set up and he got a blood transfusion when we got upstairs. Dad and Brother L. arrived shortly after we arrived up in PICU. Liam had been asking for his daddy all day so far. (several times during the 2 1/2 hrs we'd been here). Dad and Bro. L gave Liam a blessing. Dad, mom and Liam stayed, and Amanda and Sariah gave hugs and kisses and then drove home with Bro. L. Later The girls came back with a change of clothes and some sweats to sleep in, and some toiletry items. I had sent home a partial list of a few things I needed, but they did a great job of thinking what we'd need immediately.
Liam had the pulse oximeter on his finger, a blood pressure cuff (on his ankle since his one arms was already immobilized), all the heart electrode leads to monitor heart rate, and breathing, then he had the I.V. going with a bag of fluid, and a bag of blood hooked up to two separate iv's and his little arm taped up and immobilized on a board thing. Along with all of this he has had a low grade fever most of the time we've been here. He has been pretty miserable and slept a lot, but he did get a bit more animated after he started to get the IV fluid and the blood transfusion. We knew he was coming around when the Dr. was standing talking with us, and I was sitting on the end of his bed. Liam told me to move, I couldn't figure out why, but then realized the t.v. was on the wall behind me, and I was blocking his vision and was in his way! He wanted to watch Hannah Montana that was on the t.v. ;-)
Well, it's been a long couple of days: Sunday he was doing better, and no longer critical, he was released out of PICU and able to go out to a regular room on the pediatric floor. That way he could have more visitors (ie:his sisters could some and dote on him all they wanted...) (the PICU Dr. even said that was definitely one of her considerations to releasing him to the ped's floor). There were/are plusses and minuses to that. Having been through this part of the Hospital once before, we knew that it was great news, as it meant he was doing so well, but also that we would have to deal with the staff. There is comfort in the continuity of care, of having basically one (or limited) care givers. They know the history, they know what they have been doing for you so far, and so can build on that base. When you are out on the floor, you have to deal with multiple care providers, interns and students. You have countless people coming in and out of your room, often in a large group. They ask irritating questions, such as, "what has he eaten recently?" or "How is he eating?" when he has NOT been ALLOWED to EAT Anything for several days!!! Just the mention of food in front of him is rough, since you have to tell him no he can't have anything, because someone else has brought it up in front of him? (Bill and I had been taking turns going out of his room to eat, so that we didn't make him feel bad, and want food he couldn't have!)
It is aggravating to have to retell his whole medical history every time someone walks in the room, since they have NO idea who he is or what his situation is and what his treatment is or should be!
Liam, doesn't always warm up to new people in new situations very well. For that matter, it often takes a while for him to warm up to people he knows! SO... here we are in this new environment where it is quite scary, and mostly horrible, since he has been poked and prodded, probed and annoyed. You have each new nurse or student, and each new set of Dr, and their entourage, of students, that comes in the room and expects him to talk and interact and be happy to see them or something! Liam has basically shut down or tried to ignore when this parade comes through his room. He doesn't look at them, more often than not he frowns, and often cries. Some of them have shown a bit more compassion than others, and we appreciate them! Others, we want to string up, or possibly draw and quarter...
The first day he got the two IV's in his little arm, and all the other yucky things that he had to go through. At least whenever they needed MORE blood from him for this test or that, all they had to do was to get it through one of the i.v. lines already in place. By Monday, that was no longer working. They had to get blood from a vein directly. Well, this is like a world wrestling federation wrestling match! I have generally been laying on the bed half on top of him trying to help hold/pin him down. Bill has had to help hold his arms or legs to keep tehm from flailing or kicking, and at least two nurses have to work on it. Along with all of this, he is screaming, in hysteria, that "you can't do this to me!", "STOP! You're Hurting me!" Owie, owie, owie!, etc. etc. It is awful! I understand that they need some of these tests, however, sometimes, I think it is still just to 'check' a box on a list somewhere, and doggone it! If you don't have your BEST person come to the room to do this to my kid and get him on the first stick, instead of after a minimum of three sticks for everything he's had done, I think I am going to LOSE it!
This morning they wanted another blood draw, to make sure his platelets were up and that his clotting was good before doing the procedure. The nurse in the middle of the night comes in and mentions to me, during one of the countless times they came in to take his temp, or get his Blood Pressure, that they had it scheduled for 2 a.m.! WHAT?!?!?! I asked how long it would take to get the results back, she said it would depend on who was in the lab, etc. but average, an hour. I said, His procedure today wasn't scheduled until around NOON! couldn't they wait until a more humane hour of the day to do this? especially since he was actually sleeping through, most of the BP and Temp checks. She was able to put it off until about 5 am, but still... Of course somewhere around 3 am, they decided his temp was up, and that he needed tylenol or motrin. Now, he's had a fever low grade, sometimes higher than others, since we got here, and he had up to this point only had tylenol or motrin administered twice. But this time all of the sudden he 'required' it right now! While he is sound asleep at 3 in the morning! SO, we got to wake him as they are trying to shove it down his throat, (squirt it, into his mouth), and he is fighting and spitting it out. Not so pleasant either.
