Third (or fourth) time's a charm..

Isaac had his third surgery of his all-inclusive stay at CMH Thursday morning. Is was the same song, third verse, a little bit louder, but not worse! Actually, Dr. S was able to partially close the wound, leaving a smaller portion of the incision open. He estimates that the incision was about 10cm initially (don't you love the metric system?), and after he sutured up the upper portion, he thinks that left about 4-5cm that hasn't been closed.

The light up toy that Eli picked out for Isaac with Gigi and Lisa

The thought process was collaborative with all of us. We arrived at an option that we all feel is the very best for Isaac. Instead of closing the wound, and leaving a significant amount of dead space beneath the surface, we redid the wound VAC (3rd time), and will plan on yet one more surgery (1st case on the OR schedule for Tuesday morning), at which time Dr. S will plan to go ahead and close the wound at that point. This will allow the deep tissue to continue to generate and repair on its own, and his back heal from the inside out.

He did great and we are so proud of him for being brave. One more to go, little buddy!

Goofy smile

Funny things that Isaac has said, and others not so funny:

When his back starts to hurt, he asks for his "Orange Tyleprofen."

Isaac took a liking to one of the Ortho residents, Dr. B, and calls him Buddy. It was Dr. B that actually treated us in the ER on Valentines day, and that was when Buddy was coined. I was trying to have a conversation with him about Isaac's plan, and Isaac gradually got louder saying, "Buddy.... Buddy.... Buddy" until he was acknowledged. Then Isaac asked him, "Buddy, wanna go find me some ice cube chips?" Which, we then all erupted in laughter. Buddy has been by to see Isaac several times, and Isaac calls him both Buddy, and Dr. B.

Isaac's least favorite part of being at the hospital is his IV, hands down. He calls it his Hy-V, which is going to get confusing when he comes home, because the grocery store we go to is Hy-Vee. :) He absolutely hates to have it flushed, but some of the nurses have figured out several tricks to get him to not get as anxious.

I think that's about it for now! We're enjoying the weekend, and trying to rest up for next week.

Hugs to all!