Life around here this past 10 days has been crazy. I will post about some of the positive things that have happened as soon as Little Miss Hannah gets home from her surgeries and hospital stay. She will be having her surgery tomorrow at 9am. She is having her tonsils and adenoids removed, her Nissen repaired, and a hernia repair. Each of these procedures will make her feel better, she will be able to breath better and she won't have to sit upright with slow feedings.
Each of us has been anxious and worried because of our experience with Jacob last year, so our home teachers from our church came over tonight and gave Hannah, each of the girls, Mike, and I a blessing of comfort. These prayers were very powerful and gave each of us comfort and we feel very positive about tomorrow's surgery. It helps to have many friends and family members praying for her surgery to go well and for her to some through it all and come home.
Thank you for your prayers! I will keep you posted on Miss Hannah.
Family
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Update on Hannah
Several people have asked me for an update on Little Miss Hannah so here it is.
We saw our pediatric surgeon on Friday and he agreed that Hannah needed to have her Nissen redone he will also be fixing a hernia she has. The hernia is located between her open heart surgery scar and her Nissen,G-button scar. She has an upper GI scheduled for next Monday so the surgeon can get a picture of the anatomy of her stomach since she has some anomaly in every part of her body and he did not do the original nissen as it was an emergency and he was out of town. He will schedule her surgery after he gets the results from the upper GI. We go to see our ENT tomorrow about her tonsils and adenoids. Our surgeon said that all of the surgeries could be done at the same time. She will be in the hospital for at least 5 days. Mike, the girls and I feel alot better about the thought of her having surgery. We not only love our surgeon but he is the best. Over the years when my children have been in the hospital I have asked nurses and parents about their experiences with the surgeons and no one has anything bad to say about him. If he is walking down the hall in the hospital and he sees us he Always stops gets at eye level with Jacob or Hannah and shakes their hand an asks how they are doing. I feel that if Hannah has the best surgeon, the best ENT, and the anesthesiologist we love then we have to give the rest over to the Lord and have faith and hope.
In the mean time she is very grumpy because she is not sleeping well at night and she has to sit upright for an hour and twenty minutes four times a day while she is fed. The feeding schedule frustrates her so because she is all about trying to stand up. Tonight at our family home evening she was sitting on the floor and pulled up on Noah's leg and was half way standing before she lost her grip and gently laid herself to the ground.
We saw our pediatric surgeon on Friday and he agreed that Hannah needed to have her Nissen redone he will also be fixing a hernia she has. The hernia is located between her open heart surgery scar and her Nissen,G-button scar. She has an upper GI scheduled for next Monday so the surgeon can get a picture of the anatomy of her stomach since she has some anomaly in every part of her body and he did not do the original nissen as it was an emergency and he was out of town. He will schedule her surgery after he gets the results from the upper GI. We go to see our ENT tomorrow about her tonsils and adenoids. Our surgeon said that all of the surgeries could be done at the same time. She will be in the hospital for at least 5 days. Mike, the girls and I feel alot better about the thought of her having surgery. We not only love our surgeon but he is the best. Over the years when my children have been in the hospital I have asked nurses and parents about their experiences with the surgeons and no one has anything bad to say about him. If he is walking down the hall in the hospital and he sees us he Always stops gets at eye level with Jacob or Hannah and shakes their hand an asks how they are doing. I feel that if Hannah has the best surgeon, the best ENT, and the anesthesiologist we love then we have to give the rest over to the Lord and have faith and hope.
In the mean time she is very grumpy because she is not sleeping well at night and she has to sit upright for an hour and twenty minutes four times a day while she is fed. The feeding schedule frustrates her so because she is all about trying to stand up. Tonight at our family home evening she was sitting on the floor and pulled up on Noah's leg and was half way standing before she lost her grip and gently laid herself to the ground.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Where no parent should have to go
blessingsOn January 31 Jacob had surgery to repair a congenital defect in his cervical spine. His first and second cervical discs never fused together as they should have. This left him with an unstable neck and was causing some swelling to his spinal cord. We knew the surgery would be long and he might have to have some extra blood. What happened was worse than we could have imagined. When the anesthesiologist tried to put the breathing tube in she had a very difficult time. After a six hour surgery we were told that the actual surgery went very well and he only needed a minimal amount of blood. He did have problems due to the traumatic intubation and was going to have to go to the PICU on a ventilator. They explained that he should only have to be on the ventilator for a few days and then would be weaned off.
