The day after…

March 31, 2011 | Updates

Well, Samuel slept very well last night - about 8 hours. He woke up ticked off, though. But some medication calmed him down, so I’m thinking it was pain. We’re just rotating between high doses of ibuprophen and loratab to control his pain. He’s been pretty happy all morning - although he likes me to lay right next to him most of the time. We’re waiting to make sure his bowels are moving correctly since sedation can mess things up that way, I guess. We also have to sit him up and make sure he doesn’t have a spinal headache from spinal fluid drainage in the incision in his back. As long as he does ok with sitting up, we’ll head home. Even if he does have a headache, we’ll probably go home. I’ll just have to work out a way to get Tom down here to help me drive Samuel home.

I checked again with the surgeon this morning about exactly what was repaired during the surgery. He said it was just the muscle wall - no organs were affected. I asked him if it would heal ok given that Samuel is constantly using those abdominal muscles by pulling his legs up into a fetal position. (Legs go up and down, up and down all day.) He said it should heal fine and he didn’t forsee any problems. He said there were “A LOOOOOTTTT” of stitches in there. I got the feeling he didn’t even know how many because he’d lost count. Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling, huh? (Read that line very sarcastically, please.)

So, we should be going home today. It makes me a little nervous, but Samuel is nervous being here, so it’s probably better to just take him home where he can be comfortable. We have all the equipment we need there and I can at least be with my other kids while I’m laying next to Samuel in bed watching kid movies all day :).

Stitches will come out in 10 days. I’ll post for sure by then, if not earlier.

The Surgery…

March 30, 2011 | Updates

Samuel is currently in surgery. We had to be at the hospital at 7 am, which was a bit of an inconvenience seeing as how the hospital is 2 hours from our home. But we made it. And after talking to the nurse, the doctor and the anesthesiologist, they took him back for surgery. I was nervous all the way down here and while we were waiting. I explained everything to Samuel, but I’m sure he’s going to be upset when he wakes up because it’s not like you can tell your kid they’re going to make a 6 inch incision in his abdomen and a 2 inch incision in his back without really freaking him out. So, I just kept it simple…you get to take a nap; they’ll take that big bothersome thing out of your tummy; when you wake up it will be a little sore; but it will get better quick. Maybe you know the drill. Hopefully, you don’t :).

I was good and fine until they separated us. And then I walked back down the hall crying a little. It’s so hard to put them in the hands of strangers and hope that they come back to you just fine. So as I walked away, I put him in Heavenly Father’s hands. That felt better.

I’ll update this post through the day as things occur. He should be out of surgery within 30-90 minutes. It’s only been 30 now.

UPDATE: Samuel came out of surgery about 90 minutes after he went in. They called me about 45 minutes in to let me know it was taking longer than they expected. The doctor was very kind and explained after the surgery that the pump had erroded through Samuel’s entire abdominal wall. He said he had only heard of this happening once - where the pump erroded the wall and slipped down into the pelvis. He has never personally seen it. He said Samuel’s pump was headed down into his pelvis and that it would have required removal anyway as it should not have been there. The doctor said he repaired some things and when I asked specifically, it sounded like it was the abdominal wall that needed repairing. It sounded as though everything should heal fine, however. I’m hoping so. I’ll admit that the news that it was floating in his abdominal cavity shocked me. I guess I should have expected it, but when the doctor examined him prior to surgery, he felt sure that it wasn’t very deep. I’m a bit upset that it was placed so deep to begin with as I’m sure this contributed to the errosion. I’m just glad it’s out, though, and hoping that it heals well. The doctor also indicated that he cut out the old scar on Samuel’s abdomen before stitching it up in hopes the new scar would heal better that way. I don’t know much about scars, so we’ll see.

Samuel woke up hopping mad. We gave him a lot of medication for pain and in the end decided it was entirely possible he was just upset by how the sedation medication was making him feel. It’s been about 3 hours since surgery ended and he’s more calm now. He’s watching one of his movies, so that certainly helps :).

