10 things . . .

Ten things you might not know about me . . .

1 - I hate having things on my feet.  Shoes, socks, slippers . . .  If I have to go out of the house on an errand, I will wear shoes and socks while I'm gone, and then will take them off almost as soon as I walk in the door.

2 - I hate having things on my neck.  Shirt collars, necklaces, kisses from Brandon, etc . . .  Most Sundays I can't even make it through the three hour block of church with a necklace on.

3 - Before I go to bed at night, all of the light switches have to be down.  (Unless it's in a room where we're running a ceiling fan.)  It drives me nuts not to have them all the same direction.  However, sometimes, I'll leave them switched to the last place they were switched to, just to prove that I can.  :)

4 - I have to have the closet doors in my bedroom closed at night, and have it as dark as possible, or I don't sleep well.

5 - When I was 16, I had a REALLY bad ear infection, and as a result, I have some significant hearing loss.  If I'm with a group of people and we're all chatting together, or in a busy place and we're talking, chances are that I can't hear what's being said, and I have to try to read lips, or base my reaction off the reactions of those around me.  :(

6 - Also as a result of that ear infection, I have tinnitus (ringing) in both ears.  All. The. Time.  Literally.  (And, I really do mean literally, literally!)

7 - I sleep with a stuffed football tucked up against my stomach.  If I don't have it, I don't sleep well.  My father-in-law always teases me about it, but it's true.  We once left it at my sister-in-laws house, and she couldn't find it for about a month . . .  That was one of the worst months of my life (as far as sleeping goes.)

8 - My favorite cookies are Keebler Grasshoppers.  Mint, chocolate, crunch.  Divine!!

9 - I'm fascinated with the Titanic.  I've often wondered if I had a relative that went down with the ship, but as far as I know, I don't.  I've even told Brandon that when I die, I would love to go back and experience that night, just to be there first hand.  Weird, I know.

10 - And, along with my love of music, I love to write.  Cute, funny, silly little poems are my favorite.  Our annual Christmas card is always a poem of the months.  Someday, maybe I'll try a book.

Physical Therapy six weeks later

Dr, Hutchinson asked us to come back down on May 8th to see how the physical therapy was going, and to see the progress Scott had made in his movements.  I was a bit nervous since it was so close to my due date (shouldn't have been - I ALWAYS go late), but ended up being nervous for a different reason.  I woke up the morning before with a pretty bad pain in my left shoulder thanks to a pinched nerve.  I was nervous I was still going to be hurting while we drove to SL (9 months pregnant), and unfortunately, I was.  I'm confident that prayers work, though, since I sent out a plea on facebook for my friends to pray that I'd make it through the day.  And between prayer and some Tylenol, I did.

So, anyway, we sent the other kids to school, packed up Scott & a Bear and headed down for our appointment.  I laid back as best I could in my chair, found a *somewhat* comfortable position, and tried not to move for the next hour and a half.  Scott listened to his MP3 player, and Bear just chilled. 

These are some of my old glasses that he has claimed as his own

We got to the dr.'s office, got checked in and then waited.  After about 15 - 20 minutes, they took us back to an exam room where we waited some more.  I spent most of my time sitting on a chair while hunched over the dr.'s rolling stool (stretching my back) having Brandon rub my back.  The finally came and got Scott for x-rays, and then the dr. came in about five minutes later.  When he saw me hunched over the stool, he was a bit worried that I was in labor.  :)

Just a few pictures of how nicely his hand has healed

So, Hutch examined his hand, and had him do his exercises, and was floored with how well his finger had healed, and how well he was able to move it.   He asked us to meet with Andrew again that day to get some more PT exercises, and to start meeting with a therapist once a week up in Logan.  He gave us a buddy band, and told us to come back in 6 months. (A buddy band is basically a small slip of adjustable "tape" that Scott is to wear when he's doing any sort of sports.  He's to tape his middle finger to his ring finger since the ring finger is longer.  That way, if he gets hit by a ball, the ringe finger will break instead of his middle finger.)

So, we headed back to Andrew's office where he said he'd be able to squeeze us into his schedule in about 30 - 45 minutes.  We were to be back to his office at 1:00.  (On a side note, this was right at lunch time.  We probably should have headed to the cafeteria to get something to eat, but we figured that the appointment with Andrew would only be a few minutes and we'd be okay to wait for lunch. But it lasted well over 30 minutes.  We were all VERY hungry by the time we left his office.  Especially the pregnant Mom.)

