Emergency Surgery for Caleb

Hannah had surgery in October.  Micaelyn had surgery in November.  Malachi will have surgery in January.  We had planned to avoid any surgery during December due to the holidays, but the weekend before Christmas Caleb woke up in the middle of the night with extreme stomach pain.  I was quite certain based on his symptoms it was appendicitis so I took him off to Children's Hospital while Ernie stayed home with all the other kids.

When we got to the ER Caleb couldn't really walk due to the pain.  I explained he had lower right quadrant abdominal pain with rebound tenderness and that the pain worsened with movement of his legs, coughing was very painful, and even the smallest bumps on the road caused him extreme pain while riding in the car.  Also it was obvious he couldn't walk due to stomach pain.  I explained he had NO nausea, NO vomiting, NO diarrhea - nothing to indicate a stomach bug or the flu - and that we believed he had appendicitis.  Nonetheless we were treated as though he had the stomach bug or flu just like everyone else, not a life threatening condition that required emergency surgery, and told to take a seat.

We waited HOURS in the ER surrounded by sick people (most of whom really didn't need to be seen in an emergency setting) while Caleb suffered in extreme pain.  He also was suffering from hunger since I was quite certain based upon his symptoms he had appendicitis and would need surgery so I didn't let him eat or drink anything (though I didn't let onto him what I knew so as to not scare him!).  His last meal had been the evening before, so as morning passed into afternoon and then evening he was literally starving for something small to eat not only for his empty stomach but also his head that was starting to hurt more and more from dehydration and hunger.

By evening we FINALLY got the diagnosis of appendicitis but were told it was too late for surgery so they would do it the next morning.  As someone who understands the seriousness of appendicitis I couldn't be more angry at the hospital for their treatment of my son.  As they explained to me the problems of a ruptured appendix (which I already knew and was the basis for my frustration) I wanted to knock them over the head for making him wait so long for treatment.  To make things worse was the fact we had to wait for hours surrounded by sick people.  So I knew my child had a life threatening condition that required emergency surgery, but I was forced to watch him suffer in extreme pain while exposing him to all the worst germs, an assault to his body that would only make recovery from surgery that much more difficult.

Caleb did come through the surgery without complication, praise God, but not surprisingly both he and I ended up sick (no doubt due to all the germs we were surrounded by for HOURS in the ER!).  It was horrible watching him suffer through the pain of surgery while also dealing with being sick.  Every cough caused him horrible pain, and sneezes were sheer torture.  I was also quite sick myself, not the best condition to be in while caring for a sick child who just had surgery.

Quite a few days after we had returned home from the hospital we got a call from the ER telling us Caleb's blood culture had come back positive.  They said if he wasn't feeling well we should bring him back to the ER.  His daddy told them there was NO WAY we would take him back there!  I told them of course he's not feeling well - he just had surgery and thanks to hours of exposure to all the germs in the waiting room he was also quite sick!

We did end up taking him to a different hospital where he was given shots of rocephin in each leg.  These shots are horribly painful!  Needless to say the past few weeks have been quite difficult for Caleb, but thankfully he is now feeling well enough to move around and play.  He still has to be careful because his stomach is tender, but the weather hasn't been great for running around outside anyway.

This was soon after we finally got a room in the ER.  We were glad to finally be out of the waiting room, but unfortunately we had LOTS more waiting to do!

We actually waited HOURS in the room just to be assigned a doctor.  Caleb had not slept at all through the night before due to pain.  He hadn't eaten or drank anything since dinner the night before.  He was in extreme pain, tired, hungry, had a headache due to lack of food and water, had mild fever and chills, and felt just plain miserable.

By evening we finally got a diagnosis.  He was also finally able to get some morphine for the pain, and once it was determined he would have to wait till the next morning for surgery he was allowed to eat.  He had to wait till we finally got admitted to the hospital and moved to a real room to eat where he enjoyed some mashed potatoes, a couple of chicken nuggets, a small cup of applesauce, and a tiny bit of ice cream over the next few hours before bedtime.  No where near the amount he normally eats, especially considering that was all he had for an entire day!

His room was next to the play room so he went to play some games on the Wii for a few minutes.

Elianna loves her big brother so much!!!

Saying good-bye.  

I don't like posting pictures of myself, but this one does a good job of showing how pale Caleb was.  I had no make-up, no tan but his skin looks so pale next to mine!

His daddy snapped this picture in the room just before he was taken to surgery.  It was Sunday morning, right when all our friends were in church praying for him!  Since it was an emergency surgery on Sunday he was the only child in surgery so we had the entire surgery waiting room to ourselves while we waited.  It was very different from the other times I've had to wait through my child's surgery surrounded by other parents waiting for their kids also!

Ready to get out of the hospital and go home!

Daddy's girl

Yes, she is in her pajamas!  It was the end of a long, busy day, and we were at a very affordable little diner out in the country where no one cares how you are dressed as long as it's not indecent.  I dressed her for bed before we left so I wouldn't have to change her on the way home if she fell asleep in the car.  There are benefits to being "out in the sticks."  :)

Bass Pro Shop Fun

Caleb has begged for quite awhile to go to Bass Pro shop, so what better place to go Thanksgiving weekend!  We never made it to the part of the store with Santa and the other Christmas fun because the kids were having too much fun elsewhere.  The little ones loved the big fish tank, and the big ones loved dreaming of all the things they wanted for hiking, camping, etc.