Baclofen Pump Surgery…

March 23, 2011 | Updates

If you can remember far back enough, Samuel has had saline in his baclofen pump since the first part of April 2010. I’ve been putting off having the surgery to take his pump out because I hate to mess with the good place that we are in. I guess it sort of feels like scheduling elective surgery although it isn’t. I don’t know. I’ve just been avoiding it.

But, at the end of January, I decided I needed to take the dive. The pump will need a new battery in the next year anyway. There’s no reason not to just have it removed. He clearly doesn’t need it anymore. His tone hasn’t changed a bit since filling it with saline. The only thing that it might possibly do for him is keep him from moving so much. But I’m not sure that’s a good thing for him. It’s definitely nicer for me in caring for him. But I want what’s best for him…so, pump.out!

I originally scheduled the surgery for February 14th. But in meeing with the surgeon on the 10th, I was suddenly uncomfortable having him do it. The surgeon didn’t remember us…didn’t even know why we were there because no one had put an op-note in our file yet. But after explaining everything to him and him confirming that he didn’t remember putting Samuel’s pump in, he decided to have a look at Samuel’s stomach. And the instant he looked at him, he said, “Oh, this is the first pump I ever put in.” And then, “I put it in deeper than most pumps are done.” This instantly confirmed things that I’ve heard nurses and doctors say in passing over the past 5 years. Yes, this was the doctor’s first pump surgery. Yes, he put the pump on the wrong side of Samuel’s abdomen. And, yes, it was put in different than any other pump - much deeper - not just below the skin, but below the abdominal muscle wall. But the real kicker was when he said, “I think I can still get it out, though.” Really…you THINK?

The conversation didn’t get much better from there. There was discussion about whether or not the incision on Samuel’s back would need to be opened up. At first, the answer was no, and then, the answer was yes. He was “pretty sure” there were anchors back there. He was “pretty sure” he would need the full incision opened. He was going to go in there “assuming” that enough scar tissue would have formed for the pump to come right out. And if it wouldn’t…then he was sure he could get another surgeon to help him “fix” it. By the end of our conversation, I was ABSOLUTEY sure that this was not the surgeon for us. I mean, I’m sure the guy is great at brain surgery (in fact, he performed brain surgery on Ben when he was a baby), but he clearly does not have the experience we need concerning baclofen pumps. And given that Samuel’s was put in differently and deeper, we need a surgeon with enough experience to be able to get it out without any complications. And so, I made a few calls and found the surgeon who has the most experience in this area and rescheduled the surgery for March.

And you know what? Suddenly I feel a whole lot better about it all :).

UPDATE: I met with the new surgeon on the 22nd of February and I liked him much better. He took more time with us and seemed to have a good knowledge of the pump and its placement. He did say that it’s possible that it has eroded down into the abdominal cavity. But, he said he’s never seen that. But, his biggest concern is that when he pulls the tube that goes into his spinal column, it might leak spinal fluid for a few days. If that happens, Samuel will get a spinal headache - not fun. It could take a week for that leak to heal. And if it doesn’t, then they’ll have to do a blood patch. I’m hoping we don’t have to deal with any of that. But at least I now feel like we have a surgeon who knows what he’s doing :).

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: We rescheduled the surgery for March 2nd. On the 18th of February, Samuel came down with a cold. No big deal, really, he had nearly 2 weeks to get over it. But by the 25th of February, I was worried since he wasn’t entirely better. His doctor checked him over and said he didn’t hear any issues with his lungs, though, so he thought he was on the mend. By the 28th, he was MUCH worse - fever, horrible, hacking cough and just clearly so very sick. I got him on antibiotics and we hoped for the best, but on the 1st, we moved his surgery again. It’s the 3rd now, and he’s still sick, though not quite as sick as he was a few days ago. I’m sure hoping he gets better in time for the next scheduled date.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATED UPDATE: So, the second scheduled date for the surgery is nearly here (March 9th) and Samuel still isn’t well. In fact, last night he broke out in a huge rash that I’m assuming the antibiotics caused. So, on counsel from his doctor, we pulled the antibiotics, gave him some benedryl and we’ll be taking him back in to see the doctor again today. I sure hope this clears up SOON! It’s been 18 days already!