So, anyway, Andrew, and a new student, Randy, measured (in degrees) how much Scott was able to move his fingers, and then gave us some new exercises to do with Scott.  The evaluated how well the old exercises had been, praised Scottie for all of his work, and then really stressed how important these new ones are.  They don't want the tendon to seize up and get stuck to the bone, and get stuck with the scar tissue, so they emphasized how much we needed to do these.

Andrew helping him with some PT . . .

. . . followed by Randy

After we were done with the appointment, Andrew let Scottie pick out a toy.  They had some stuffed animals in the closet, and that's the first thing Scott went for.  He chose a cute little dog, and decided to name him Chocolate.  Andrew was so sweet, and also let Connor pick out a Hot Wheels car.  He was in HEAVEN, and so excited.

So, now, we have to make an appointment with the therapist up here, and really push Scottie on his exercises.  We're all very pleased with the progress that has been made, and look forward to more progress in the next six months!

Mom, Scott, Chocolate, & Connor

(Graphic pictures) taking the cast off, splint, and x-rays

April 10, 2013, we headed back down to PCMC to get Scottie's cast taken off.  The discharge instructions we were given after his surgery said to soak the cast until it was almost all the way off, then wrap it in a wet rag, that was wrapped in a plastic bag, and then come in.  So, we did that.  Scott was ecstatic to be getting it off and asked if I could take some lotion down with us to help with his itchy skin.

Soaking his hand.  It actually took a lot longer than I was expecting to soak it off. 

On the way up to Hutch's office.  We're excited!! 

The nurse taking the bag off . . . 

 . . . followed by the cast. 

Video of the nurse taking his cast off.  It is pretty graphic . . .

And it's off!

With lots of dead skin surrounding it.

And a cool new scar!

After the cast was off, the nurse and I rubbed a bit of the dead skin off, and then she grabbed a hemostat and took the first pin out - without telling us what she was doing.  We had assumed that Hutch would take the pins out, so this was a huge shock.  Scott started to cry, and pushed her hand away when she went to take out the next pin.  She literally held his hand down, had me hold his other hand out of the way, and just pulled.  It was so unexpected and painful that Scottie was literally in shock for about the next 30 minutes.

Taking the first pin out . . .

. . . and the second one's out

The above picture just breaks my heart.  You can see him crying, and I'm doing my best to hold him tight and just crying right along with him.  As the nurse left, she asked if she could do anything for him, and his only request was a glass of water.

His hand next to the two pins 

In total shock while we wait for the dr. 

The dr. examining the finger and his scar for infection

The x-ray checking placement of the pins before they were trimmed off

The before and after x-rays . . .

His hand before the surgery is on the right hand side . . .

After the surgery is on the left

A close-up of the results after surgery

After he had examined his hand, we went down to a little office and saw the x-rays, while he talked to us about physical therapy.  He called the PT over, Andrew Bracken, and told Andrew what he wanted in a splint, and what type of exercises he wanted Scottie to be doing for the next 6 weeks.

Dr. Hutchinson, and Andrew, the PT

So, we thanked Hutch, and then walked across the hall with Andrew to his office.  He sketched Scottie's hand, and then went to work forming a splint for him.

Tracing his hand on a napkin

Scottie liked the next part because to form the splint, Andrew had to stick the plastic into some very warm water to soften it up.  Once it was softened, he could put it on Scott's hand to mold it exactly how he wanted.  Scott loved that it was warm on his hand.

Forming the splint around Scott's hand

The splint he'd wear for the next 6 weeks

Once the splint was formed, Andrew showed us some exercises that we were to do with Scott to help get his joints moving again.  We were to hold his knuckles (like in the picture below), while Scott pulled his fingers down as far as he could.  Then hold at the middle knuckles while he did the same thing.  Then, he was to pull his middle finger towards his ring finger, and finally curl his hand into a fist as best he could.

Teaching us the PT for Scott's hand

Poor Scott was emotional and just ready to be done

Once we were done with Andrew, we made an appointment to see Dr. Hutchinson in 6 weeks for a PT follow-up.  Scott made some remarkable progress, and we're so proud of him.

