Brandon's Surgery

Brandon had his surgery yesterday. We had to get up at 4 am and be up in Springs by six. We did okay until we got to the hospital and then couldn't find where to go and there wasn't anybody on duty at the front desk. A flight nurse happened by and showed us where to go. It was a good thing we took into account for getting lost and left enough time. Once we were checked in, Scott's brother-in-law Louie and the assistant pastor at his church, who had driven up, came into the room and said a prayer for Brandon. After they left we sat around the room for a little while and watched tv until it was time for the surgery. The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 and they came and got him right on time. They only allowed one parent in the operating room so Scott went in with Brandon until he was asleep, which took like five minutes, and then he was back in the room to wait with me. They told us the surgery was going to take about an hour because the doctor thought there were two small hernias. Scott had taken off to go find some food and he hadn't even gotten back to the room yet when the doctor came in and said they were done. It had only been maybe a half hour. He said there was only one hernia after all, just a lot of fat pushed through. The hole itself was probably only maybe a few centimeters big. So I went to recovery before Scott even got back to the room. The nurse said that Brandon would probably sleep for awhile because they gave him twice the amount of anethesia since they thought he would be in longer, but Brandon started coming around when he heard my voice. At first he was okay and was drinking some juice but then he started getting sick. They gave him some medicine for the pain and nausea but he just wasn't tolerating anything well. Since his vitals were good we left recovery and they took us back to the room where Scott was waiting. There we tried to get him to hold some liquid down. He was just so tired and had so much anethesia in him, plus running a slight fever, that he just felt crummy. He wanted to go home but we knew he would be so miserable riding home for an hour when he was feeling so sick. They finally gave him some different medicine that they use as a last resort because it causes the patient to fall asleep but that is what he needed. Brandon was afraid that if he fell asleep they would do more surgery. The meds kicked in quickly and he went to sleep. The problem was that as he slept his oxygen stats kept dropping below 87 which would set off the alarms and a nurse would call and see if we needed something. I spent an hour watching the monitor and waking him up enough to take deep breaths to keep his stats up until he woke up enough to stay awake. Besides the kink in my neck from looking up at the monitor, it worked wonders. Once we got him to stay awake and get dressed, he said he felt much better and he was acting more like himself. The nurses had given him a blanket and a bear to make him feel safer and he told the nurse he was going to give his bear to Jessie when he got home so the nurse gave him another one to give to her so he could keep his. Once we hit the car, he immediately wanted to go get food. Amazing because an hour ago he couldn't even stand eating a popsicle and now he was starving. He ate two fruit bars on the way home and half of a chicken sandwich when we got home. Jessie was so happy to have him home she couldn't stop watching him and mothering him. Then they both took naps. Jessie woke up at 5:30 when she realized brother was gone and made mom put in Shrek to watch because there wasn't anything good on tv that early so she was pretty tired too. He was still feeling a little bad last night with a low grade fever but this morning the fever was gone and he is just stiff and sore. The incision is only about 3/4 to a half of an inch long and covered with steri strips. The fun part is going to be keeping him calm and only doing quiet activities for a week. The surgeon told me good luck with that. He has to avoid gym and recess for a week and he is worried that he will get into trouble with the teachers for not taking gym. We keep telling him we have a note from the doctor so they won't be mad. All in all it went as well as it could have and at least it is all over and hopefully we will never have to do something like that again. I am so proud of him. He was so brave and strong through the whole thing. The nurses said they wish all their patients were like him, he never cried or anything, he just did what they told him to. Thank you for all the prayers. They were greatly appreciated.

North Pole Trip

Mom had a little money set aside for summer family trips so this year's vacation was going to the State Fair and the North Pole in Colorado Springs. The kids got to see all the free shows at the fair and the petting zoo and ride the ponies, which they always like. When we went to the North Pole, we didn't tell them where we were going so it would be a surprise. They were so excited. The first place we went was Santa's House. They were still a little overwhelmed and didn't talk much to Santa. Jessie said she wanted another doll house and Brandon wanted a real horse. Then we started on the rides. It is a good deal because you pay one price and can ride the rides all you want. Most of the rides are pretty mellow, which is the way the kids like it. Jessie and Brandon were able to ride on all of them together or with me and Scott. They were really liking it. There was only one ride they didn't like. Scott talked us into going on the Tilt-a-Whirl. They were not impressed with that one. Luckily that was one of the last so it didn't make them not want to ride any more. It did rain on us a few times. The first was no big deal. We just went into some of the gift shops while we waited it out. We told the kids one more ride and then we were going home and then it started to rain a second time. It downpoured on them during the ride and they had to stop it early. It wasn't a big deal because we were ready to go home anyway but the problem was that everyone in the park decided to go home also because it was an hour before the park closed anyway. It took us forever to get out and onto the main road because traffic was so bad. All in all it was a good day and a good way to end the summer and forget our troubles for a little while.