Although it was very hard for us to see him so still on a ventilator we had hope that he would be able to overcome this obstacle and we could move on. By Sunday February 3rd he had weaned on the vent enough for the doctors to try to take the tube out. They had an anesthesiologist come to the PICU to do this as they wanted to have every safety measure in place. This doctor wanted me to wait in the waiting room. I was upset as I wanted to be there for Jacob. I went to the waiting room and called my mom to let her know how mad I was and then called Mike to tell him what was happening as I did this I noticed that the time they gave me had passed. I called Mike back and told him something was not right and that he should rush up to the hospital. Then I called back to the PICU and asked if I could come back the secretary stalled me and then she finally said I could come back. As I entered the ICU and walked to Jacob's bed I witnessed something that no parent should ever have to witness. There were five doctors and countless nurses and respiratory therapists surrounding my son. My son was not breathing and then I heard the doctor say there is no heart rate resume compressions. How could this be happening???? I walked up to my son and started to rub his leg. Try as I might words of comfort or of any kind would not come. As I rubbed his leg and they continued to resuscitate him I called Mike and told him to hurry because they were doing chest compressions. It seemed like forever but they were quickly able to reintubate Jacob and get his heart beating again. Mike soon arrived and the anguish he felt was so tangible and all we could do in our shock was to hold onto each other. Jacob started to become more stable through the day. He had a stable night and then on Monday we found that things could get worse than they were. He had to have two chest tubes and throughout the whole day the nurses, RT's and doctors were having to do life saving measures to keep his blood pressure up and his breathing going. They even changed the type of ventilator to an oscillator.
By 11 pm the doctor finally came to Mike and I and said we have done everything we can we have no more room if he gets worse there is nothing more we can do. He told us we should call our family together as he could not tell if Jacob was going to make it. After the initial shock and devastation of the news we called our Bishop and asked if he could come up and bring our three oldest girls to us. We called my parents and Mike's sister. We had not brought the girls up to see Jacob because we wanted to protect them from seeing their brother so sick when he has always been so full of life. Now we could no longer protect them. I could only think this can't be I can not go on with out my son! Why at their young ages do my daughters have to go through this? How is Mike going to handle this? The nurse told us our family had arrived. Mike went out to talk with the girls and I stayed with Jacob. Bishop Tillman and his wife came in and Rosa gave me a hug that spoke a thousand words from one mother to a mother who was in anguish at the thought of losing one of her sons. Then in came my girls and I tried to help them feel comfortable as they talked to and caressed there little brother. Mom and Dad were there and it was so comforting. Johannah, Mike's sister was there, Jennifer and Karin were there as well. The Bishop asked if he could give Jacob a blessing. Being scared and in shock I could not accept that this might be his last blessing in this life. Then Mike, Dad, Bishop Tillman and Brother Denti placed their hands on Jacob's head and the Bishop did not give Jacob a blessing of release. I can not remember all of the words but I do know that he said that the Lord knew what was best for Jacob and it would be His will and in His time. Although I did not know if this meant I would be able to continue being Jacob's mom in this earthly existence I was comforted by the blessing. After this everyone left and Jacob slowly continued to stabilize through the night and actually came off all of his blood pressure meds. He remained stable through the rest of the week but although stable he had not made much progression. Cont. on next post
Although it was very hard for us to see him so still on a ventilator we had hope that he would be able to overcome this obstacle and we could move on. By Sunday February 3rd he had weaned on the vent enough for the doctors to try to take the tube out. They had an anesthesiologist come to the PICU to do this as they wanted to have every safety measure in place. This doctor wanted me to wait in the waiting room. I was upset as I wanted to be there for Jacob. I went to the waiting room and called my mom to let her know how mad I was and then called Mike to tell him what was happening as I did this I noticed that the time they gave me had passed. I called Mike back and told him something was not right and that he should rush up to the hospital. Then I called back to the PICU and asked if I could come back the secretary stalled me and then she finally said I could come back. As I entered the ICU and walked to Jacob's bed I witnessed something that no parent should ever have to witness. There were five doctors and countless nurses and respiratory therapists surrounding my son. My son was not breathing and then I heard the doctor say there is no heart rate resume compressions. How could this be happening???? I walked up to my son and started to rub his leg. Try as I might words of comfort or of any kind would not come. As I rubbed his leg and they continued to resuscitate him I called Mike and told him to hurry because they were doing chest compressions. It seemed like forever but they were quickly able to reintubate Jacob and get his heart beating again. Mike soon arrived and the anguish he felt was so tangible and all we could do in our shock was to hold onto each other. Jacob started to become more stable through the day. He had a stable night and then on Monday we found that things could get worse than they were. He had to have two chest tubes and throughout the whole day the nurses, RT's and doctors were having to do life saving measures to keep his blood pressure up and his breathing going. They even changed the type of ventilator to an oscillator.