January 2011…

March 14, 2011 | Blogroll

I didn’t take one picture in January. Yup, it was THAT exciting. Just kidding (about the exciting part, not the picture part). I just try to stay in the house when it’s FREEZING outside and that makes for very few pictures since lighting in my house is pretty sparse.

We didn’t do much for New Year’s, just stayed around the house with some friends. That’s what I wanted to do, though.

We got a call from Tanner on the 5th letting us know that since his Visa wasn’t ready and his MTC training was complete, they would be sending him to Lansing, Michigan, for awhile. He then got to call again a week later on the 12th, as he waited for his flight at the airport. We got to talk to him for about 45 minutes total and it was So.Very.Nice. It did a world of good for me to hear his voice. He’d been pretty sick for the 2 weeks prior to that and I had been really worried about him (a cold that became a nasty sinus infection). But he sounded great on the phone and more than ready to leave the MTC. He was excited to get to Michigan, although we were all aware that he was about to freeze his butt off since all of his clothes were purchased with warm Brazil weather in mind, not freezing Michigan cold. We did send him a box with all of his warm outerwear that I had packed down to our basement. Honestly, the 12th of January was probably the best day I’d had in 2 months just to hear from his own mouth that he was ok!

Sick in the MTC…

Preparing for cold Michigan weather…

Arriving in Michigan - his new companionship…

The last weekend in January, I got to spend with my sister and her family. They came to visit from Alaska and we a lot of fun. It was great to see their new baby and spend some good time with them. (I forgot my camera, though. Ugh. No pictures again.)

And then, just like that, January was over, which is fine by me. January tends to be the coldest month of the year here, and I’m never too sad to see the cold weather go!

December in a Nutshell…

March 7, 2011 | Updates

About a week after Ben’s birthday, we packed up and headed to Idaho for Thanksgiving. We spent a few days in a nice cabin that our friends own. There was a TON of snow and we literally had to “swim” our way through it to get to the door of the cabin. It was pretty crazy. But once inside, it was nice and warm and filled with good friends and family…oh, and pies, we had So.Many.Pies! (I didn’t take any pictures, though, sorry :).

And once we got back home, the Christmas shopping began. I’ll spare you the details. I didn’t buy much this year, which was nice. I made Christmas candy for Tanner, which was quite the mess since I’ve never done that before - carmels that were too soft, reeses peanut butter cups coming out of my ears, cake balls that I made Kelsey finish because they were killing me off and 2 batches of divinity (neither of which turned out). I also broke my rule of “no shopping and no wrapping on Christmas” for the second year in a row, but I guess I sort of had that coming with our busy schedule the month before. In the end though, Christmas turned out nice. We spent it and the days afterwards with family and although I’m always relieved when it’s all said and done with, this year, I was extremely sad to see the kids go back to school. I could have kep them home for another 2 weeks!

Nathan so excited that Santa is at our house…

Taking turns on Santa’s lap. The cutest thing this year was that as soon as Santa asked Nathan what he wanted, his mind would go completely blank and I’d have to wisper, “Pirate ship!” to remind him.

Samuel hoping he doesn’t have to get too close to that beard. Ick!

I didn’t take many pictures on Christmas Day itself. It’s just too fun to watch the presents being opened. But here are a few…

“To infinity and beyond!”

A music playing, light flashing ball…cool!

Opening gifts…

And just to make sure no one is left out, here are a few pictures of Tanner spending Christmas at the MTC.

Showing off his Christmas lights. (The doll on his bed is a gift from Aunt Kaylee - just ignore that, ok?

Excited to open his presents. I seriously wrapped everything in separate packages - deodorant, lotion, socks, ties, t-shirt. There’s not much you can send a missionary. (Check out the duck nativity scene in the window sill…adorable and another gift from Aunt Kaylee!)

The only really crappy thing about December was that Tanner didn’t get to call home on Christmas Day. That’s pretty much a standard thing for missionaries to call home on Christmas and Mother’s Day. But, apparently when you’re in the MTC and there are about 2,500 missionaries and only about 10 phones, it just isn’t feasible. I took the news hard, but eventually recovered :). We did get to hear from him a few weeks later. 

And THAT, was December in a nutshell.