Music Night!

Micaelyn made it through her surgery without complications.  Of course the next 2 weeks were painful, especially the first 10 days, and it was made worse by the fact she ended up with a cold while she was still recovering.  Our house was much quieter for a few weeks, but it was great to see her back to her sassy self in time to enjoy the holiday season!  Here are some pictures from a performance night at their music school.

Surgery for Micaelyn

Please be in prayer for Micaelyn.  She has surgery tomorrow to remove her tonsils and adenoids.  It may be only a "minor" surgery, but she is considered a high risk patient.  Also she is understandably very nervous.  The last surgery (tongue reduction) she had was very traumatic.  She was in the PICU for 4 days.  During most of that time she was on a ventilator with an NG tube, catheter, multiple IVs, and restraints to hold her in place and keep her from pulling all the tubes out.  Plus there was tremendous pain from the surgery wound.  She was supposed to be in a medically induced coma, but the sedation drugs didn't work very well on her.  Which meant they kept maxing her out on multiple drugs which caused even more problems.  To make matters worse Caleb was still recovering from his own surgery so I wasn't able to stay with her all the time (plus the staff preferred us not be there very much as the slightest movement from anyone in the room would wake her).  And when they had taken her back for the surgery she had screamed for me with all her might (the "happy juice" they had given her had no effect on her).  Anyone who has adopted kids that have dealt with previous abandonment and trauma will tell you this is one of the worst things for our kids.  From the child's perception the parent is abandoning her, letting her go be further traumatized.   After the surgery Micaelyn was obviously very traumatized.  She was withdrawn for quite some time.  Even now she talks about how we "left her there," how much she hurt, how much she missed me, etc.

Please pray there are no complications tomorrow (no parent likes hearing their child is "high risk" before surgery).  Pray she gets to come home afterwards instead of being admitted.  Pray for an easy recovery, and please pray for God to give her peace and comfort, for no abandonment/trauma issues to arise.

After her last surgery

This was when we were leaving to go home.  This is the sad withdrawn look she had for quite awhile after surgery.  She finally perked up when we went to Dollywood one evening.  It was a ride on the carousel that made her smile.  Not but a few days later I was looking through some pictures we had finally gotten developed from her foster family in China and saw a picture of her taken shortly before we adopted her.  She was on a carousel with her foster grandmother.

Autumn Snowfall!

We are truly blessed to live in a place as beautiful as the foothills of the Smoky Mountains!

The trees were still full of beautiful fall colored leaves underneath all the snow!

Jonah's first time seeing now.  (He did get a coat on right after these pictures was taken - I just had to capture his initial reaction to the snow!)

The big kids were too busy playing in the snow to stop for pictures, so I took a few of the babies and quickly got them inside to warm up!  Elianna LOVED the snow and got MAD when I made her go inside.  Hannah was mildly interested but didn't really want to play in it.  Jonah was very curious, happy at first but fairly quickly lost interest.  He seemed to think he couldn't walk in it as he kept looking at his feet and stayed firmly planted in place (unusual for him) unless I held his hand.

Too much sickness!

It's hard to believe Jonah has been home a full month already!  The month has flown by in a rush of happiness coupled with a lot of sickness.

Jonah was started on antibiotics soon after he got home.  Unfortunately he passed a horrible case of strep throat on to me within his first days at home, and it took both a shot and a round of oral antibiotics to clear me up (I had a very high fever for days!), but not before other kids in the house ended up sick as well!  I thought we would never get everybody well!

Jonah finished his antibiotics without getting completely well, so he was put on another stronger antibiotic to help with the nasty infection in his nose.  Now he is on a 3rd antibiotic, and unfortunately it looks as though he will finish that one also without getting well.  He also has an antibacterial ointment I put in his nose to help with the infection there (a culture of his nose tested positive for staph infection and strep b - this is NOT the same strep that causes strep throat - see this article for an explanation http://www.livestrong.com/article/255715-causes-of-a-strep-b-infection/#page=1).  I bathe him multiple times a day to help clean junk out of his nose, and I use saline nose spray in his nose throughout the day.  However, his nose is just constantly full of green crud and blood.

As if Jonah's infections were not enough, nor the horrible case of strep throat I had combined with a bunch of other sick kids, Elianna ended up with MRSA in her eye.  He eye looked AWFUL!  For many days I was worried she would lose her vision in that eye.  Thankfully her doctor had done a culture to determine what was causing the infection so we were able to get her on some really strong antibiotics to fight it off.  She has been on an oral antibiotic as well as a topical ointment in her eye.  Getting her to take the antibiotic and let me put the ointment in her eye has not been fun but she is now much better (she would refuse any food or drink in which I tried to conceal the antibiotic, I finally found a really strong cherry juice that worked well to hide the medicine flavor).  I do still see some small signs of infection so I'm going to continue using the meds on her until we are positive it is all gone.

Needless to say although it has been a very happy month full of much joy and love it has also been a hard month dealing with so much sickness!

Her eye actually got much worse looking than this.  The white of her eye turned completely red, the area around her eye got horribly swollen and inflamed looking, she had tons of nasty goo draining from it, and she even had bloody tears.  It was really scary to see it get so bad, especially once we knew it was MRSA causing the infection!

My little buddy just can't get well!  His poor nose is just a mess!