BREAK OUT

This is a favorite of ours...Elijah has had enough of the hospital and is looking to breakout of his crib!

BACK HOME

Elijah was back home on Thursday, March 18th. He had a 2 week stay at Children's Hospital, this time cleaning out an infection he got from his heart surgery. It had been 3 months since his heart surgery, and such a long time before his infection to show.

We had noticed his chest scar becoming red and swollen, but after a couple of days puss pockets began to form on the surface. He already had some follow up appointments scheduled at Children's Hospital the week this took place, so it worked out the best possible way. The doctors looked at it and got him into day surgery right away.

Sadly, the doctors had to reopen Elijah's chest cavity to be completely confident they got rid of the infection. Amazingly, the kid was himself a day or two after surgery. We do have to give him antibiotic treatments for the next month at home to make sure the infection is gone. Its another step, but its better to do this and have him home than for him to be at the hospital.

Hard to believe, on the 25th Elijah will be 11 months old...1 month away from his 1st birthday!

Scar Infection

Over this past week the scar from Elijah's heart surgery started to swell up and become infected. He is 3 months removed from his heart surgery so the timing of this is strange. Doctors have told us this could have been brewing for a while and just found its way to the surface now. Elijah never ran a fever and it never seemed to bother him, unless you poked at it.

Seeing that we were already at Children's Hospital we had a doctor look at Elijah's scar. To the doctors credit they had shuffled around the schedules to get Elijah in to take some further tests and x-rays. The conclusion to all this was they wanted to get him into day surgery and take care of the infection.

During about an hour in surgery, the doctors decided to open his chest cavity to make sure they clean out as much of the infected area as possible. As frustrating as it was to hear this, it was the best posssible way to treat it. Elijah is doing great and resting comfortably. We were told he would be here for about a week.

The timing, as strange as it seems, worked out best because we would have needed to come back to Children's. We wouldn't have been able to get the care and treatment needed for this is Green Bay. Michelle and I are doing fine. Its frustrating, but it needed to get done. We are hoping for a speedy recovery, and can't wait to get everyone back home...again!

SLEEP STUDY

Elijah's sleep study went well. If you're not familiar with sleep studies, you can see in the picture all the stuff he was hooked up too. There is a team of nurses that monitor his sleep patterns throughout the night on a monitor and always recording his breathing, heart rate, and brain waves.

Elijah managed to sleep through the night so the sleep lab will have enough information for their report. They did have Elijah on just room air which we were told he did fine on. This test will help the doctors to determine if we are able to get rid of his oxygen...even though he is only on 1/2 liter.

Although Elijah seemed comfortable during the test, it was a different story for Michelle and I. We were crammed in a 12 x 12 room, but at least we could all be together. Originally we were told only one parent could stay overnight, while the other would be forced to a hotel.

While Elijah did great in the sleep study, Michelle and I did great with our NO sleep study of our own!

SLEEP STUDY

At the end of the week we are off to Milwaukee once again. This time Elijah will be having a sleep study done. Towards the end of his last stay at Children's, the nurses had noticed that he O2 levels would dip when he fell into a deep sleep. The doctors had ordered a sleep study to be performed as an out patient once he had recovered from his surgery and was off the majority of his medications.

That will be done Thursday night, and then on Friday he has a Echo of his heart. This will be the first follow up with any kind of x-ray images. This is a scheduled follow up to make sure everything is looking like its suppose too in there! After that, he will have a renal ultrasound of his kidneys. Again, this is the first follow up having pictures taken of his kidneys since his surgery.

It sounds like a lot, but the x-rays are done when Elijah is sedated. We wanted to maximize our time in Milwaukee, otherwise all the doctors down there want us to come back at different times which makes it difficult to get all that time off work.

Aside from the teething, Elijah is doing great!

GETTIN' BIG

We have been slacking a little with keeping this blog updated, sorry about that. Elijah is a few days away from being 10 months old (25th). He is doing so good for being home a little more than a month. We know kids grow up fast, but Elijah is getting bigger and stronger by the day.

With him being in the hospital for 5 months of his life his development skills are coming along. He is gaining a great deal of neck strength to hold up his big ol' head! He really likes sitting up and who wouldn't after spending as much time has he has in a bed on his back.

We are slowly introducing baby food to his diet. His reactions are priceless because this is the first time he has experienced any flavor in his mouth. He is cutting a bottom lower tooth, but we haven't had to deal with too much in terms of teething issues. His sleeping patterns are tremendous. Normally Elijah will start falling asleep around 8-9 pm and sleep through the night. He gets crabby in the morning when we have to wake him for his 6 am feed, but falls right back to sleep until around 9-9:30 am.

Michelle and I are both back to working full-time. We have a home health nurse that watches Elijah, and Lucy, during the day. Without them one of us would be forced to stay home. With everything Elijah has been through our doctor, and us, aren't comfortable with a traditional daycare center.

All in all our family is beginning to get back to our "normal". Its been a long time coming, but we truly appreciate the time we spend together.

BACK HOME...RESTING PEACEFULLY

On Sunday, January 3rd, Elijah was discharged from the hospital. It has been a long 2.5 months to say the least. He did have to come home on some oxygen, and plenty of meds, as his heart, chest, and everything around it heals and learns to relax!

I know all parents gush about their children, and rightfully so, but when we say Elijah is an absolute miracle we quickly remind ourselves of everything he has been through...better yet, fought through! At discharge, one of the doctors left in amazement as we reviewed his situation and just chuckled and said "Elijah...you are some kind of miracle"!

He is a little over 8 months old, and he has gone through more than you and I could ever imagine in a lifetime! Most recently his heart surgery, but his battle with H1N1 when we almost lost him, his kidney surgery, and his pyloric stenosis surgery.

Elijah has spent his fair share to time at the hospital and it is so good to have him home, everything just seems more complete. We know we will have our hands full, but what kid doesn't do that to their parents?! Through this whole experience we have learned a lot about perseverance from a baby, we have learned to appreciate each and every moment for what it is, and nothing is guaranteed so make the most of it.

We still plan on using this blog to update all of our friends and family on our latest happenings, so we hope you continue to check in on us from time to time. We truly appreciate all of your support, gifts, prayers, and kind words. They all have helped us get through these trying times. Cheers to a healthy, happy, and productive 2010! Take care