Back in the hospital

As soon as you think you are out of the woods....YOUR NOT! We are back in the hospital, local this time with and infection!  I am exhausted and tired of being in the hospital.  There is a story to how we got here and after I speak with the surgeon in the morning (Monday)  I will hopefully be rested well enough to write it for your reading pleasure!
Billie

Sunday 9:00am

To everyone's shock and amazement Tanner has done wonderful, and is walking!  He also is taking no pain medication and the cath looks great and is flushing well.  So we are officially home back in North Carolina.  Our GI doctor here will monitor his care for about a month and then the cath will come out and just be inserted daily for his flushes.  The pure strength in God has gotten us through this difficult time.  I Thank Everyone who has prayed, donated and made this trip possible.  The doctors in Ohio are shocked and amazed.   Praising GOD!

Saturday April 9th, 2011

Early this morning (4am) the residents and, nurse practitioner, and fellows did there rounds, they woke both of us up.  Good news we will irrigate the catheter first thing this morning, if it flushes well we can be discharged from the hospital.  Original plan was to keep us in the area for about a week to monitor the progress with xrays.  I am pushing them to let us go home now.  We will see when the orders come through.  The flush went well he has eaten breakfast and is doing good.   My uncle that I haven't seen since my dad's funeral 4 years ago is flying into town for the day to visit Tanner, it will be so good to see him.

April 7th, 2011

Today we had an xray early this morning, it looked OK and Tanner began to have a clear liquid diet yet again.  He has not had solid food for 5 days now.  We are watching the Colon to see if it is going to resume its function on its own, so that is why he is not having solid food.  He will have another xray in the morning to see what it looks like after a day of clears.   His spirits were up most of the day. We did go up to the playroom on the 6th floor and play the Wii for a little bit, and get some new movies.  We hope to get solids sometime tomorrow if the bowel sounds return.  I meet Melissa a few days ago here and I will begin blogging about this sweet 6 year old girl in the near future, she has already stolen my heart!......

Post-Op Day

We had a long night last night.  Tanner slept on and off all night, amongst the nurses, fellows, residence, pain team, and doctors checking on him.  His lungs are getting some fluid on them tonight and he has had a fever that has been difficult to control.  There is also a rash that comes and goes very quickly, not sure if that is a medication causing it or what.  The foley cath. should come out in the morning, he does not like it at all.  He has gotten out of bed 3 times today and taken steps and sat in a chair.  I am so proud of you Tanner!  I Love You! Mom

Surgery

We got woke up early at 6:00am and went to pre-op holding.  Tanner did not want to get up or go in a wheel chair to the operating room.  The nurses were great.  Surgery started at 730 am and he was in recovery around 1230pm.  Everything went well in the operating room.  They did all of the things they planned the scar on the right side of his bell looks better already, the repair on the Malone went well and should not be having leakage out of it any longer (no more bag) YEAH.  The biggest part of the surgery was the sigmoid bowel resection the took a foot and a half of the colon and re-attached both ends.  It looks great. There is a another bigger scar, but they did all the work through that 1 new scar.   Tanner DID NOT CODE the entire time, praise God.  We are back in our room resting well the the push button pain management.  He is pretty swollen in the face, that should go down soon.  No food or drink for another 3 days. That is a total of 5 days no food.  He is upset over that, but I will make it all up to him when he is better.

Praise God, everything went well!
Billie & Tanner

pre-op

Wow - its like good bad, good, bad all day long.   Waited to meet the surgeon all day, the fellow showed up at 5:00pm and explained the surgeon was out sick.  And he is going to be in the operating room tomorrow am.  Well we pray my kiddo doesn't get his bugs while we are in there. Meds are shutting off at 9pm tonight even though they are not done, in hopes that he and I both get some sleep tonight.  We are first case in the morning, not to early though.  Surgery time has been shortened, we are saying approx. 4 hours.  give or take.  Nothing can be really determined at this point because they can;t really tell what his anatomy is like and scar tissue.  Plans for the operating room have changed a little. 1.) revision of the malone. 2.) Sigmoid colon ressection. 3.) scar tissue removal 4.) anal stenosis repaired 5.) anus examined and possbile treatment.   So no longer just 2 things being done.  I will be out of commission in the morning, please don't call,  Updates if urgent will be given to Lynn Staggs you may contact her for any information.  Thank you for reading!
Billie

Sunday - Day before surgery

I slept a solid 4 hours last night, in a not so comfortable chair that pulls out into a bed.  Tanner is doing good, tired.  He slept for about and hour and a half.  The medicine is working great, he might be able to come off of it in a little while and rest some tonight before surgery!  He is in good spirits, and still very happy that he did not have to have the NG tube, he is moving around a lot more and taking care of a lot of his own needs.  He has grown so much since the last surgery, it is amazing to see how much more responsible and easy going he is.  I am so thankful to have a God sent gift.  He is truly an amazing child.  The nurses up here fight over who gets him each shift change.  Julie is the best, we ask for her every time she is on.  She just fires back at Tanners quick whit.

In the hospital

We are in the unit, meds are running in at a steady pace! He is hungry, bored and ready to get out of here.We have 10 days left minimum in the hospital.  I will update later

Night before we get admitted

Well the last night before we get trapped in the hospital.  I did find out I get a massage on Monday, YEAH. (oh ya and Tanner does too.)  We had a great visit with the doctor today, he explained why the current Malone in Tanner's belly button was not working, and how they would fix it.  They also explained about the Sigmoid resection and the role it played in the future for Tanner.  He was very encouraging, and optimistic.  It sounds like we are finally in the right place.  I pray we sleep tonight, as we will not tomorrow night.  Good news though Tanner found out he can have his clean out medication go through his current Malone opening.  Which means he does not have to have an NG tube or drink nasty go-lytle.   He is relieved!

Good night

Meeting another family

We were in the game room this morning and I introduced myself to young woman and her 14 year old son.  I will leave names out for confidentiality purposes.  They are here for the exact same reason, her son has only had 3 surgeries all from the doctor we are here to see today.  He is leading a very productive life, playing sports and is very happy.  She said everything I needed to hear, the doctor is great, she meet him in NY where he used to practice and has followed him to OH.  He is the best at what he does, and he created the procedure, which is now named after him.  I was so happy to finally meet someone that is in our similar shoes and has had a very successful life with the right doctor being in charge of there care.   So inspired, and encouraged to be in the right place at the right time..............