38+ weeks

Saturday, April 27, I had contractions all day.  Starting out really mild, and having one every 45 minutes to an hour. They gradually picked up in intensity and length, and got closer together.  By dinner time, we decided that we might be headed to the hospital.  A sister from the ward, Michelle White, brought us dinner, and then while Brandon had the boys bathe, and he got them ready for bed, I packed our hospital bag.

Kiddos were put to bed around 9:00, LaRean was put on alert, and then Brandon ran out and got me some snacks for the hospital, while I continued to time contractions.  By the time he got home around 10:15, they had quit.  :(  When I moved around, they seemed to pick up, but I was physically exhausted by that point and just had to lay down.

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Thursday, May 2, was my dr.'s appointment.  I was really hoping I had made some progress with all of those contractions.  I'm now dilated to a 2+ and 50% effaced (two weeks ago, I was dilated to a one, and 20% effaced) so the contractions did do something.  :)  She said that two solid hours worth of strong contractions would more than likely put me to a 4, and that I was to come to the hospital at that point.

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Saturday, May 4.   39 weeks (minus 1 day), and I started losing my mucous plug.  I've lost some every day since then (today's 5/6/13 - and I've noticed it twice today).  No blood, just mucous.  Contractions here and there, but nothing regular or strong.

Had our RS Presidency Party tonight (me & Brandon, Kim & Rialey Hawkes, Noel & Aaron Knudsen, & Sam & Chad Wallentine), where Kim told me she's already dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced, and she's been contracting quite a bit.  (She's due on the 18th.)  After everyone left, Brandon & I both noticed that my back is VERY tight.  The longer the evening goes on, the more tight I get.  Even after a shower, I'm feeling very sore and tight.  Hoping I can sleep tonight.

I have to get through tomorrow and Wednesday, and then I'm free to have him whenever!  (Tomorrow I'm doing some sewing with Kim - unless she has her baby tonight - and getting caught up on the laundry, and Wednesday we have Scott's dr./physical therapist appointment in Salt Lake to evaluate the movement in Scott's hand.)  I have my regular dr.'s appointment on Thursday where she'll check me, and more than likely strip my membranes.

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Thursday, May 9th, the dr. checked me - dilated to a "good 3."  She stripped my membranes (OUCH!), and I came home.  Was crampy the rest of the night, then Friday morning, lost more of my mucous plug, only this time it was bloody.  Have lost A LOT more - each time the same as the last.  I was really hoping to be in labor by Friday morning, but, other than being crampy, and have a few contractions, nothing else.  Had about four contractions Saturday morning (5-11-12), and then nothing.  Sunday (which was Mother's Day, 5-12-13), just more crampy with quite a few off and on contractions, but very little intensity.  Or else one long contraction.

Today is Monday, May 13th.  I woke up and had 6 contractions this morning.  Ten minutes apart, definitely more intense than yesterday.  But, they quit.  Still feeling quite crampy, and having occasional contractions, but nothing consistent.  Brandon came home after lunch time with some flowers for me, and some ice cream candy bars.  And, I just held onto him and cried.  It's so disappointing to wake up with contractions, have them be consistent for a while, and then just quit.  I'm really trying not to be discouraged, but it's hard.  Really hoping to be in the hospital tonight, but not going to count on it.

Game time

Okay, folks!  It's game time.  What's your guess?

(Due date is May 12th.  I've been 12 days over, 6 days over,
right on my due date, and 5 days over.)

So, put your guess in.

Birth day?  Weight?  Length?

Ready . . .  GO!!

New dresser

36+ weeks

36 week appointment today - 36 weeks 4 days.  (Got the Strep B swab done today.)  Baby is still moving like crazy.  (He thinks it's fun to kick me in the ribs.)  Heartbeat sounds great.  Swelling in my legs and feet, but nothing concerning.  Blood pressure is good, and my stomach is measuring right on.

Dr. Blackett thinks he'll be in the 8 lb. range when he's born.  I'm dilated to a 1 and 20% effaced, but my cervix is still very posterior, so he'll be in there a few more weeks for sure.  Won't have to have an internal check next week, though, because I'm always late and progress very slowly through labor.  Unless I have a lot of contractions this week.

Still feel like I have a lot to do to get ready for him.  I've been sorting through clothes this week (not just baby clothes - ALL kid clothes), and got the newborn and 0-3 month clothes washed today.  Still have to go through and sort/DI/throw away 6-9, 12 month, 18 month, & 2T clothes until I'm done.

