The Calm Before the Storm

 We are now just hours away from Isaac’s big surgery and while fear, nervousness, and optimism abound, it is also a time to reflect on our little Isaac.  He has made such great strides over these past three years, and especially these past few months.  His personality has blossomed and he continues to defy the odds as he stands routinely and is showing the ability to move his legs independently.  There are all kinds of things we could probably talk about, but I think just attaching some pictures is the best way to communicate leading into this procedure.  We will be posting updates on Isaac’s progress throughout the day tomorrow, as the procedure is expected to be about 10 hours.  Keep Isaac, his doctors & nurses and our family in your thoughts and prayers please, this is a big surgery for him.

Hugs from our family to yours! 

 

Happy Easter!

They boys have had a wonderful Easter weekend. We had our own Easter Egg Hunt at our house (over  and over we hid the eggs) on Saturday. Gigi and Pops came for a visit, and left some special Easter goodies.

Saturday evening, we had an "Easter Party" (they boys consider anything a party when we have people over, and Mommy & Daddy don't go bye bye!). We had a great time with Uncle Dale, Aunt Susie, Cassie and Craig (Cassie's roommate from college).

Easter Church was great - Uncle Brett & Aunt Katie joined us. Isaac & Eli have really been enjoying the children's music time that we get to have during church. That is most definitely their favorite part!

We're wrapping up the weekend with a trip over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter dinner/party :) with everyone!

What a gorgeous, beautiful, family filled weekend. We LOVE our families! (and we missed you - Uncle John & Aunt Roxy!)

 

Eli's first "real" song

Eli loves to sing. He has forever been singing his ABC's, Row Row Row your Boat, Happy Birthday, and his most recent favorite is to sing Jingle Bells. No, I'm not confused. Yes, it is March 11th. And yes, we obliged at bedtime last night and sang Jingle Bells, complete with the "dashing in the snow" part (often requested as 'bashing' in the snow). It's awesome.

More awesome than that, we got out of the car yesterday, and he was singing a song that was on the radio. I sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) wonder "am I doing this parenting thing right?" And then am usually quickly interrupted by one of the boys saying, "I'm poopy" or screaming over a toy. This time though, I just knew. We've long made it a priority that what the boys see and hear are things that we would want them to repeat. 

When we got out of the car, Eli was singing, "Carry me, Carry me, Carry me now...." Which was the only line he sang - but here is the rest of the chorus:

Carry me, carry me, carry me now

From my sinking sand to Your solid ground

The only way I'm ever gonna make it out

Is if You carry me, carry me, carry me now.

God carry me, carry me, carry me now

I know we've been through a trying time, but it is times like these when my boys (all 3 of them!), can quickly remind me of where I need to place my trust! 

Boys will be Boys...

And now, we're back to your regular programming. No hospital pictures or talk here.... 

Couch bounce 

"I jump with my one leg" 

There's no place like home!

Short, sweet, and to the point.  Isaac is HOME!!!!  After getting his wound vac taken off, a new dressing put on his incision, and discharge papers filled out, Isaac busted out of CMH at around 11:45a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28th.

Isaac was pretty stoked to be going home and immediately told mommy to go on to work and that he would play with Eli and Jaime.  He smiled all day and all night (except for the two rather disgusting poops he had!) and was so nice and gentle with Eli it just made both of us smile.

Isaac has no restrictions on what he can and can't do and we are hopeful to get back into a normal routine here shortly.  So, this post will end with photos, cause that is more fun that text anyway right?  Isaac is home!!

Isaac giving Baby medicine this morning at breakfast. 

Throwing a snowball
2.27.2013

Taking the wagon for a wild ride down the ramp...
2.27.2013

Bedtime 2.27.2013
After he was on his tummy (first time since surgery), and sat up - said:
"I can sit up and my back doesn't hurt.
They fixed it!"

My name is Eli

Dear Isaac Admirers,

Hi, my name is Elias, and I just wanted everyone to know that I am doing fine!  No, seriously!  I have had so many people wondering how I was doing throughout my brother's long stay at the hospital that I  have swiped the computer and have decided to do my own update.  It's been awhile since I have been able to do this, so let me tell you a little bit about me.