The blood draw was horrible! They are telling us that the UAB Dr's (in charge of the Ped's floor) want two more blood draws from him (one today/tonight, and one int he morning). However the G.I. Dr. who did his actual procedures, told us he doesn't require any more at all. He told us he'd try to talk to them, but I don't know that it will do that much good. We can try to refuse, but it might get ugly.
Anyway, we have been through all sorts of crazy emotions! Fear being at the top of the list! I have been amazingly able to hold it together this time. I really like the t.v. show House, where people with strange illnesses come in and he and his team of Dr's try to figure out what the mystery diagnosis is to treat them or cure them or whatever it is. I however, really do NOT enjoy living an episode of the mystery illness show!
The original thought was a gastrointestinal bleed. Well, even that being the case, they had to find the reason for the bleed in the GI tract. The GI Dr. figured that if it was lower GI the blood wouldn't have made it's way back up to the upper GI tract to be able to be vomited out. Although he only vomited the two times, it was clearly (he thought) an upper GI bleed.
Saturday, until they thought they had a good idea what was causing the bleeding, and they didn't see any more fresh bleeding, they didn't want him to eat or drink anything. His poor little mouth was dry and his lips were getting a bit cracked. Bill asked me if I had any lip stuff, and the only one I had, that I had grabbed out of the van while we were on our way into the hosp, and I put it in my pocket was a lightly tinted frosty pink. We used it a few times on him since his little lips were so dry. After he threw up in the ER, Sariah got him a wash cloth to wash off his mouth and teeth, etc. When we were up in the PICU room, he asked for something to chew on. Several of us had been chewing gum, so I hoped that wasn't what he was referring to. He doesn't usually chew gum (hasn't figured out how to NOT swallow it yet). It occurred to me that he was chewing on things
Sunday evening, Liam was finally able to eat something, albeit, only a clear liquid diet. He hadn't eaten anything since sometime Friday afternoon. He had fallen asleep before we got the pizza for the birthday party girls. Bill asked him if he wanted soup to eat. When the 'soup' arrived and it was just broth and didn't have any NOODLES in it, Liam was pretty unhappy! Poor little guy! He did try to eat some of it, with his sisters encouragement, however, it was so strong and salty, that he really didn't eat very much of it, and he even started coughing, from drinking in the salt. Poor kid. He wanted food so bad!
Monday morning Dr. Mc did an endoscopy. Liam had a slight bit of sedation through his IV line, and the procedure to take pic's of his upper GI and stomach, took only about 4-5 minutes. What it showed, were viscosity's, of the esophagus. It was in actuality one of the things he was looking for, although we were really hoping it was just a bacterial infection that had caused an ulcer somewhere and would be an easy fix with some antibiotics and some antacids.
He surmised that the esophageal viscosity's were a result of something called 'cavernous transition of the portal vein'. This would be the lesser of the possibilities for the problem that he was having. So, he was sent for another C.T. scan, this time of his stomach instead of his head, to determine what the cause of the varices. Then we came upstairs and Liam was finally allowed to actually EAT something. Soft, but food, something he could actually chew on... Mac n' Cheese, Mashed potatoes (or as Liam decided, it was 'yucky stuff'),Rice, ICE CREAM, and Chocolate Milk are however his favorites!
We waited most of the day for the results from the C.T. scan. We asked the UAB Dr. if those results were back, and she said she'd check on them. She called Dr. Mc and he told her he'd come talk to us. When he came over to talk to us about the results, he said he really wasn't sure about them, since none of the three Pediatric Radiologists were working on Monday. He had gotten sort of second hand info that the Radiologist (who generally only works with adults,) didn't think he had seen what Dr. Mc had been looking for. Which was not exactly good news, he tried to lay everything out for us, saying he didn't see how it could be the worse situation with cirrhosis of the liver, which would require care at a bigger medical center either in Nashville at Vanderbilt or in Atlanta. But, since Liam did not have any jaundice or high bilirubin counts, or any other signs, he didn't see how that could be the cause.
Dr. Mc said he had called one of the ped. radiologists at home to have him take a look at the ct scan, but hadn't heard back from him yet, so he really hated to tell us any of this. We told him that we understood that, but that we'd been waiting all day and had sort of pushed him to tell us something before he had all the info he wanted in order to talk to us. While we were talking, he got a phone call from the ped radiologist. He went out into the hallway, to talk. While he was gone, Bill, who had been trying to hold it together all day just broke... he'd been reading on line all day about various scenarios, and he knew what cirrhosis meant, Liver Transplant. Which also could mean a lifetime of worry about rejection, if we even got a liver to be able to transplant, etc, etc. I amazingly felt a little numb, I don't know why, but I just couldn't let myself deal with that as a possibility, until I heard that there were no other possible causes, and solutions. Since Dr. Mc wasn't ready to give in and go with that diagnosis, neither was I.