Brandon's surgery

Brandon had his preop appointment today. His surgery is set for next Friday, September 25 at 7:30AM. We have to be at the hospital at 6AM and since it is in Springs, we have to leave here at 5 which means getting up at like 4AM. Maybe we will be so tired we won't be as worried. Mom has offered to watch Jessie for us, and I am sure if she knew the time before hand she might have had second thoughts. At least she only has to walk over and hopefully Jessie will stay asleep for awhile so mom won't have to entertain her that early in the morning. The good thing is that Brandon should be released by 10:30 so we will be home for lunch and with any luck naps. I'll send another blog after the surgery and let everyone know how it went. lots of prayers.

Jenny’s Special Birthday Gifts

I’m sneaking into Jenny’s blog to write a story I think is cute. I thought it would be fun to take the grandkids shopping so they could pick out a birthday gift for their mother. I gave them free reign (within a reasonable price range) of what they thought would be the perfect gift for their mother. I was really curious to see what they would come up with. So the three of us set out for Wal-Mart. Before we left on our shopping trip Brandon told his mother he wanted to get her flowers, those pretty cut flowers in the case by the front door of Wal-Mart he said. Jenny talked him out of those because she told him although she loved flowers, once they died she wouldn’t have anything to keep forever from him so he decided he would rather give her something she could keep. They both decided jewelry was what mommy needed so we headed for the jewelry and I figured I would start them at the first aisle and let them look at everything on the racks and then decide which one they wanted. I didn’t realize the first aisle was the children’s jewelry. Jessie wanted to get some Tinkerbelle bracelets that would only fit a child and I don’t think she really had mommy in mind at that time. I told her we were shopping for mommy and not her and maybe she could get those later so then she liked a Hannah Montana necklace that would fit her mommy. I told her we would keep looking but if that’s what she wanted to get her we would come back for it. Brandon tends to just zero in on something, like it calls to him, and then he is set on that item no matter how many other things he looks at and this time was no exception. He headed straight for a box of earrings and that was exactly what he thought his mommy should have. Jessie is more of a shopper so she looked at everything. She liked the costume jewelry rings and picked one of the largest red stones I’ve ever seen on a ring. It was a huge square stone with a couple of small diamonds on each side. The rings weren’t the kind you can size and I was afraid if it didn’t fit any of Jenny’s fingers then she wouldn’t be able to wear it at all and Jessie would be very disappointed so she decided to keep looking (you’re welcome Jenny). Finally, she decided on a gold and purple necklace. Then she wanted to give her a second gift so I said they could pick out another gift that was from both of them. Jessie wanted to give her a card of earrings but it was very similar to the ones Brandon had picked. He wanted to give an identical box of earrings to the ones he had already picked out but with a different color stone but I thought maybe a bit more variety would be nice so they decided on a card of beaded bracelets. We thought it was a card of about eight different bracelets but it turned out to be all one bracelet and when pulled out, looks like a very pretty slinky. So happy with their purchases we paid for them and some gum that they talked Grandma into. Then we stopped at my house to wrap the presents and they were very picky about the tissue paper and bags we used. They both decided they wanted to give her a card too and luckily I have a bunch of cards I get free in the mail so they each picked one out. Fortunately, I had two with a dog that looked like Shane on it because they both wanted that one. Brandon signed his card himself but dictated what he wanted to say on it to me. It read, “I wish you have a very good birthday for many many years. P.S. I love you very much and we are back from Wal-Mart.” Jessie “signed” her card too and dictated on hers the message, “Dear Mommy, I love you, I want you, I don’t want you to die.” What with Bill, their dog Sara, and several of our special cats dying recently, death is a bit on her mind. They gave their individual presents to her on her birthday, which really helped make it a special day, especially since Brandon had that bus fiasco on her birthday, and gave her the bracelet at the family party on Saturday. Jenny wore the other jewelry they gave her at the party too. Jenny loved the fact they had picked out the gifts themselves, which made them very special, and I have some really special memories of our shopping trip as well. See the pictures below:

