Sunday May 29th Update

I went up to see Aaron for a couple hours yesterday. I was there for rounds Friday morning as well when Sam was down at Primary Children's. Aaron has been moved back to his high flow machine. He is continuing with the nitrous oxide that is mixed with the oxygen from the high flow machine. He is being weaned off the nitrous oxide and should finish with that on Monday or Tuesday. His stats look great and his oxygen saturation is down to 24 or 26%. He was given another blood transfusion Friday and looks so much better. The doctor approved Aaron to resume his feedings 1 ml every 6 hours on Friday and he was increased to 2 mls every 6 hours yesterday. He seems to really like this and is digesting things great and continuing to have poopy diapers. His weight is coming back up and he is back to 390 grams as of yesterday and hopefully will be higher today.

Aaron has been taken off his steroids and will be weaned from his caffeine shots sometime this week. His only pumps are administering TPN and fat emulsions (both are fat and nutrient related). He has also been changed from versed to adavan for his anxiety. He seems to do much better on the adavan, he has also been weaned down from a dose every 3 hours to every 6 or as needed. He really doesn't seem to need it unless labs, x-rays, or tests are ordered, he really doesn't like to be messed with. (Can't blame him there!) He will have another echo done on Tuesday by the Cardiologist from Primary Children's. The doctors and nurses at both hospitals seemed to know about Sam's surgery and Aaron's stay in the NICU. When they walked in the room at both hospitals they would ask about the other child and how they were doing. I don't know how the word got out but we were grateful for their concern and encouragement. Aaron's doctor told me I needed to get more sleep, I agreed and asked him if he could tell me when to do that. He couldn't give me an answer and just hugged me. He is not the kind of guy that you would think would show that kind of affection, but it was greatly appreciated!

Sam is doing good. His pain isn't as great as it was the day he came home. We both went to Sacrament Meeting today and then came home. He still walks hunched over and gets up and down very slowly. He is restricted from any contact sports (karate) and from swimming for the next two weeks. No one is happy about that. Our pool opened this weekend and we were hoping to go swimming while they're off track. (Reminds me of last summer with Joseph's finger!)

When we arrived at the hospital with Sam last Thursday he was quite the trooper. Uncle Mike came to help assist Ronny in giving him a blessing. (Thanks Uncle Mike!!!) He had an IV put in and blood drawn. Those results came back muddled as his white cell counts were normal but other results indicated an infection. A ct scan was ordered and again the results were a bit odd. No sign of infection but his appendix was twice the size it should be. The surgeons were called and asked for a consult. They took one look at it and said it needed to come out. We signed the paperwork and headed to the OR. During all the wait time between tests and consults Sam was getting extremely tired. When Sam gets tired he has a harder time controlling his ADHD. I have never been so grateful for his hyperness as I was that night. As Sam became more hyper he was less likely to notice the pain. He also kept us all laughing which lightened the situation. Its a good thing too because if I wasn't laughing with him I would have been crying and that was the last thing I wanted to do in front of Sam. After surgery we met him in recovery and he had the nurse there rolling. The surgeon came to talk to Ronny and I and told us the surgery went well and they discovered the infection had just started in on his appendix. He was diagnosed with stage 1 appendicitis. They normally don't get them this early which requires longer stays in the hospital. We are so grateful to have caught his early.

We made it to his hospital room right about 1:30 am. Ronny gave him a kiss and went home as he had to work that day. Sam asked for a popsicle which he devoured. After that we turned off the lights and went to sleep. At least he did. The chair bed wasn't the most comfortable and my incision made it even worse! In the morning Sam was pleasantly surprised to find out he could order whatever food he wanted whenever he wanted! After cereal for breakfast he ordered a soft pretzel and a strawberry milkshake. His eyes were much bigger than his stomach but he enjoyed what he could eat. He also had a male nurse which he thought was awesome! (The teenage girl next door may not have thought so though.)

He was discharged at 1:30 in the afternoon and the two of us headed home. Ronny and I are very thankful that his mom (Stephanie) was there to hold down the fort at home and take care of the other kids. This allowed both of us to be there for Sam and for each other. We could do with a bit less excitement and more sleep I think.