When he came back in he told us good news: which is subjective, since it wasn't the best news we had hoped to get that morning originally, but the ped radiologist confirmed what Dr. Mc hoped/thought, that is was the cavernous transformation of the portal vein. Basically what he described this to be is that the vein(s) taking blood flow into the liver, is blocked, somehow. A jumbled mass/mess of veins. As a result, the extra blood that was not making it's way into the liver, was being shunted back up to the esophagus, and with that extra blood volume and pressure, the veins in the esophagus expanded. Since the esophagus is soft tissue, there is just not a lot of protection for those enlarged veins, and they can be scraped or scratched by hard foods, or just break open from the pressure on it's own.
What this meant, however, was to go back in and band the viscosity's (under surgery, although for an adult it would be a procedure done just like, and during the endoscopy, but since he is little, the tool to do the banding, is small enough to fit, however, it could compress the airway, and so it needed to be done in the O.R.). What he would be doing was to go in and essentially tie off the vein that was enlarged and cut of the blood supply to it, so that it would no longer be enlarged, and the blood flow would stay where it was supposed to be, and over time the body would self heal and actusally should grow other pathways for the veins to the liver. DUrring his first 10 years this should get better and he should have outgrown it. (We can hope anyway).
There were three varicose veins, but one was large, and the others are still a bit smaller and will have to be done at some time most likely over the next year or so. It is also likely that over the next couple of years he might end up having more varicosities form, and needing them to be banded as well. At least we know some symptoms and idea's to watch for if he has more of these that bleed and will get him to help imediately. The GI Dr. did say it is good that we don't live out in the toolies, so we would be far away from help if we needed it... but on the other hand he didn't act like we should be freaking out or anything.
This morning, after taking blood, which was a horrible fight, three pokes, as I already stated, we saw the UAB Dr, and entourage, and the Dr. wanted two more blood draws, one tonight, and one tomorrow morning. We did ask that IF we had to do it, we requested the Nurse Richard again, since he was so good. However, after the procedure, we talked to Dr. Mc about it. He didn't feel like he needed any more blood tests. He is only the 'consulting' Dr. so he can't write orders, but he can give his oppinions, etc. He did that, but it never got changed in the orders by the UAB Dr's. When the night nurse came on tonight, she talked to us, and we told her that we felt like if the Dr. who actually was caring for him, ie: doing the procedures, and treating him, didn't feel it was necessary to get more blood, then that was good enough for us.
Now we are just hoping that we don't have problems with being released to go home tomorrow.
Wednesday, we are supposed to go home. The Pediatric Radiologist did ask for an ultrasound in the morning, before we leave, so that he has a base line to start with so we have something to follow, as Liam grows and we can see if there are changes.
As we have been going through all of this, I am thankful for family and friends. For everyone who stepped in and helped. It really is wonderful to know I don't have to worry about my other kids, and that everyone and everything is being taken care of. I'm also thankful for those that helped with meals, for my family as well as for us here. I'm also thankful to all those who were so willing to help. I am thankful for modern technology, and the ability of the Dr's to find and fix what is wrong. I am also thankful for technology and for being able to put Rebekah on video phone on the computer so that she can interact with Liam, and sing him songs and try to help him feel better, even though she is far away.
I am so thankful for prayer, and for all the many, many prayers that have been going out for Liam and my family. For family and friends, across the country and around the globe that have been praying for us, and also for those who have put Liam's name on the temple prayer rolls. And for friends of friends or family who have also been praying for my little man!
Well, that's most of the story... I have taken lots of pic's to document this newest adventure in our lives, and one day hope to get some of them put on here.
As for now, we had to plead, beg, fight, cajole and bribe Liam to finally get a dose of motrin into him earlier. It was about an hour process. After which, I told him he could have more ice cream, although he's had several different kinds today already. ;-) He finally took it, and then got to watch more movies, and daddy read him books, and I fed him ice cream! What a life... if only, he wasn't hurting, misserable, and in a hospital!
We were in the middle of Marissa's birthday sleepover party... Around 10 pm Liam, who was asleep in our bed, started gagging a bit, and Bill who was in the room with him, got him up and took him to the sink. He started calling for someone to come. Bill thought it might have been blood, but when I looked, it was soooo dark, I thought he must have gotten into some chocolate. Vomiting blood is just not the first thing that popped into my mind!