1st day of school

Brandon had his first day of all day school yesterday. I was worried about him lasting all day because he always gets tired in the afternoon. He did fine with that though and said that he enjoyed going all day. We will see how long that lasts. He did have problems with the bus however. When he was supposed to get off the bus, he wasn't there. Melody from next door, who was getting her son off the bus and runs a daycare, asked us where Brandon was. Dad, who was waiting outside, jumped into his car and started chasing down the bus. Melody started calling the bus garage, and I called the school. She said they messed up with one of her daycare kids in morning kindergarten too, they had the drop off address wrong, and he was on the bus an extra hour before she finally got him to her house. I finally got a hold of the school and they started tracking him down. Apparently they put him on the wrong bus and he wasn't the only one. Parents were chasing down buses and calling the school and in general panic mode throughout the county. The school finally called and said they had him at the school about the time Scott was getting ready to head down there and I was going to wait at home in case they dropped him off there. Dad returned home after verifying that Brandon wasn't on the bus. Needless to say Scott and many other parents were giving the school an earful. Then they tried to tell us that Brandon was on the right bus and just didn't get off, so Scott let them have it again because we tracked the bus down and he was not on it. I figured Brandon would be freaked out by now but when we got him he was more worried that he was in trouble because they took him to the principal's office to wait for us. He is calling it his great adventure. On the way home I asked him if the bus he was on even went in our direction and he said no that he thought they took him to Mexico because it was a foreign land. I had baked cookies for him to have when he got home from school but by the time we got him home he was too wired to eat them. Every year something goes wrong for him on the bus. In preschool, the bus got the kids to school 20 minutes before all the other buses and they didn't bother to tell the teachers that so his first day he waited outside the school with no teachers and it scared him and the other kids. Last year the bus went into a ditch, and this year they lose him. I can't wait to find out what will happen next year. Great birthday present for me to have my son lost in the bus system. They don't take care of the kids like they used to that's for sure.

Brandon has his surgery scheduled for september 25, at 7:30 in the morning, which means we will have to leave here at 6:30 and hopefully not wait for hours until they get him in. At least it will be over and I can stop worrying about it.

Brandon had his appointment with the surgeon yesterday and he said it was an epigastric hernia. The muscles never closed up completely allowing some fat to get pushed through which is the lump we can see. It must be the only fat in his body because I sure can't find any anywhere else. The good news is that it is unlikely to cause any serious medical problems but it can be painful and they want to do surgery but I don't know when exactly. Probably in the next month or two. They said it was better to do it while he is young and recovers quickly. Brandon was funny though before we left to go to Springs. Mom was babysitting Jessie at our house and Brandon acted like she never been there before. He was showing her where everything was and telling her how to do everything like how to open the door if the dogs wanted out. He showed her the fridge and told her what snacks Jessie liked and where her juice was. Right before we left he showed her the keys to the firetruck in case they wanted to go for a spin and then thanked mom for watching his little sister. It was funny.
Scott's test result came back normal except for a lot of acid and now they want to do a scope. I don't know when he will get around to doing that. I think it is just stress and he hasn't been feeling like working out or anything lately and that doesn't help. At the end of the day Brandon tells me that this was the best day. I was thinking yeah I love driving for two hours for a fifteen minute visit, told that my son has to have surgery, Scott needs more tests to find out what is wrong yeah right this was a great day. We have a meeting set up on Wednesday with several potential investors to hopefully invest in the business so hopefully that will go good. Mom is feeling more positive so that helps. I never realized how much I count on her to help me stay a little more positive. She is on vacation this week which helps break up the monotony too. Prayers are welcome.

When it rains it pours

Last year wasn't our greatest year in terms of finances because Scott didn't get much work. I thought 2009 was going to be better, I was wrong it just keeps going downhill. Not only has our financial situation not improved any, but there must be some life law that when you are down and out everything must break. Our car has just broken down for the third time this year. I am not talking small things, I am talking the cheapest time was $300 to $800. Luckily we do have a back up car that so far is behaving itself. Scott is having to have tests done to see why his GERD is back. He had surgery years ago that was supposed to take care of it, but now he having problems again. We are waiting to find out the results of his upper GI and see where we go from there. Our insurance isn't the greatest so there are our of pocket expenses. Then I took Brandon to the doctor for his regular checkup and the doctor decided that the small lump he has had on stomach since he was like two, that she always told me was a blood vessel and would eventually disappear, decided that maybe is a ventral ulcer and he needs to see a pediatric surgeon which of course are none in Pueblo so we have to go to Springs for. Just what he needs to do right before he starts first grade and is in school all day for the first time. He will not do well if they decide he needs surgery so I am praying that something will go right and they can take care of it right there or decide that it is nothing to worry about. Brandon goes to the dentist next week along with the appointment with the surgeon and I am dreading what may come up then. The only saving grace is so far Jessie seems to be perfectly fine except that she has decided to quit sleeping at night again which she was barely sleeping in the first place which means no sleep for me either. I am really trying to remember that things could be worse and focus on the good things. Every day I wonder what is going to happen today. If my family is being tested on our faith then I am afraid we are failing. Even mom who usually is the one who holds us all together and keeps the faith when we all slip, is having trouble staying positive. I am not sure what to do any more.