Then, I want the walls washed, the window sills washed, the computer desk moved to the front room, so I can finish his room.  Baby blankets to still make (one for me, a quilt for his crib, one for my good friend Kim Hawkes, and two for a sister in the ward that is expecting twins.)  *phew*  Hoping to get it all done within the next two weeks, though.  Wish me luck!  (And, if anybody wants to come help . . .)  :D

6 weeks of misery and Connor's surgery (VERY long)

Evening of Oct. 31 (Halloween) and morning of Nov. 1, 2012

We had a great time celebrating Halloween this year.  Participated in our wards trunk-or-treat, then headed out to Grandma Shaffer's to do some trick-or-treating.  Came home and put the kids to bed.  Around 11:00, Bear woke up screaming and crying.  We couldn't figure out what was wrong until we looked in his mouth and found his tongue so swollen he could hardly breathe.  Yikes!

We gave him some Benadryl and sat with him until he was able to breathe and sleep again.  This is what started the misery of the following six weeks.  Since this does cover six weeks of yuckiness, and I kept it fairly well updated on facebook, I'm just going to copy and paste the happenings from my facebook page rather than try to remember everything that happened.  That night was also the night that started a horrible sleep schedule for Bear, resulting in several months worth of a sleep-deprived Mom & Bear.

(Six weeks of updates also means that this post is going to be VERY long!  If you kept up with everything on facebook, you can just skip to the part about the actual surgery.)

November 1, 2012

My poor little Bear is so sick today.  Awful sore throat (so bad that he won't swallow), a bit of a fever, and red, tired, sick eyes.  And, he hasn't hardly spoken above a whisper all day long.  Poor guy.

November 5, 2012

Have an appt. for a Bear in a few minutes - nurse is thinking strep.  *sigh*  Part of me wants the answer to be yes it is, and part of me wants it to be no.  At least if it's yes, they'll get him some med's and he can be getting better.  I'm getting quite tired (physically) of waking up with him every night for a couple of hours to help him breathe.  Wish us luck.

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Later that evening after our dr.'s appt.

Can I just say how much I LOVE the pharmacy at Smith's Marketplace?  Especially the pharmacists (and especially Sam - I've dealt with Sam several times and have always been so impressed with him).

How many other pharmacists would actually walk out into the store with you, spending 5 - 10 minutes looking over various medicines just to find the medicine that is best going to help your little bug sleep (coughing so hard at night he throws up)?  Then, takes the medicine back with him to find the correct dosage and writes it out for you?

That's what I thought.

(For the record, he was NOT diagnosed with strep - the swab came back negative.  Instead, he was diagnosed with the coxsackie virus - in the same family as hand, foot, and mouth.  He had white blisters all over the back of his throat, and was told it was just a virus and to let us run its course.  We were prescribed Dexamethasone for him - which is a steroid - and just some OTC cough medicine.  I didn't like the idea of giving him a steriod, so we didn't end up doing that.  We were also going on 5 days of up every two hours at night trying to help him breathe.)

November 11, 2012

No church for us again.  *sigh*  :(  Poor Bear has a big blister on one of his tonsils, and his tonsils are HUGE.  Still isn't sleeping well at night because he can't breathe.  They say this virus he has is supposed to run its course in 4 - 7 days . . .  We've been going on 11.  I think there's something else going on.

November 12, 2012 - Connor's 3rd birthday

Update on a Bear: Tonsils are HUGE and swollen, and his eyes are red with the "sick" look.  His tonsils will more than likely have to come out, but the dr. wants to rule out a bacterial infection before they go cut into them.  So, he has ordered blood tests for Bear to check for virus vs. becteria, and to make sure it's nothing more serious.  Going to get his blood drawn this afternoon after his nap.  Heck of a way to spend a birthday.

(The dr. did ANOTHER strep swab, and 24 hour strep test on him - AGAIN they came back negative.)

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Update after his blood draw:

He didn't flinch.  He didn't cry.  He didn't fight.  He didn't struggle.  He didn't even make a sound when they poked him for his blood draw.  He just sat there and watched.  Hoping for results within a couple of days.  (Does this give you an idea of how sick he is?)

