Home again

We are home! The PICU Doc came in and said I was just looking over your home supply sheet and noticed that you have everything at home that we are doing here. He said that if ENT and Pulmonary okayed it we could go home. They should know by now that if they mention home around me they better be serious. Lucky us we got the okay to go with very strict orders. I am happy to oblige to the strict orders seeing as how the hospital was full (literally all beds were full) of sick kids and that is most likely where this junk came from in the first place. It pays to have your home a hospital. 

Is that picture not the sweetest thing ever! Boston said "Carter get over here and give me some loves" Carter crawled right on over and gave him some good long lovin'. Thank goodness for phones and being able to catch moments like this. 

Our mission now is to get Carter better so that come December 12th he can rock that sleep study and get that trach out December 20th. There was no talk about it not happening just that we needed to get home better so it didn't mess with our plans. We also need to beef him up a little. Poor baby has lost 3.5 pounds since his reconstruction surgery. That's a lot for a little guy, but his poor tummy couldn't handle all the antibiotics. This might be a little challenge seeing as how the antibiotics that he was on and made him poop like crazy are the ones we are on again. Wish us luck. 

Did I mention Trav is sick now too. High fever and looking like a ghost! I am doing everything I can to make sure that no one else gets sick. Trav has been quarantined to our room and I am shacking up with Carter.....and Boston since he joined us last night. I was too tired to not let the sleep over happen. Boston thought it was the best!

Home and Hospital

Monday night Carter had a rough night. Mostly do to nurses being annoying and messing things up. Tuesday he had a great day. Got rid of the O2 and kept his saturation levels in the high 90's. So they sent us home.




That night around ten his sats started to drop a little. We gave him some oxygen and he seemed to be doing a little better. He was super junky and required a lot of suctioning which is normal for him after surgery. Around two thirty things went down hill fast. He couldn't keep his saturation levels up and we were giving him 4 leters of oxygen which is a ton! We got him stable and called my mom to come over. She was working that night and wouldn't be able to come over with Boston. I had about twenty names pop in my head of people who would gladly come over to be with Boston, but felt I should call Rene'. She answered her phone right away and was at our house within 5 minutes. We took off to the hospital.




Travis and I were very calm on the way to the hospital. I'm not sure how because looking back it freaks me out and was so scary. Carter was still on the 4 leters of oxygen and keeping his sats in the low 90's. A couple minutes into the drive his pupils started to dilate in and out and his eyes would roll to the back of his head. I kept calling his name and making him keep eye contact with me. He was soooo tired and kept wanting to go to sleep. His sats dropped down as low as 48. Nothing was helping, but thankfully he popped back up to the 80's. When we got to the ER the waiting room was completely empty and they took us right back.




They did breathing treatments, ran all sort of test, X-rays, blood work, and whatever else I don't remember. We were all confused, because this shouldn't have been a side effect from the surgery. Once they finished all that and he was stable they admitted him to the PICU.




Since then he has been doing much better. Still requiring oxygen and waiting for all the tests to come back. Looking like a respiratory virus although we know it's not RSVP since that came back negative.

I saw this quote somewhere the other day. I don't remember where, but i wrote it down because it rang so true to me....

"I am so grateful for the blessings I have enjoyed in my life. I do not know why the lord has been so good to me. I don't know why I have been so blessed. But I do know that the Lord has a right to expect a lot of me. Sometimes the commitment gets a little heavy and sometimes I wonder if I can really do this. Then I think of all that I have been given, and it is easy to get up and do a little something more."

We have been so blessed! Through our trials Heavenly Father as blessed us in so many ways. Tuesday night we received so many tender mercies. From Rene' answering her phone, to her school schedule that happened to be different that day making it possible to watch Boston, the fact that the waiting room was completely empty when only 30 minutes before there were 44 patients out there with doctors accessing everyone to see who really needed to be there, we had meals lined up for the next week within hours, and so many more.