He watched T.v. for a little while and then fell back asleep. He woke up around 2 am to potty, and was quite warm again, so I gave him some children's Tylenol. At around 5 am he woke up and started crying and throwing a fit, Bill thinks looking back on it, that he may have not been completely in his right mind even then, as it was really unlike him. Then he started jerking a bit and was sort of unintelligible. I told Bill to turn on the lights, so I could 'see' him. His hands were sort of jerking, and his legs were stiff and straight out. I called our family Dr. and yes, woke her up at 5:20 a.m. After running through everything, she suggested it might have been a febrile seizure, which is quite common among children his age, and more so with boys than girls. She suggested we watch him, but make sure he is conscious, can respond to us, and that it is also normal to sleep after a seizure. So, that is what we did.
Liam spent most of the morning snuggling or sleeping in someones arms, while I finished up with the party stuff. The birthday party girls left at 10:00 a.m. and shortly afterward, Liam started fussing again, and then sent into a similar seizure type activity, getting stiff and his hands shaking, and eyes sort of rolling back in his head. Afterward, he went into the deep sleep again, but he was absolutely pale! He had NO color in his face, and his lips were white! IT was very frightening. I decided it was time to take him in...
Amanda, Sariah and I took off with him and we went first to the urgent care center right outside our neighborhood. We got inside with him and they told us they just couldn't do anything for a child with seizures there, and we needed to take him to the E.R. in town. This time I held him in my arms, while Amanda drove us to Huntsville Hospital. He had some color at that point, and was a bit responsive, but was still so out of it. I kept monitoring his pulse and breathing all the way as we drove to make sure he was still doing o.k.
We pulled up to the ER and we got out and I left Amanda to park the van. We were actually taken right back, and only had to sit in chairs in the ER waiting room for a moment. We were back in a room before Amanda even got parked and came inside. I asked the guy at the door to please bring her back to me when she got inside. We found out later they usually only let two people back with a patient, but since they were my children, they allowed them both back. At first they were quite upset, and crying, and I was amazingly together - my heart was pounding in my chest and I felt shaky, but I didn't cry at all. The girls helped as we gave the report about his health history.
They ended up needing a urine sample so they had to catheterize him, and he also had to get blood drawn and an i.v. started. The I.V. took forever, since he was so dehydrated at that point. They had to stick him at least 4 or 5 times to get the first needle in. They tried to draw blood but he just had so little to draw, it was clearly not good. They started the I.V. bolus to hydrate him and later were able to get the second I.V. line in, and it worked much better and they were able to get the blood they needed to run the tests. All this time, the girls were very helpful trying to help hold him down, gently but firmly so that he didn't' fight. Liam cried which made Sariah cry, she is still very sensitive to him and worries anytime he gets sick, that he will 'GET SICK' and here we are! Anyway, after a while, the girls were helping to hand stuff to the nurses, and picking up after them, and they were doing a great job helping out. The nurses all commented on how much help they were! and that they should train to be nurses...
The E.R. Doc had also asked me if he had had any diareah or anything unusual. I then recalled that on Thursday or something he had had a BM that had been very dark, almost Tarry looking. I didn't' give it a whole lot of thought at the time, as kids eat various things and then they will have a BM that is a strange or unusual color... So the Dr. also ordered a stool sample. They got that, and put it on the slide. They put the stuff on it and it immediately turned bright blue, meaning there was definitely blood in his stool. They ordered a CT scan and abdominal x-rays.
They got things ready and were going to admit us upstairs into the Pediatric ICU. I was actually amazingly calm throughout all of this. I guess, even though he was quite sick, they seemed to be giving us answers and talking to us more than they had when we went through the 'mystery diagnosis' 3 1/2 yrs ago with him. It had been so scary that time, as he had been so small - just 10 days old.
As we were about to be moved from the E.R. up to the PICU; Liam threw up again. It was thick and black, but definitely blood. They told us his hemoglobin levels were down to 4. (normal is 12). So they had us set up and he got a blood transfusion when we got upstairs. Dad and Brother L. arrived shortly after we arrived up in PICU. Liam had been asking for his daddy all day so far. (several times during the 2 1/2 hrs we'd been here). Dad and Bro. L gave Liam a blessing. Dad, mom and Liam stayed, and Amanda and Sariah gave hugs and kisses and then drove home with Bro. L. Later The girls came back with a change of clothes and some sweats to sleep in, and some toiletry items. I had sent home a partial list of a few things I needed, but they did a great job of thinking what we'd need immediately.
