Surgery Rescheduled

We have rescheduled Drew's surgery for his ear tubes for Wednesday, May 2. They will also remove his adenoids at that time. Based on the results from the tests, the only major issue is bilateral sinusitis and they think that could be the problem with his lungs - drainage from his sinuses is causing the inflamation in the lungs. So the theory is that removing the adenoids will help. Plus he is on an extended course of amoxicillin which should help. No other serious abnormalities showed up on the test results which is great, but if the adenoids don't help then I'm not sure what else can be done! The waiting game continues...

The good news is that, other than a constantly running nose (clear, thankfully), Drew is feeling fine. He finished his oral steroid so that is one medication down. We also stopped one of the inhalers that was an asthma maintenance drug. Since there is no asthma that was not needed.

Egg Hunt Photos

Photos from the egg hunt on Easter - they wouldn't upload yesterday so I compressed them today. Note Drew's ski cap...sad when you are forced to wear winter clothes to your egg hunt!

In his element...Drew loves to pick things up...

...carry them around...

...and put them in a container...

Amelia and her full bucket...she also had a basket full!

Helping Daddy find eggs...

Such fun!

"Oh No!" Drew dumped his bucket twice when it got too heavy to carry. Both times he just said "oh no" and sat down to reload. It was adorable!

Easter...Two Weeks Late...

Here are some photos from our Easter. Sorry for the delay... The Easter Bunny stopped by before church and Drew really enjoyed opening each egg. We had a wonderful Easter lunch at Steve & Sharon's house (Celeste's parents) and enjoyed a frigid egg hunt in their backyard. It was a great day!

Our Adventures at Children's Hospital...

Well, Drew did well yesterday. We arrived at Children’s at 7:00 am and were efficiently checked in and taken to a playroom/waiting area. From there we went to Radiology for the CT scan of his sinuses. He did pretty well and laid still until the tech reached in to adjust his head…screaming ensued, but the scan was successful. Patrick was able to stay with him during the scan to help soothe the jitters. After Radiology, we were taken to the Outpatient Surgery wing where we were put in a room to await his procedure. The nurse came in to do the preliminary information and told us to do whatever we needed to kill the 3 hours we had to wait. Nana and Grandaddy arrived a few minutes later and between the 4 adults we kept him pretty well occupied. He played in the playroom, walked laps around the 4th floor, watched the Disney channel, walked laps, watched Elmo, walked laps, and took an hour nap. At 11:30 they came in to give him his “happy juice” which made him giddy and relaxed. It was hilarious to watch him. He must have thought we were pretty funny too because he laughed a lot! At 12:15 they came to get us and we all went up to the 6th floor surgery area. We kissed him and off he went. That is when I knew the “happy juice” was a good thing…he didn’t even flinch that he was leaving us behind!

About 45 minutes later the doctor came to talk to us and told us Drew did fine. He did not see any foreign bodies in his lungs (which made me feel much better…what kind of mom doesn’t know their kid inhaled something?!) and was able to suck out a lot of heavy mucus. There was quite a bit of redness, swelling and inflammation in his lungs and airway, which was expected. One place was almost swollen shut but the doctor thinks a round of steroids will open that back up. There are a couple of places that are not shaped quite right, but nothing to really worry about. So now we wait on the cultures from the scope, the CT scan reading and the labs they took (luckily while he was asleep) to see if there is anything abnormal. If all that comes back fine, we will probably proceed to allergy testing next. So really no definite answers but at least nothing came up too horrible!

After we spoke to the doctor we went back to Drew’s room to wait on him. About 15 minutes later Patrick and I both jumped up as we could hear him screaming from down the hall. Drew doesn’t wake up well if there are strangers around and the anesthesia evidently makes them cry as well. We were able to calm him down, have him drink some juice and sit and watch a little Elmo to wake up slowly. His IV was still in his hand as he was receiving an antibiotic through it and he was not really happy about that. Luckily he drank 3 cups of juice and had a slushy so he was able to go home around 2:00. All day he was a real trooper and amazed us with his great attitude.

Drew is now on an antibiotic, steroid, 2 inhalers plus his allergy medicines. We may get to stop some of that based on the culture results which should be back by Tuesday. So we play the waiting game again and see what comes next! He is back to his normal self today which is good to see. No more fever, eating much better than he was, and seems to be quite happy to be at home with his toys.