We are so grateful for our friends and family and all their support. Heavenly Father WILL give you what is needed to make it through your trials. We are grateful to be back at the Plano location around the nurses and doctors that usually take care of Carter.




I just had to post this picture of Boston "exercising his one arm push-ups" in the shower because it was hilarious. I love this boy so much. He keeps things normal and not to mention pretty funny too.
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Surgery #3

Today we came in planning to get Carter's tonsils and adenoids removed. We were going to stay after surgery for 4 hours to be observed and then go home.

Of course Carter had other plans. He always does ha. Dr. McClay called out from the operating room and told me Carter was tongue tied and asked if he should take care of it. Of course I said yes, but seriously he is almost two how are we just now figuring this out! He did his tonsils, adenoids, tongue, and the usual airway stuff. Everything went great! He came out and delivered the best news ever........drum roll please........

His airway was WIDE OPEN and he doesn't see any reason that he shouldn't be able to take his trach out on December 20th!

I am not totally convinced, but who knows. He will have to pass a sleep study on December 12th and if that goes well than I will believe it.

After surgery in his recovery room he decided that a 4 hour stay wasn't enough. He started to pull out the turn purple trick and required lots of O2. He hasn't done those tricks together for a LONG time! They admitted us to stay hopefully just over night. Not sure if the 7th floor (respiratory floor) was full or not, but for whatever reason we were sent to the 4th floor and not going to lie it is kinda annoying. It surprises me how little some nurses really know about trachs. I feel like I am teaching them what to do.

Anyways he is doing lots better now. Still on some O2 but only because they don't know how to change out the trach stuff and have to wait for respiratory to come fix it. If only I could go in the supply room and do it myself. Can ya tell I'm a little annoyed. Ha.

Trav and I had a good laugh when Carter needed some more pain meds the Dr came in and asked us what he wanted him to give Carter. Um when did we start writing the orders? I guess after two years of this stuff they put a little more trust in you.

In case you were wondering we chose morphine. Fentanyl knocks him out and he tends to be lazy with his breathing. Loratab wasn't going to cut the amount of pain he was in. I think we chose well, because after that is when he took a turn for the better.


I wish I could post the video of this moment. Carter had been given his dose of silly juice before surgery. I have never seen it be so effective. It was hilarious and sad all at the same time. He would sit there leaning over to the side and just stare at me. He would crack little smiles and then try to pick something off my nose. Then all the sudden he would just face plant into my chest. It was soooo funny.

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Birthdays!

Trav and I just celebrated our Birthdays. Lets start with mine, because Trav made it awesome just like he always does.

I started out the morning going to Boston's Preschool. Then we did a little shopping at the rack. When I got home Trav had Ice Cream and cookies delivered for Lunch. He knows the way to my heart. Flowers<Ice Cream

 Boston was SO SO SO excited for me to open my presents. First I had to put on my "Birthday Glasses"

He was So proud of the gift he picked out for me. I got the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. In the pic he is pointing to himself like "ya I picked this out and it's the best gift ever!" He was seriously so proud it was the cutest thing ever!

 My cute boys with my new tree.

Through a sweet hookup of my Mom's, Trav surprised me with Photoshop CS6. I have been wanting this forever, but it is too dang expensive that I never thought I would actually get it. Now to actually learning how to use it. Just a tad bit overwhelming. 

After presents Trav made Shrimp Scampi and Capresse my two favorite things for dinner. Yum!

 My Mom made my favorite cake, but we were too full to actually eat it that I didn't have any until two days later, but it still tasted just as good!

This handsome devil turned 30!!!! Such and old man now. 

 I wish I could say that his birthday was as awesome as mine, but it wasn't. Pretty much he way better at gift giving than I will ever be and a Sunday Birthday spent doing Tithing Settlement isn't too much fun. O and that fact that he is near impossible to shop for doesn't help either. Seriously I have never met someone that doesn't want things. Like really doesn't it's just weird. 