Liam had the pulse oximeter on his finger, a blood pressure cuff (on his ankle since his one arms was already immobilized), all the heart electrode leads to monitor heart rate, and breathing, then he had the I.V. going with a bag of fluid, and a bag of blood hooked up to two separate iv's and his little arm taped up and immobilized on a board thing. Along with all of this he has had a low grade fever most of the time we've been here. He has been pretty miserable and slept a lot, but he did get a bit more animated after he started to get the IV fluid and the blood transfusion. We knew he was coming around when the Dr. was standing talking with us, and I was sitting on the end of his bed. Liam told me to move, I couldn't figure out why, but then realized the t.v. was on the wall behind me, and I was blocking his vision and was in his way! He wanted to watch Hannah Montana that was on the t.v. ;-)
Well, it's been a long couple of days: Sunday he was doing better, and no longer critical, he was released out of PICU and able to go out to a regular room on the pediatric floor. That way he could have more visitors (ie:his sisters could some and dote on him all they wanted...) (the PICU Dr. even said that was definitely one of her considerations to releasing him to the ped's floor). There were/are plusses and minuses to that. Having been through this part of the Hospital once before, we knew that it was great news, as it meant he was doing so well, but also that we would have to deal with the staff. There is comfort in the continuity of care, of having basically one (or limited) care givers. They know the history, they know what they have been doing for you so far, and so can build on that base. When you are out on the floor, you have to deal with multiple care providers, interns and students. You have countless people coming in and out of your room, often in a large group. They ask irritating questions, such as, "what has he eaten recently?" or "How is he eating?" when he has NOT been ALLOWED to EAT Anything for several days!!! Just the mention of food in front of him is rough, since you have to tell him no he can't have anything, because someone else has brought it up in front of him? (Bill and I had been taking turns going out of his room to eat, so that we didn't make him feel bad, and want food he couldn't have!)
It is aggravating to have to retell his whole medical history every time someone walks in the room, since they have NO idea who he is or what his situation is and what his treatment is or should be!
Liam, doesn't always warm up to new people in new situations very well. For that matter, it often takes a while for him to warm up to people he knows! SO... here we are in this new environment where it is quite scary, and mostly horrible, since he has been poked and prodded, probed and annoyed. You have each new nurse or student, and each new set of Dr, and their entourage, of students, that comes in the room and expects him to talk and interact and be happy to see them or something! Liam has basically shut down or tried to ignore when this parade comes through his room. He doesn't look at them, more often than not he frowns, and often cries. Some of them have shown a bit more compassion than others, and we appreciate them! Others, we want to string up, or possibly draw and quarter...
The first day he got the two IV's in his little arm, and all the other yucky things that he had to go through. At least whenever they needed MORE blood from him for this test or that, all they had to do was to get it through one of the i.v. lines already in place. By Monday, that was no longer working. They had to get blood from a vein directly. Well, this is like a world wrestling federation wrestling match! I have generally been laying on the bed half on top of him trying to help hold/pin him down. Bill has had to help hold his arms or legs to keep tehm from flailing or kicking, and at least two nurses have to work on it. Along with all of this, he is screaming, in hysteria, that "you can't do this to me!", "STOP! You're Hurting me!" Owie, owie, owie!, etc. etc. It is awful! I understand that they need some of these tests, however, sometimes, I think it is still just to 'check' a box on a list somewhere, and doggone it! If you don't have your BEST person come to the room to do this to my kid and get him on the first stick, instead of after a minimum of three sticks for everything he's had done, I think I am going to LOSE it!
This morning they wanted another blood draw, to make sure his platelets were up and that his clotting was good before doing the procedure. The nurse in the middle of the night comes in and mentions to me, during one of the countless times they came in to take his temp, or get his Blood Pressure, that they had it scheduled for 2 a.m.! WHAT?!?!?! I asked how long it would take to get the results back, she said it would depend on who was in the lab, etc. but average, an hour. I said, His procedure today wasn't scheduled until around NOON! couldn't they wait until a more humane hour of the day to do this? especially since he was actually sleeping through, most of the BP and Temp checks. She was able to put it off until about 5 am, but still... Of course somewhere around 3 am, they decided his temp was up, and that he needed tylenol or motrin. Now, he's had a fever low grade, sometimes higher than others, since we got here, and he had up to this point only had tylenol or motrin administered twice. But this time all of the sudden he 'required' it right now! While he is sound asleep at 3 in the morning! SO, we got to wake him as they are trying to shove it down his throat, (squirt it, into his mouth), and he is fighting and spitting it out. Not so pleasant either.
The blood draw was horrible! They are telling us that the UAB Dr's (in charge of the Ped's floor) want two more blood draws from him (one today/tonight, and one int he morning). However the G.I. Dr. who did his actual procedures, told us he doesn't require any more at all. He told us he'd try to talk to them, but I don't know that it will do that much good. We can try to refuse, but it might get ugly.
Anyway, we have been through all sorts of crazy emotions! Fear being at the top of the list! I have been amazingly able to hold it together this time. I really like the t.v. show House, where people with strange illnesses come in and he and his team of Dr's try to figure out what the mystery diagnosis is to treat them or cure them or whatever it is. I however, really do NOT enjoy living an episode of the mystery illness show!