Name:  Elias
Height: 2 ft 10 inches (but I can dunk on a 4ft rim!)
Weight: 23lbs (lay off people, I am eating okay!  Remember what they say, big things come in small packages)
Reach - 20 inches (in case I want to be a boxer!)
Favorite Color - Today - Blue (not pink!!!)  Usually I love green, purple, yellow, or any other color that makes me look cool.
Favorite animal - Depends on the day, tonight before I went to bed, I told daddy it was elephants.
Favorite food - Pasta right now.  I also love me a good beef taco with guacamole.  No cheese please!  It makes my tummy hurt.  I also have an affinity (yes, I have an awesome vocabulary) for tamales, chicken nuggets, and gorilla cereal.
Favorite person in the whole wide world - Isaac!  I talk about him all the time.  I know people are worried about him, but I called him the other night and he sounded fine to me, so quit worrying people.  I mean, anytime I make him mad, he just grabs me and pulls me down, so obviously he is Superman.   He is my brother, aint nothin happenin to him.
Favorite Activities - Jumping, running, playing with cars, reading my books, and generally doing anything that requires me to move around!  And yes, I do love the snow!  I also do torment Isaac occasionally but it is out of love.

Favorite Parent - Hahahahaha, you thought I was going to answer!
Favorite Word/Phrase - Pimp milk (though I may not say it anymore, I can't decide)
Favorite Train - Percy (hahahahahahahahaha)
Favorite Outing - The train station of course!!!  I also love riding the alligators (elevators) with Isaac and mommy and daddy.


Anyway, that is a little about me for all of you who may have forgotten.  I have been staying with Grandma and Grandpa some while Isaac has been in the hospital.  Gigi and Lisa have also helped take care of me, and of course I can't live without Jaime.

I just want everyone to know I am pulling for Isaac to get better as much as the rest of ya.  I can't wait to get my brother back home.  That way we can play together and mommy and daddy can get some rest!

I am going to add some pics to this post soon, but daddy can't figure out how to add them.  Silly daddy, I already know more about technology than he does.  

All done!

Isaac loves to say, "I all done." Also of note, "I not like this." Both of which we heard this morning, and while it breaks your heart to hear him say it - we were relieved to say, "Yes, you are all done."

We weren't sure what time Isaac was going to make it to the operating room this morning, as at 7am, we hadn't heard whether or not all of the doctors had made their way in to the hospital to meet our originally scheduled time. About 10 minutes later, two nurses from the operating room showed up to escort us down there. We quickly got Isaac his Valium so he would be much more relaxed and at ease. This has proven to work for him, keeps the anxiety levels down for him.

Isaac was delighted to see Dr. S and Buddy in the prep room - true signs that (1) he really likes his doctors and trusts them, and (2) he was under the influence!

Ryan and I were prepared for Dr. S to go ahead and close the incision, or, if things were not looking as healed as he wanted, we would have gone for yet another round. Luckily, Dr. S was impressed with what he saw, and was able to close the incision, after he cleaned it out again. Dr. S truly feels that we are going to be able to continue to treat the infection with long term antibiotics (6 months +). We met with Infectious Disease again, and that was their thought as well. There is dissension between the teams as to how long Isaac should stay on the antibiotic, and this is due to the fact that over time, the risk for the infection to come back decreases, but the only way to know for sure is to stop the antibiotics. From my understanding, an infection can live long term on foreign instruments that are in the body, such as his rods, so that is where the real risk would lie.

As most people know - today was the second round of snow storms we received in the last week. The first of which was on Thursday (which was surgery day #3), and then today. Both of these surgeries/procedures would have been bumped, had we not been inpatient at CMH, due to weather. We were one of only 9 scheduled OR cases today, and Dr S's only OR case.

God knows what he is doing - and reminds us of that. We had the option of using a long term wound vac and going home after surgery #2, but after all of the discussions, it was in Isaac's best interest to proceed the way we did. By staying here, he received all of the treatments he did, and will get to go home with no tubes, no drain, no wound vac, no nuthin!

If all goes as planned, we will be home on Thursday evening. We can't wait! - Actually, when Isaac woke up from anesthesia, and his subsequent nap, he asked (in his squeaky post op voice), "my back all better, we take this out (points to IV), take this off (points to O2 sensor), get in my car, go to Iz's house, and play with Eli."

Melt.my.heart.