November 13, 2012

 

(I posted this video on facebook.  So scary listening to this every night.  We could have used the steroids, but I opted not to, and after going back to the dr., he was glad we hadn't used them.  Apparently, they can give some of the blood tests a false reading, so he was glad we hadn't used them.)

November 14, 2012

So . . .  Bear didn't get up once last night!  Since Brandon went to help out at the elementary school this morning, he got the boys up and ready so Bear & I could sleep in.  I slept until almost 9:00, and Bear slept in until 9:30!  Now it's off to Scott's hand dr. to find out what's next to fix his hand.  Wish us luck!

November 15, 2012

Still no test results back on the Bear yet.  Grr.  ON a good note, though, he slept through the night for the second night in a row.

(Some of the tests had to be sent down to a lab in Salt Lake, so we didn't get the results as soon as expected.  I called the dr.'s office several times, annoyed the nurses to no end, cried and ranted at them, and finally got the dr. to call and get the test results.)

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Finally got test results back - his strep test was slightly elevated.  Which means he's probably got strep, and he's probably been fighting it since all of this began.  Why the first two tests didn't catch it, I have no idea.  Hoping that with some antibiotics he'll start feeling better and breathing better.  Still going to get his tonsils out, though.

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Once the antibiotics kicked in, he did great!!  He was happy for two weeks, although he still had trouble breathing at night.  Once he finished the round of medication, it all came back with a vengeance.

November 27, 2012

10:00 in the morning, and Bear's asleep!  He was up several times last night - again.  If I wasn't holding his hand or touching him somehow, he was up complaining.  *sigh*

December 2, 2012

Bear is sick - again.  Tonsils are huge (completely blocking the right side of his airway), white spots on his tonsils, hoarse voice and difficulty breathing at night.  Stopped breathing the other night and woke up gasping for breath.  (Scared me to death - I made him sleep in my room that night - and from then on - just so I could hear him breathe.)

I'm calling the surgeon first thing in the morning to see if we can somehow push his surgery closer, or at the very least, get him on a standby list.  Please pray for us!  Pray that something will open up - soon - and we can get him well.  It doesn't do a mommy good to listen to her baby struggle to breathe.

(We had met with an ENT, Dr. James Blotter, in the middle of November, and after examining Connor, determined that he did need to have his tonsils out.  Said he'd be just fine and that we didn't need to rush it.  So, the soonest they could schedule us was for January 21, 2013.)

December 3, 2012

Went to the dr. this afternoon . . .  Swabbed his throat for a strep test and the swabs came out bloody.  White streaks, red, swollen, full of pus, not sleeping at night, etc . . .  (The dr. (Russell McKenna) suggested that I call the ENT and see if we can push the surgery date up.  I refused, and told him that he had to call and push it forward.)  There's a call into the ENT right now to see if we can arrange something with them and the hospital before the 19th of this month.  Hoping and praying that we can get in quickly.

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So, update . . .  Got the office manager at the ENT's office on the phone, and between working with the hospital and the dr. we're pretty sure she has managed to fit us in for surgery on the 10th.  Yes, in a week!  She said if we don't hear from her, to know that she got us scheduled, otherwise she'd call us back.  So far, we haven't heard from her!  Yeah!

(And, we never did, so his surgery was officially scheduled for the 10th of December.)

December 10, 2012 - surgery

So, the morning of the 10th, we woke up bright and early and headed to the hospital.  We had to be there by 6:30 in the morning, so we were headed out the door a little after 6:00.  He was happy, though, and in really good spirits considering how he felt.  Don't believe me?  Check out the following pictures:

Kind of sleepy, still, but . . .

. . . waking up quickly!

As mischievous as ever!

Sure love this little boy.

A Mommy & Me picture before he heads off

Brandon got the other boys off to school, and then headed up to join us at the hospital.  It was only a 45 minute surgery, but I was nervous the whole time.  Here's what I posted on facebook:

He's done.  Dr. came in and was amazed at the size of the tonsils he took out.  "There was NO daylight in there."  (Something we were already very much aware of.

He had thick, glue like liquid in his ears, too, so he put tubes in while he was working.  Just waiting for the Bear to wake up and be brought back to his room.  Getting antsy to see him and hold my babe.