The original thought was a gastrointestinal bleed. Well, even that being the case, they had to find the reason for the bleed in the GI tract. The GI Dr. figured that if it was lower GI the blood wouldn't have made it's way back up to the upper GI tract to be able to be vomited out. Although he only vomited the two times, it was clearly (he thought) an upper GI bleed.
Saturday, until they thought they had a good idea what was causing the bleeding, and they didn't see any more fresh bleeding, they didn't want him to eat or drink anything. His poor little mouth was dry and his lips were getting a bit cracked. Bill asked me if I had any lip stuff, and the only one I had, that I had grabbed out of the van while we were on our way into the hosp, and I put it in my pocket was a lightly tinted frosty pink. We used it a few times on him since his little lips were so dry. After he threw up in the ER, Sariah got him a wash cloth to wash off his mouth and teeth, etc. When we were up in the PICU room, he asked for something to chew on. Several of us had been chewing gum, so I hoped that wasn't what he was referring to. He doesn't usually chew gum (hasn't figured out how to NOT swallow it yet). It occurred to me that he was chewing on things
Sunday evening, Liam was finally able to eat something, albeit, only a clear liquid diet. He hadn't eaten anything since sometime Friday afternoon. He had fallen asleep before we got the pizza for the birthday party girls. Bill asked him if he wanted soup to eat. When the 'soup' arrived and it was just broth and didn't have any NOODLES in it, Liam was pretty unhappy! Poor little guy! He did try to eat some of it, with his sisters encouragement, however, it was so strong and salty, that he really didn't eat very much of it, and he even started coughing, from drinking in the salt. Poor kid. He wanted food so bad!
Monday morning Dr. Mc did an endoscopy. Liam had a slight bit of sedation through his IV line, and the procedure to take pic's of his upper GI and stomach, took only about 4-5 minutes. What it showed, were viscosity's, of the esophagus. It was in actuality one of the things he was looking for, although we were really hoping it was just a bacterial infection that had caused an ulcer somewhere and would be an easy fix with some antibiotics and some antacids.
He surmised that the esophageal viscosity's were a result of something called 'cavernous transition of the portal vein'. This would be the lesser of the possibilities for the problem that he was having. So, he was sent for another C.T. scan, this time of his stomach instead of his head, to determine what the cause of the varices. Then we came upstairs and Liam was finally allowed to actually EAT something. Soft, but food, something he could actually chew on... Mac n' Cheese, Mashed potatoes (or as Liam decided, it was 'yucky stuff'),Rice, ICE CREAM, and Chocolate Milk are however his favorites!
We waited most of the day for the results from the C.T. scan. We asked the UAB Dr. if those results were back, and she said she'd check on them. She called Dr. Mc and he told her he'd come talk to us. When he came over to talk to us about the results, he said he really wasn't sure about them, since none of the three Pediatric Radiologists were working on Monday. He had gotten sort of second hand info that the Radiologist (who generally only works with adults,) didn't think he had seen what Dr. Mc had been looking for. Which was not exactly good news, he tried to lay everything out for us, saying he didn't see how it could be the worse situation with cirrhosis of the liver, which would require care at a bigger medical center either in Nashville at Vanderbilt or in Atlanta. But, since Liam did not have any jaundice or high bilirubin counts, or any other signs, he didn't see how that could be the cause.
Dr. Mc said he had called one of the ped. radiologists at home to have him take a look at the ct scan, but hadn't heard back from him yet, so he really hated to tell us any of this. We told him that we understood that, but that we'd been waiting all day and had sort of pushed him to tell us something before he had all the info he wanted in order to talk to us. While we were talking, he got a phone call from the ped radiologist. He went out into the hallway, to talk. While he was gone, Bill, who had been trying to hold it together all day just broke... he'd been reading on line all day about various scenarios, and he knew what cirrhosis meant, Liver Transplant. Which also could mean a lifetime of worry about rejection, if we even got a liver to be able to transplant, etc, etc. I amazingly felt a little numb, I don't know why, but I just couldn't let myself deal with that as a possibility, until I heard that there were no other possible causes, and solutions. Since Dr. Mc wasn't ready to give in and go with that diagnosis, neither was I.
When he came back in he told us good news: which is subjective, since it wasn't the best news we had hoped to get that morning originally, but the ped radiologist confirmed what Dr. Mc hoped/thought, that is was the cavernous transformation of the portal vein. Basically what he described this to be is that the vein(s) taking blood flow into the liver, is blocked, somehow. A jumbled mass/mess of veins. As a result, the extra blood that was not making it's way into the liver, was being shunted back up to the esophagus, and with that extra blood volume and pressure, the veins in the esophagus expanded. Since the esophagus is soft tissue, there is just not a lot of protection for those enlarged veins, and they can be scraped or scratched by hard foods, or just break open from the pressure on it's own.
