There's Water at the Bottom of the Ocean

I always knew that Mikey was scrappy and tough.  I guess what i didn't realize was how scrappy and tough he is.  Yesterday, I heard a little knock on our bedroom door and there he was.  He had scooted himself out of his room and was sitting there with a big smile on his face.

Later, he was scooting around and the next thing I see is him coming up the stairs.  He was insistent that he could do it.  I thought he would get about 2 steps and start to hurt but he kept going.




I still have to pull the reigns back a little on him so that he doesn't do too much too fast.  He really, really, really wanted to go to school today but I think we will wait one more day.

 

Q - How do you know when your son has turned a corner?

Mikey came home yesterday.  When he realized that we were going home he was so excited.  The nurse was trying to give me all the discharge papers and instructions and all I could hear was Mikey saying "C'mon mom - Mikey go home!" 


Mark had gone ahead of us to set up camp in the family room for him.  We moved a hideabed into the family room for him so he can be more comfortable until he can start being a little more mobile.  He has everything he needs right there in reach.  The girls think it is pretty cool too and have been enjoying having their brother home again.  His pain and discomfort was so much better yesterday and today.   He really didn't complain too much yesterday about pain.  He got home and wanted to start playing just like usual.  The doctors warned us that he will probably want to do more than we would think and we probably would need to hold him back.  Now I see what they mean. 

Our wonderful friends the Pesnell's came by to visit and brought him the complete Ultraman collection on DVD!  He is so stoked and now we have the pleasure of getting to watch every episode ever made! (insert sarcasm here) 

Today is mother's day and I am so thankful to be home again with entire family.  Life is good.    

I guess the title pretty much sums it up.  Sometime last night Mikey somehow managed to pull out his epidural.   At 6 am he told me his leg really hurt and a couple of minutes later he was screaming in pain.  The nurse immediately jumped into action and got him a good dose of meds and after he calmed down a bit she noticed that his epidural had come out.  They were planning to start him on oral meds today anyway - but were hoping to have a more gradual weaning process.  The poor kid was essentially med free for a couple of hours.   

That was just the beginning of the day.  He had a procedure scheduled at 9 am that he had to be at.  It meant moving him from his bed to the wheelchair.  When they scheduled this they had planned on his epidural still being in place so this threw a big kink in the plan.  His left leg was really, really bothering him and any slight movement would send him screaming.   I felt so helpless and he would look at me with those teary eyes and say 'Mama, mama it HURTS" and there was nothing I could do but pray over him. It is such a helpless feeling.  I am so thankful for the staff at Shriner's.  They have been so great and so compassionate towards Mikey and our family. I really can't say enough good stuff about the top notch care that Mikey has received over the past week.  We had to take him to radiology and then get him up on a table. The procedure itself was painless - but the process of getting him up and down was excruciating for him.  We finished up and got him back to bed.  Another dose of oral meds were beginning to kick in and he seemed to be more comfortable.   His friend Jake & two of his karate instructors came by to visit.  Mikey was trying really hard to stay awake to visit with them - but eventually the meds won.  He took a pretty good nap, but his left leg was still bothering him.  By afternoon he was feeling a little better.  Any slight movements were still very painful - but as long as he was still he was ok.  All of his other tubes came out over the course of the day and by the time I left he was in pretty good spirits.  Mark is staying with him tonight.  I pray tonight is restful and tomorrow is easier for this brave little boy.   Sleep well my little one....

Today was a pretty good day.  Mikey's friend Jake came by and visited him and really made his day.  Mikey was still a little bit out of it but was glad to see his friend. 

Later though, Mikey set out in the wheelchair to check out the rec room for a while and play some Wii.  He really started to look more like himself and began to talk more too.

By dinnertime he was actually goofing around a little bit with his sisters and showing more signs of being his fun self. 

We finally got a BIG smile out of him when the GIANT fortune cookie arrived from his karate instructors.  Zoe was begging to eat it - but Mikey wanted to save it until tomorrow.  I think that was a good idea.
Tomorrow the epidural comes out so we shall see if that smile stays put.  For now, this boy has shown a champion spirit and hasn't complained one bit about anything.  He wants to go home - but who wouldn't when you are hooked up to a kajillion wires and tubes.  He is a great kid and we love, love, love him!

The girls have been pretty tolerant of all this too.  I know it has been hard for them to see Mikey getting all of our attention and Mommy not being home at night.  Thank you girls for hangin' in there and understanding about your brother.  You all deserve big fat squeezy hugs and I can't wait to finally be home to give them to you!!

It is done and everything went very well.  The surgery took 7 hours instead of 3 - but apparently they just threw the number 3 out there to keep us guessing.  The left leg took longer because they had to reshape the end of his femur. They called us every couple hours and kept us updated so we weren't really worried - but the day got pretty long. 

Mikey was pretty groggy, but woke up enough to know we were here and that his sisters had come to visit.  I stayed at the hospital with him and he would wake up and say how hungry he was and it was just killing me to tell him he couldn't eat yet.   Finally, the nurse said he could eat.  He had some soup and a cereal bar and he was a happy boy. 

He is not in any pain yet.  They gave him an epidural with a nice cocktail of pain meds so he really can't feel anything below his waist.  The staff here has been awesome and Mikey has been such a good patient.  Everyone has fallen in love with him.  I am not sure how long he will be here.  One person says Friday - another Saturday but i can't imagine him being ready to go home before Saturday.

I guess that is all for now.  Thank you all for the calls and prayers.  We have seen a huge outpouring of love for Mikey and appreciate everyone so much. 

We had to be back at the hospital this morning at 6 am so last night the girls went to stay with my sister.  It was a tearful goodbye for Mikey since this was the first time that he was away from them.  5 minutes after they left he wanted to call them and say goodnight again and he told each one that he loved them.  I think he was more concerned about them being gone than he was about what was happening the next day.

After we arrived at the hospital they began the process of getting him ready for surgery.  Mikey did not care for the breezy gown he was given and insisted that it was for girls.  We had a couple of minutes to talk and he started to show the first signs of a little bit of fear. He said goodbye to his flippers (that is what he calls his feet) for the last time.   I could tell he wanted to cry, but wanted to show us he was brave. We told him it was ok to be a little scared - but he kept his chin up the whole time.   I am so proud of the courage he is showing.  I doubt I would have the grace he showed if it were me. 

The happy juice he was given began to kick in quickly and soon he didn't really care if he had a girl gown on or not.  He got pretty silly and before we knew it - it was time to say goodbye.  The anesthesiologist came in and Mikey looked him right in the eye and said "ready!" and off he went. (I'm sure the happy juice helped with that..)
 

Today was Mikey's surgery admission day.  This means we went to the hospital and got him checked in and then met with all the PT's, OTs, surgeons, nurses, and just about anyone else you can think of.  We have prepared Mikey the best we can for this and I truly believe he is about as ready is he is ever going to be.  He seems to have a peace over him and is *almost* looking forward to having this done.  A lot of credit goes to the wonderful staff at Shriner's and the amazing way they deal with kids.  We feel tremendously blessed to have Shriner's right here in our back yard. 

Mikey took the day in stride and had a pretty good time.  He loves the rec room and got rather annoyed when the doctors would come in and interrupt him while he was checking out all the cool stuff.   Here are a few highlights from today. 

Hey lady - you want a ride?










Not a single tear during the blood draw.  What a champ!













The Hummer is pretty sweet!















Making casts just like the ones he will get tomorrow. 












 
Tomorrow is the big day so time to get some sleep and be ready to go bright and early.