 Once again Boston was beyond excited to give Dad his present he picked out. He loves "chompers" and Dad loves football so a football chomper was the perfect gift.

 He is such an incredible person. I wish I was more like him. He works so hard and never has anything, but what is best for our family on his mind. 30 looks good on him. I should mention that he voluntarily stayed home with Carter during church and I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Cowboys game being on. Carter was a good excuse to enjoy a little something on his Birthday ha.

Thanksgiving Feast

Last week I got to go to Boston's school to his Thanksgiving Feast. He LOVES it when I get to go to his school and I LOVE it that he loves it! 

 The kids got to choose to dress up in their Indian costume or Pilgrim. Obviously the Indians were much more popular. 

 They sang a few Thanksgiving songs and then we got to eat Thanksgiving lunch together. 

 Boston's Thanksgiving "lunch" consisted of a roll and mashed potatoes for the main course and pumpkin pie and a brownie for dessert. 

Sure do love this boy. It is so fun to see him at school. He absolutely LOVES preschool and is always talking about it.

Chores

I have been trying to get things a little more organized around this house. I felt like I had this huge list of things I wanted to do, but with therapy, doc appointments, school, T-ball, and busy life I was never consistent enough to actually get them set and stone. One of the things I wanted to do was a chore chart for Boston. I felt like he was more than ready for some structured chores and definitely old enough. I didn't do anything fancy, but can I just say it has been SO great having him do more around the house. He does a great job with his chores and actually enjoys doing them. I'm sure the reward that comes when they are finished helps a little. 

Here are what some of his chores look like...

Bedroom- He makes his bed, clears his floor and dresser off

Laundry- He takes all the dirty laundry baskets from each room and organizes the clothes into whites, colored, towels, etc. in the laundry room baskets.

Bathroom- I give him this chore on the days I clean bathrooms and he gets right in there and does everything with me.

Shoes- He puts all the random shoes laying around the house back where they belong

Eating- He has to eat his meal with NO complaining and quick. Yes this is a chore (more for me though)

Reading- Spends 15 minutes sitting on his bed "reading"

Toys- He cleans up all his toys around the house

It definitely took some teaching for him to get the hang of it. Now all I have to do is tell him to do his chores and he goes right to his chart and does them himself. When he is finished he puts his "all done" ticket next to the chore picture and we pay him 25 cents each day. If he has extra good "Beehavior" and finds a Bee on his chart at the end of the day he gets an extra quarter. He is loving dollars these days so getting four quarters is a lot of motivation to turn them in for a dollar.

Mud Run

 Back at the beginning of the Summer they had a Groupon type deal for the Mighty Mud Dash in Dallas. A couple girls in my ward signed up and before we knew it we had a huge group all doing it together. It was SO much fun! I sure am surrounded by some incredible people!

Before

 

 After

 Somewhere during the race

Kiss those medals!

 The fab four before

 and After.

After they had a fire truck hosing you down with freezing cold water. It really didn't help all that much. I swear they put something in the mud, because I literally had to wash my hair four different times to get it all out. It was such a fun morning. The race was supposed to be a 5k, but I'm pretty sure it was only about 2 miles. Physically it wasn't challenging which made it all the more fun. I did come away with a nasty bruise and scrapped up legs. At first I thought I left scratch free, but as the days went on scrapes and bruises kept appearing. Ha I guess I am not as tough as I thought I was. JK

Surgery #2

You know those "pinch me if this is real" moments? I have been having that all morning. Rewind to yesterday. I was a ball of nerves before the surgery. I mean this was THE surgery that was going to make everything better and I was so anxious to see if it worked. Dr. McClay made a small incision in his neck and removed the stint from the first surgery. He had three small scar tissue growths that he got rid of. The whole thing took only about and hour and when he came into the consultation room he said everything looked "picture perfect and was nice and OPEN" Talk about huge relief. It is absolutely amazing! I wish I could show you a good pic of the inside of his airway you would never be able to tell that he grafted two different pieces of rib cartilage in there it was literally seamless. The body is so incredible!