What this meant, however, was to go back in and band the viscosity's (under surgery, although for an adult it would be a procedure done just like, and during the endoscopy, but since he is little, the tool to do the banding, is small enough to fit, however, it could compress the airway, and so it needed to be done in the O.R.). What he would be doing was to go in and essentially tie off the vein that was enlarged and cut of the blood supply to it, so that it would no longer be enlarged, and the blood flow would stay where it was supposed to be, and over time the body would self heal and actusally should grow other pathways for the veins to the liver. DUrring his first 10 years this should get better and he should have outgrown it. (We can hope anyway).
There were three varicose veins, but one was large, and the others are still a bit smaller and will have to be done at some time most likely over the next year or so. It is also likely that over the next couple of years he might end up having more varicosities form, and needing them to be banded as well. At least we know some symptoms and idea's to watch for if he has more of these that bleed and will get him to help imediately. The GI Dr. did say it is good that we don't live out in the toolies, so we would be far away from help if we needed it... but on the other hand he didn't act like we should be freaking out or anything.
This morning, after taking blood, which was a horrible fight, three pokes, as I already stated, we saw the UAB Dr, and entourage, and the Dr. wanted two more blood draws, one tonight, and one tomorrow morning. We did ask that IF we had to do it, we requested the Nurse Richard again, since he was so good. However, after the procedure, we talked to Dr. Mc about it. He didn't feel like he needed any more blood tests. He is only the 'consulting' Dr. so he can't write orders, but he can give his oppinions, etc. He did that, but it never got changed in the orders by the UAB Dr's. When the night nurse came on tonight, she talked to us, and we told her that we felt like if the Dr. who actually was caring for him, ie: doing the procedures, and treating him, didn't feel it was necessary to get more blood, then that was good enough for us.
Now we are just hoping that we don't have problems with being released to go home tomorrow.
Wednesday, we are supposed to go home. The Pediatric Radiologist did ask for an ultrasound in the morning, before we leave, so that he has a base line to start with so we have something to follow, as Liam grows and we can see if there are changes.
As we have been going through all of this, I am thankful for family and friends. For everyone who stepped in and helped. It really is wonderful to know I don't have to worry about my other kids, and that everyone and everything is being taken care of. I'm also thankful for those that helped with meals, for my family as well as for us here. I'm also thankful to all those who were so willing to help. I am thankful for modern technology, and the ability of the Dr's to find and fix what is wrong. I am also thankful for technology and for being able to put Rebekah on video phone on the computer so that she can interact with Liam, and sing him songs and try to help him feel better, even though she is far away.
I am so thankful for prayer, and for all the many, many prayers that have been going out for Liam and my family. For family and friends, across the country and around the globe that have been praying for us, and also for those who have put Liam's name on the temple prayer rolls. And for friends of friends or family who have also been praying for my little man!
Well, that's most of the story... I have taken lots of pic's to document this newest adventure in our lives, and one day hope to get some of them put on here.
As for now, we had to plead, beg, fight, cajole and bribe Liam to finally get a dose of motrin into him earlier. It was about an hour process. After which, I told him he could have more ice cream, although he's had several different kinds today already. ;-) He finally took it, and then got to watch more movies, and daddy read him books, and I fed him ice cream! What a life... if only, he wasn't hurting, misserable, and in a hospital!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Hannah's 'Special' Bump!
When Hannah was born, the Midwife found a little bump on her right clavicle/collar bone during the newborn exam. We took her to see the pediatrician at the Army hosp. They took x-rays, all the pediatric staff came to 'see' and it, and yet no-one knew what it was. They sent us to a pediatric orthopedic Dr. he couldn't' figure anything out, so we have just 'watched' it over the years.
We had x-rays again a little bit before she turned two, and they thought it showed that there had been a 'break' in her clavicle, and they asked me all kinds of questions... "had it been a difficult delivery?" "was she a large baby?", etc. My response was no it was a very gentle nice home birth delivery. She was only 6 lbs 12 oz. at birth. The bump had ALREADY been present at birth, how could there have been a break - that had already caused calcification to be formed/grow on the bone AT birth.
We had hoped that it would stay the same, and as she grew it would become less and less noticeable. (you had to really look for it to 'see' it as a baby). As Hannah grew, so did her bump...
We had x-rays taken every couple of years to check it see if it looked like a problem. If we wanted to have it removed it would have been purely cosmetic surgery, and as such, not covered.
In the past year or so, it had become a problem for Hannah. It was now protruding enough that it was causing her difficulty. It would get bumped and it was tender. She couldn't carry her backpack on that shoulder as it would rub and put pressure on it. So, we got another referral to see the orthopedic Dr. here. He agreed that with it causing Hannah discomfort, we could remove it. 