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He was finally brought back, and I climbed into bed with him to hold him and cry.  (6 weeks of very bad sleep, pregnant, and stressed - I was a little emotional.)  His oxygen levels kept dropping, so the nurses eventually just put the mask right in his face and had me hold it there to get his levels up.  Once he was able to keep his levels up without help, they gave him a popsicle, and a sippy cup with some apple juice in it.  He sucked on those for a while, and then they had us get him up and walk around.  He got to walk out into the hallway and choose a prize from the treasure chest.

Hmm . . . what should I get?

I think I'll choose a ring!

The next two weeks were rough.  He had a really hard time taking his medicine because it would sting the back of his throat.  And, he didn't want to eat or drink anything because his throat hurt so bad.  It felt like the Lortab was wearing off sooner than it should have, so we consulted a pharmacist and the on-call doctor, and he gave us a different dose to try for a bit.  That seemed to help, but he still struggled.  Breathing was still difficult at night since his airway and throat were bruised and scabbed up, but when the scabs finally fell off a couple of weeks later, it was amazing to listen to him.  I had to go in and check on him several times to make sure he was breathing because I couldn't hear him.

In the middle of his recovery, we had two other kiddos get sick with a stomach flu.  G threw up several times, and B was just sick to his stomach.  I quarantined them to the basement so that they wouldn't "share" with Bear.  Last thing he needed was to be throwing up with his throat feeling the way it did.  He never did get the stomach bug, and as soon as the other two were over it, I took clorox wipes to the entire house.

By Christmas, he was golden, and I was so grateful that he was able to breathe at night again.  We still struggled for several months after this to get him to sleep in his own room and not wake up multiple times at night, but knowing he could breathe . . .  priceless.

It was a very rough couple of months for us, and I was beyond discouraged, but we had so many thoughts, and prayers from our family and friends . . .  That made it a little easier.  So, thank you to all of you for helping us through it!

Gavin's surgery

So, back in June of 2012, Brandon & I were bathing Gavin & Connor (late Saturday night, we threw them in together and washed them as quickly as we could), when I looked up and saw a funny lump in Gavin's groin area.  I asked Brandon if that was normal, and after looking and poking a bit, we decided that he had a hernia.

So, we got a recommendation for a dr. from a friend, (Dr. David Harker) and scheduled an appointment with him.  The hernia wasn't bothering Gavin as far as being painful.  It was more sensitive to the touch than actually hurting.  So, we talked to the dr. and asked if we could just wait until September when our new insurance plan rolled around.  (We knew that Scottie would be having surgery, and wanted to have G's surgery during the same insurance period.)

Dr. Harker said that as long as it wasn't hurting him, we could wait if we wanted.  He said there would be a chance that something could happen, and he could all of a sudden be in a ton of pain, and if that happened, to give him a call, and he'd get us in ASAP.  So, we shook his hand, held our breath, and waited until September.

September came with no incidents as far as the hernia.  We scheduled an appointment with Dr. Harker for him to take another look at the hernia and schedule a surgery date.  We scheduled the appointment for Friday, the 21st of September.  We asked Toady the night before if he wanted me or Brandon to go up to the hospital with him, and he chose his dad.

The next morning, Toady & Dad got up early and headed to the hospital.  While I stayed home to get the other boys off to school, and drop a Bear off at my sister-in-law's house.  And, can I just say, I was such a nervous wreck!  I don't think we'll let the kids have the choice again - I'll always be the one to go up to the hospital with them.

Brandon texted me several times to let me know that they'd been checked in, changed, met with the dr. and that he was headed into surgery.  It wasn't a long surgery, and I was worried that I wasn't going to get to his room before he was finished with the surgery, but I got to the hospital and to his room about ten minutes before he was brought back.  The dr. had already come in and talked with Brandon and said that all went well.  When he was brought into his room, I immediately climbed into bed with him and just held him.  I might have even cried a little.

Watching a movie while he wakes up

Laying with a Mom!  :)

The nurses brought in a movie for us while he woke up fully from surgery, and then asked him to get up and walk around before they'd let us go home.  He was really nervous about walking because he knew it would hurt and that he'd be dizzy, but we talked him into getting out of bed and walking around for a bit.  Once he did that, our nurse brought in the prize chest, let us change him, and go home.