 Little man was not too happy with my when we walked back into children's. Boston let him wear his owl beanie for good luck and I think Carter was pretty happy about it. He wore it the whole time. Surgery included. Pretty cute. 

 Thanks to a dose of silly juice he went from angry to super crazy. About five minutes after this pic he zonked out in my arms. 

 He was super loopy after anesthesia this time. Not only is he usually loopy from the anesthesia, but he had an allergic reaction to badadine a topical ointment for his incision so he got a heavy dose of benadryl. As far as his sats he bounced right back like usual and we were able to head home about and hour after surgery. I guess after your 11th time they aren't too worried how you will react to all the meds. Ha.

This morning has been the "pinch if this is real" moment. When I went in his room to get him this morning he was sitting up in his bed with no trach in. Usually when he pulls his trach out his neck is super red from itching (he has really bad eczema around his neck and that is usually why he takes his trach out) but this morning his neck wasn't red at all so I'm guessing it was out for a while. I put my hand over his neck and mouth and was shocked to find him breathing out his mouth. I put his trach back in went out and decided to try capping off his trach to see how he would do. When I put it on he acted as if nothing happened. He was breathing with absolutely no difficulty! I started bawling my eyes out! It is the first time that I have really believed that we might actually be able to get rid of his trach. I have always talked about it, but never really allowed myself to believe that it would actually happen. It just seems too good to be true. Not only was that amazing, but he decided that he would happily walk around the house with his little push toy. He normally hates that thing. He also pulled himself up to standing with no help and he ate and swallowed a pretzel. I am sure not all of these milestones were a result of the surgery, but to have them all happen on the same day was the best thing ever!

To make things even better I HEARD him say DADA!!!! Life is good so so good!

Halloween

We had SO much fun this Halloween! The boys were in Heaven. 

 I of course tortured the boys by making them take pictures. Boston was a good sport after a little bribing and well you get how Carter felt about it. Will they hate me one day for all the pictures I make them take? PS it was SO warm out that our poor pumpkins shriveled up within 24 hours. I'm sure it had nothing to do with my poor carving skills. 

 We got lucky with Carter a tractor happened to drive by and he was lost in little boy world.

 Then the tractor was gone and he was done! Cutest baby Captain America EVER!!!

 I was told that this Captain America was the coolest ever not the cutest. How dare I. 

 The coolest Captain America has some serious moves. 

 Grandma D and her boys. They made the balloons with ghost faces on them and put glow sticks in them. Unfortunately it wasn't pitch black so you couldn't tell, but they were super cute and Boston has some awesome drawing skills these days. 

 I know Carter is crying in almost every picture these days. He really is happy I promise, just not a fan of taking pics at all. Conner might have freaked him out a little too. Ha. 

 We met our friends at the park for some dinner before Trick or Treating. I wish I would have gotten a picture of all the kids. 

 This is the first year that Boston has been into Trick or Treating and I think we awe all the credit to his buddy Jack. They were running up and down the streets like crazy boys. Trav and I LOVED watching him get so excited about it. 

 I am not joking when I say he was in Heaven!

 Carter was a good sport hanging out in the stroller

 for a little while then he made his way to Dad's shoulders

 He was happiest doing a little walking around.  The only problem was he couldn't quite keep up with everyone. 

 This was Boston's favorite house. Someday we will convince Trav that we should be the "cool" house in the neighborhood. After this we ditched Dad and Carter and Boston filled his bucket to the brim. 

 The party wasn't ever when we got home he was ready to pass out candy to the few trick or treaters left. He sang his little heart out and yelled out "we have candy. come here for candy. this is the cool house. don't forget to come get your candy." I'm sure you can guess I had a hard time making him call it quits for the night he was having TOO much fun and we were loving it.

He did pretty good this year. Thankfully he hasn't been asking for it too much! We actually still had candy from last year that we threw away. Lets hope we have that kind of luck this year. Not counting on it.