So, Yesterday, Hannah had her little surgical procedure to remove her bump. I will admit I was a bit nervous as she had to go under general anesthesia. Dad gave her a fathers blessing that all would go well. We dropped Liam off at K's and he even got to go on a field trip with the K sisters. He said he had lots of fun! (earlier in the week Liam had said the K was his Best Friend!). He cries whenever we drop him off anywhere, but he calms down pretty quickly, or so I'm told, and has a good time.
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We spent more time sitting around 'waiting' for the surgery to get started than it took to do the actual procedure. That part went really quickly..jpg)
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While we waited dad read a book to Hannah . The Tales of Beadle the Bard. They took us back to her in recovery, and she was still 'out'. Then all of the sudden she came around. looked at us, but was most definitely unamused! Dad was trying to crack jokes and she did not find them funny. ;-) OR was just too out of it to bother to respond still..jpg)
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While we waited dad read a book to Hannah . The Tales of Beadle the Bard. They took us back to her in recovery, and she was still 'out'. Then all of the sudden she came around. looked at us, but was most definitely unamused! Dad was trying to crack jokes and she did not find them funny. ;-) OR was just too out of it to bother to respond still..jpg)
When we finally left, it was abt. 1:00 pm. .jpg)
She was starving, as she had not been allowed to eat anything since the night before... I asked if they had anything that she could eat, like crackers or anything, they'd already given her apple juice. She was still hungry after that and she wanted waffles from IHOP. She was released around 1 pm, and off we went to IHOP after stopping off to get her prescription for pain reliever filled. Rebekah got out of class early, so we had her go pick up Liam, and be home for Marissa when she got off the bus, in case we weren't home yet.
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She was starving, as she had not been allowed to eat anything since the night before... I asked if they had anything that she could eat, like crackers or anything, they'd already given her apple juice. She was still hungry after that and she wanted waffles from IHOP. She was released around 1 pm, and off we went to IHOP after stopping off to get her prescription for pain reliever filled. Rebekah got out of class early, so we had her go pick up Liam, and be home for Marissa when she got off the bus, in case we weren't home yet.We had also promised her she could get a stuffed animal/web-kins, so after eating we stopped at Hallmark. She picked a cute little Ground Hog. I thought that was good so that she would 
remember him from her surgery day and that it was near (2 days after) Ground Hogs Day. I thought she should call it Sergio, and call it Surg(e), for Surgery... No one liked my idea. ;-) After they took her I.V. out of her arm they wrapped it with this sticky wrap thing. 
They let her pick her color. Liam thought it was really cool, because it was Green (his favorite color), and it had a long neck (he's into his dinosaurs lately). The nurse told her that after she got home if she wanted to keep the wrap part for a while she could put it on a special doll or stuffed animal or something. So today Groundy the groundhog has a belt. ;-)
remember him from her surgery day and that it was near (2 days after) Ground Hogs Day. I thought she should call it Sergio, and call it Surg(e), for Surgery... No one liked my idea. ;-) After they took her I.V. out of her arm they wrapped it with this sticky wrap thing. 
They let her pick her color. Liam thought it was really cool, because it was Green (his favorite color), and it had a long neck (he's into his dinosaurs lately). The nurse told her that after she got home if she wanted to keep the wrap part for a while she could put it on a special doll or stuffed animal or something. So today Groundy the groundhog has a belt. ;-)We stopped at target to buy some chocolate pudding to try to disguise the taste of the medicine, which she had already taken her first dose of at IHOP, after getting something in her stomach, and she had gagged and thought was horrible. Of course while we were at target, and while she was 'hurting' having just undergone surgery... we were suckered into buying all sorts of things. She got some new sweat pants for while she is laying around trying to be comfortable, and several snacks that were not-needed. Bill noticed that the swimsuits just came out and so instead of waiting till they had all been picked over and the season was upon us... (like we usually do), we went ahead and let her pick out a bathing suit for summer as well.
The Dr. didn't think that she would WANT a sling, as he said, most kids don't, but she felt like it gave her more stability to not move her arm around and cause herself pain, so we asked for a sling. The Surgery Center didn't know if they even had a small/child sized sling, but the nurse finally came up with one. She is under orders to do no throwing, pushing, pulling, running, jumping, for the next three weeks.
As for other events of the day, a mom that I'm working with had called to say she was at 6 cm when she went to her Dr's apt. earlier in the day. her dr. offered to induce her, for excessive dilation. She declined as she went through an induction with her first baby and it was a horrible experience for her. She wanted to go into labor on her own.
I was expecting to get a call soon (over the weekend at the latest), and so when I got home from picking up Marissa from Activity days, I was told she had called. I called her back and this was it. I got to her house just after 8 pm. we went to the hosp. shortly afterward, and she had a beautiful little baby girl at 10:30 p.m. I didn't get home till 2 am, though so I am kind of wiped out today...
I GUESS I can just plan that if we ever have a surgical procedure planned, someone is going to go into labor... it was a big day to be sure.
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