He ended up choosing a sticky hand/frog/crab something, and was most disappointed when it broke later that day.  He kept asking us to take him back up to the hospital to exchange it for a new one.  :(

He rested on the couch with an ice pack on his incision site for most of the rest of the day, while we kept him dosed up on his Lortab.  His mood was great, and he acted almost like his normal self

Doesn't look like he had surgery at all, does it?

Whatcha' lookin' at, Mom?

He ended up going to bed at 8:00 that night, completely exhausted.  Brandon stayed up and gave him his medicine at midnight so that I could go to bed at 10:00 with a Bear.  (During the past several months, Connor has had a really hard time with sleeping at night.  He would get up multiple times at night - like every two hours - so nights were rough for us.)  I got up at 3:00 in the morning to give him his Lortab, and he hopped right out of bed to take it, and then slept soundly until the morning.

The next day, Saturday, we kept him on Ibuprofen all day instead of the Lortab, and he did great.  Dr. Harker said to just let him choose the pace.  Unlike adults, if a child does something that hurts, they'll stop doing it.  He was gently jumping on the trampoline that afternoon, and was pretty much back to his normal self by Monday.  He came home from school a bit tired, but overall was feeling pretty good.

The bandage took about a week or two to fall off, and we'd clip the tape every so often when it would pull away from his skin.  But, everything healed well, and he now has a scar that he's proud of that is quite similar to Scottie's.  Grateful for current medicine that allows us to do things like this!

The real surgery . . .

So, we waited another month after our canceled surgery to go in for the real surgery - March 6, 2013.  The time was the exact same as before, so we planned to get there just after 12:00, with the surgery scheduled for 1:45.  Everything went smoothly this time.  We checked in, the nurse came and got us and took us back to a room for the pre-op exam.  (And, can I just say, ALL of the nurses who talked with us before the actual surgery had such thick accents that it was really hard to understand them.  Gah!)  Anyway, they took his blood pressure, weight, temp, etc . . . had him change into his surgery jammies, and then sent in Dr. Hutchinson.  He's told us to feel free to call him Hutch since his name is a bit of a tongue twister.

Getting his blood pressure taken

 

Cute surgery jammies . . .

 

 

. . . and making funny faces at mom!

 

Dr. Hutchinson drawing on Scott's hand to show him what would happen

So, Hutch came in, shook hands, fist bumped Scott, talked for a minute, and then got down to business.  He told Scott what was going to happen, marked his hand so the correct hand would go under the knife, asked if we had any questions, and interspersed all of that with some poking and tickling of the Scottie bug, and just having fun with him.  (I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again - we LOVE Dr. Hutchinson.  He's friendly, he gets kids, he's awesome to work with, and he knows his stuff.)  After he was done with the exam, he told us he'd see us in a little over an hour and then left to go prep.

We packed up all our stuff and went to the waiting room where I settled in a nice comfy rocker to read a book and Brandon & Scott played some Mario Kart Wii.  (For the record, Scott won every time!)  They played, I read, we contemplated what the weird sound was going through the vents, and then it was time to go.

Playing Mario Kart Wii with the Dad

"I'm gonna beat you, Dad!"

I was expecting them to give him some Versed, but the nurse came and got him, said we could walk to the line with them, and then she'd walk him back to surgery.  On the walk, she asked Scottie what flavor of smell he'd like to fall asleep to.  I think he decided on strawberry something.  Lemonade, maybe?  Anyway, we got to the line, he hugged us goodbye, and off they walked.  And I cried a bit.  This was around 2:30 pm.

We were told that the surgery would last about two hours, so Brandon & I headed off down to the surgery family waiting room.  We read, we played some games on the iPad/iPod, we read some more, we ate some snacks that were provided, I wandered because I was uncomfortable . . .  There were a few times where I was tempted just to lay down on the floor because I was so uncomfortable.  But, that thought didn't make me happy, so I didn't.  The chairs in the waiting room are okay, but fairly small.  I managed to wedge myself into one of the longer ones, though, so I could at least lay my head down.

About halfway through the surgery, they called the waiting room to update us on Scott.  I was in the bathroom, so Brandon took the call.  They said that all was going well, but to plan on it taking about 20 minutes longer than first expected.  If it was much longer than that, they'd give us a call.  So, we figured he'd be out of surgery by 5:00 at the latest.