Thanks for all your well wishes and thoughts. We’re on the right track but it’s not over yet!

Here are some photos Patrick took with his phone yesterday. They aren't great but you get to see the little man all drugged up!

So cute in his little hospital gown!

Giddy on "Happy Juice!"

"Wow...that's good stuff!"

Update...

Some of you have been asking for updates on Drew. After our doctor visit on Monday, we got our Pulmonologist appointment for April 23. He progressively got worse over the next two days and I took him back on Wednesday. He got a Rocephin (strong antibiotic) shot and we were told to come back Thursday (today) at 8:30 am. Last night his fever was 102.6 and he was having problems breathing – Patrick and I had a long debate over whether to take him to the ER. We waited it out until the Motrin kicked in and he finally slept soundly after 1:00 am. At the doctor today he got another shot and they called the Pulmonologist back to have him worked in today. We finally saw the specialist and he scheduled us for another battery of tests tomorrow. Total time in doctors’ offices today – 5 ½ hours…

So, we report to Children’s Hospital at 7:00 am Friday morning for a CT scan of his sinuses, blood work to determine if there is an immuno-suppression issue, and a bronchoscopy (a big word for “put him to sleep and run a small tube with a camera on the end down his windpipe to look in his lungs”). We will probably be there for at least 8 hours. Other than being very confused as to how they will keep a 17 month old still for a CT scan, anyone have any ideas on keeping a 17 month old entertained for long periods of time when there can’t be any food or liquids involved for bribes?! No food or milk after midnight tonight – only clear liquids in the morning until 8:30. Oh yeah, try explaining to Drew why he can’t have “snacks” (Cheerios) in the waiting room. The kid has it down…we sit and wait and he gets snacks! Tomorrow will be interesting. I’m sure we will have plenty of stories from this escapade!

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers. We are hopeful that this will turn out to be something easily remedied and tomorrow will be our last experience at Children’s Hospital! At least until we get the ear tubes rescheduled…

Surgery Unscheduled...

Well, we have postponed our ear surgery. Drew came down with a cough over the weekend and I took him in today to make sure he was healthy before Wednesday. After a strep test, blood work and another x-ray, it was determined that he has signs of pneumonia again. We are waiting for an appointment from a pulmonologist to figure out what is going on with his lungs and why the right one won't clear up. He's back on an antibiotic, two inhalers, plus his allergy medicine. It's crazy...he's a walking pharmacy! I'll update the blog whenever we know something more...
I'll post Easter photos soon. He had a great time hunting eggs...totally in his element (pick something up, put it in a container, move on and do it again)!

Surgery Scheduled...

The decision has been made...Drew is getting tubes in his ears on Wednesday, April 11. We report to Children's Hospital at 8:00am for what is rumoured to be a very short surgery. Hopefully mommy and daddy will think the same thing! According to our doctor he should be back to "normal" about 2 hours after surgery...I wonder what he defines as "normal"!

We are bundled up and ready for the freezing temperatures this weekend. There's nothing like a 40 degree Easter Egg Hunt!

Here are some photos of the little man from the past few weeks...Enjoy!



Yummy! (You know you love photos like this!!)


Helping Daddy wash the car...Drew LOVED it!

Family Fun

We had a fun time a couple of weeks ago when our Uncle Ray visited from St Louis. Aunt Jean and Uncle Terry came up from Georgia and we had a great time playing outside in the beautiful weather. Enjoy some photos!




Bubbles Everywhere!

Slide! (New favorite word and activity!)

Laughing with Aunt Jean

Prayers for an old friend...

Hello to everyone. I wanted to use this forum to request prayers for an old friend. Katie Ferraris Taylor was a good friend from elementary school through high school. She has been fighting leukemia since July of 2006 and is nearing the end of her journey. She has requested to sleep the remainder of her days as the pain is unbearable when she is awake. Chemo, 2 bone marrow transplants and other medications have done nothing to reduce her cancer. Please pray for her husband, parents, brother and the rest of her family to have peace, strength and courage during this difficult time. Pray that Katie's time in her painful body is limited and that she can be at peace during her final days.
Thank you!