By 11 pm the doctor finally came to Mike and I and said we have done everything we can we have no more room if he gets worse there is nothing more we can do. He told us we should call our family together as he could not tell if Jacob was going to make it. After the initial shock and devastation of the news we called our Bishop and asked if he could come up and bring our three oldest girls to us. We called my parents and Mike's sister. We had not brought the girls up to see Jacob because we wanted to protect them from seeing their brother so sick when he has always been so full of life. Now we could no longer protect them. I could only think this can't be I can not go on with out my son! Why at their young ages do my daughters have to go through this? How is Mike going to handle this? The nurse told us our family had arrived. Mike went out to talk with the girls and I stayed with Jacob. Bishop Tillman and his wife came in and Rosa gave me a hug that spoke a thousand words from one mother to a mother who was in anguish at the thought of losing one of her sons. Then in came my girls and I tried to help them feel comfortable as they talked to and caressed there little brother. Mom and Dad were there and it was so comforting. Johannah, Mike's sister was there, Jennifer and Karin were there as well. The Bishop asked if he could give Jacob a blessing. Being scared and in shock I could not accept that this might be his last blessing in this life. Then Mike, Dad, Bishop Tillman and Brother Denti placed their hands on Jacob's head and the Bishop did not give Jacob a blessing of release. I can not remember all of the words but I do know that he said that the Lord knew what was best for Jacob and it would be His will and in His time. Although I did not know if this meant I would be able to continue being Jacob's mom in this earthly existence I was comforted by the blessing. After this everyone left and Jacob slowly continued to stabilize through the night and actually came off all of his blood pressure meds. He remained stable through the rest of the week but although stable he had not made much progression. Cont. on next post
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The power of prayer
Jacob will be having a major operation on January 31. He just turned 7 in November but he has already been through 19 surgeries, both major and minor, in his little life. As his mother I have learned to rely heavily on your faith and the knowledge you have gained about where we came from, why we are here, and especially where we are going. As a human I worry and get frustrated that I do not know what the outcome will be and that he has to go through all this to begin with. This past Sunday Mike and I asked our friends and family to remember Jacob and his upcoming surgery in their prayers as they fasted. I am so thankful for our family, friends and ward family! I had to leave church early with Jacob and Hannah and when I got home and was contimplateing my fast and the surgery I was filled with peace. I have to remind myself of that peace everyday because worry and doubt can creap in very easily. There have been countless sleepless nights where you are up all night long providing comfort or distraction from the pain. No parent ever would choose to go through the agony of seeing your child go through these struggles and trials. As a parent you step up and do what needs to be done for your children no matter what kind of trial they are going through. I am just so very thankful for my parents who taught me how to pray. I am grateful we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, He knows what we can handle and He will never give us anything that we can't handle. Each of us has trials and they are unique to us. The trails I go through as a mother are not the same as any other mother.
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