And, then, 5:30 came.  I was starting to get a bit nervous because we hadn't heard anything, when we finally got the call that one of us could go down and sit with him in post-op.  So, I grabbed my water bottle and my book, and headed down.  Hutch met me on the way, so I turned around and headed back to the waiting room so we could talk with him about the results of the surgery.

(He did what is called an osteotomy.  Here's a def. from widipedia: An osteotomy is a surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten, lengthen, or change its alignment . . . or to straighten a bone that has healed crookedly following a fracture.)

So, he cut open the finger, destroyed the rest of the growth plate, and then cut the bone to straighten it up.  He took a bone graft out of his hip and inserted that bone graft into the left side of his finger to help straighten it out.  He then cut the skin between his second and third finger to give his fingers more movement.  Once it was all straightened like Hutch wanted, he put one pin on either side of his middle finger to hold everything in place.  Trimmed the pins down, and wrapped his hand up.  (I'm sure it was much more complicated than my description during the actual surgery!)

Hutch was quite please with the outcome, told us to come back in five weeks, then said goodbye.  So, I headed down to see my Scottie.  I sat in post-op with him for about 20 minutes feeding him ice chips while his oxygen regulated, and he woke up a bit more.  Then, we were moved to a recovery room where Brandon was able to join us.  Poor Scott was so cold.  He had about ten warmed blankets piled on top of him.  After a while, he was able to eat some slushie, and drink some water.

 SO cold.  "Can I have another blanket?"

Even still, he was feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy, so after a couple of hours in the recovery room, the nurses decided to give him some anti-nauseous med's.  Five minutes later, he sat up in bed gasping, and crying saying that he was so hot and that he felt like his body was all of a sudden 1,000 degrees.  He moaned and cried, and moved around while I kept the throw-up bucket in front of his face.  After about ten minutes, the medication kicked in, the side effects left, and he felt better.  We let him sit for another 20 - 30 minutes, then he got out of bed and Brandon helped him to the bathroom.  At that point, we were pretty much cleared to go.

 

A good shot of what his hand looked like for the next 5 weeks

The nurses gave us the discharge instructions, while Brandon went down to the pharmacy to pick up Scott's prescription pain med's.  It was then I found out that they had prescribed pills for him instead of liquid.  He can't swallow pills (although, he's figured out how to swallow an Ibuprofen pretty well since then), so we asked if they could switch to a liquid.  They had to call the on-call dr. to get it switched.  We were pushing it pretty close since the pharmacy closed at 8:00, and it was about 7:50 when this all happened.  Yikes!

 

All ready to go - and even smiling!

Anyway, while that all happened, I helped Scott change back into his jammies, then we waited for Brandon to come back up.  Once he was there, we gathered up our stuff, they wheeled a chair over for Scottie, and they escorted us to the front door.  We left the hospital around 8:45 that night, and made it home after 11:00.  LONG day.

Scott ended up sleeping on the couch bed for the next several nights since he couldn't climb into the top bunk of his bed.  We sent him back to school on Monday (surgery was on Wednesday), where he said he'd had a hard time.  It was hard to keep his hand protected and walk with his hip hurting and so many kids bumping into him.  He felt a little better on Tuesday, so he went to school again, came home and rested, and then headed to Young Men's that night.  By the time he came home, he was as white as a ghost, and couldn't even walk down the stairs.  He was in pain, dizzy, and he kept saying that it felt like his hand was on fire.

We kept him home the next two days to recover some more and sent him to school on Friday.  He was walking a little better, and felt pretty okay.  He rested over the weekend and went back to school on Monday.  But he kept coming home saying that it felt like his hand was on fire, and that his arm and hand just itched.  Tuesday night, he spiked a bit of a fever, and just seemed really restless.

I kept him home on Wednesday, and after I took the boys to school, Scott curled up on the couch and took a four hour nap.  He NEVER does that, so I was scared by this point.  I set up an appointment with his pediatrician for that afternoon, but when Scott woke up from his nap, and ate something he was golden.  Bouncing and running around with Connor, happy as could be.  He said his hand wasn't hurting anymore (other than the normal ache after surgery), and that he felt great.  So, we canceled the appointment for the afternoon, and he's been great ever since.

The bone graft site on his right hip . . .

 . . . 1 1/2 weeks after surgery.

We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that went with us from our wonderful friends and family.  I know they helped because I wasn't as nervous sending him into surgery as I have been in the past.  We love you all!