Under Reconstruction

Thursday update

Thank you everyone for your prayers. They have sure been felt!

We got to the room yesterday around 4:30, after being able to see him 
in recovery. He was still sleeping, and the room wasn't ready, so we 
waited in that little room from 9:30 to 4:00! Scott grabbed us some 
lunch and brought it back, but other than that, that's where we 
stayed. By 4:00 we were both ready to see Nicholas, and the nurses 
finally let us, since it wasn't busy anymore.

He was just waking up when we saw him and he wasn't happy, which was 
to be expected. They gave him medicine for nausea, but it didn't work 
so well. He got sick several times last night and by the time he was 
settled down, it was after 9:30...and I had "hit the wall" and 
couldn't even think about posting!

The night wasn't too bad. He was awake a few times, but thankfully 
didn't get sick. They gave him Demerol at 9:30 p.m. and at 5:30 a.m. 
today. Around 11 a.m. we tried tylenol with codeine and that has 
stayed down, as well as some apple juice and crackers (and one bite of 
pancake!).

We have tried to get him to sit up for a bit, but he is in too much 
pain. They wanted him up and walking last night, but with the nausea 
that wasn't happening, so I guess Mom and Dad are going to have to get 
mean this afternoon, which will break our hearts. They decreased the 
i.v. fluids hoping that will make him thirsty enough to start drinking 
more.

Please pray for pain relief, for the nausea to completely subside, and 
for us to be able to get him up and moving this afternoon. Thank you!

Here are a few photos from yesterday when we got to the room, and one 
from this morning.

Evening Update

I spoke with Christie tonight and here is the latest news: "Nick is just sleeping a lot, getting sick, and peeing." He had been sick a couple times from the anesthetic, but they were going to give him some anti-nausea medicine tonight and also Demerol to help with the pain on his side (from the rib graft). There really isn't anything else to report, it just sounded like she and Scott were exhausted and glad today is over. Thanks for checking in!

– Aunt Sarah

Update # I can't remember ;o)

They are completing the surgery and will be applying the head dressing 
which takes a bit of time. Dr. Jones will be in to see us in the next 
30 minutes.

Once Nicholas gets to recovery, he will be there about 30 minutes and 
then we will meet him in his hospital room. The nurse assured us that 
we will be with him before he realizes that we aren't there. I hope so!

Christie

Update #3

The last portion of the surgery is underway (I'm assuming where they 
slide the cartilage under the skin) and that usually takes about an 
hour. Nicholas is doing great.

Before Surgery Photos & Update

Not quite sure how well these will post, as I'm sending them through 
email. Thankfully, Nicholas remained calm the entire time we were 
waiting. Just a while ago we could here a child crying and Scott and I 
looked at each other and I said "I'm so glad that we didn't have to 
deal with that." I'm not sure I would have been strong enough to not 
breakdown.

Surgery just called again and everything is still going well.

Update #1

Surgery is going well and Nicholas is doing fine. The nurse that 
called said she would update us every hour.

"My eyes don't work!"

They came and took Nicholas at 9:30 this morning. After the "happy 
medicine" they gave him, he won't remember a thing. And while we were 
not allowed to walk to the operating room with him, he was drugged 
enough that it didn't matter. He said quite a few funny things before 
they took him, like "My eyes don't work!"

The day surgery unit where we are is new, and it is nice. The parents 
are supposed to stay in the same room that they did all of Nicholas' 
pre-surgery work in, and the operating room will call us here every 
hour or so with updates. The surgery will last until 1:30/2:00.

The hospital has WiFi, but it's not the best connection. I was going 
to try to post pictures by accessing the typepad website, but I cannot 
even get into it right now. I'm hoping that this will at least post.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.

Christie

A fun day.

First, Nicholas slept in this morning until almost 9 a.m. Definitely a record for him!

We headed to the Georgia Aquarium today and had a great time. It is amazing and if you are ever in the area, certainly check it out. Nicholas was excited that he got to see a hammerhead shark. We saw a cute 3-D movie that he loved...of course, the effects they did made the movie...yes, water was sprayed on our arms. We wish Zach could have been with us, but someday we'll take him there.

Surgery time is still set for 9 a.m. tomorrow. We need to be at the hospital at 7 a.m., so it will be an early night for all of us! Thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers tomorrow!

Christie

 

"Hi Mom. I Love You."

So I guess if you're going to get woke up at 7:15 a.m., it's not such a bad statement to hear the very first thing. We were hoping Nicholas would sleep a little longer, but no such luck. It was time to start the day! He wrestled around in the bed for awhile, asking when it was going to be morning (the heavy drapes in the hotel room fooled him for awhile!). I replied with "nevah!" He finally told me he was going to go peek out the window, and was pleased to see that it was indeed morning. It was a long night for me...he had most of the bed, and was grinding his teeth most of the night. I used to think snoring was bad, but I'd take that any day over grinding teeth!

We had lunch today at the Mellow Mushroom, our favorite pizza place that we found in Charlottesville. Then we headed to Dr. Jones for our pre-op appointment. I was feeling a little anxious, but minutes into our conversation with Dr. Jones, I felt at peace. And then it happened...one of the moments that we have been waiting six years for...Dr. Jones pulled out x-ray film and a sharpie marker. He traced Nicholas' right ear on the film to use as a template when he carves Nicholas' left ear out of the cartilage. It was amazing and it was exciting to see.

The only disappointing part of the appointment was when Dr. Jones told us that he probably wouldn't be able to release Nicholas from the hospital until Friday evening because of surgeries. We were hoping to drive most of the way home on Friday, but I guess we'll go to Plan B (which don't ask what that is, because we don't know!).When we were getting ready to leave a little boy and his Mom were in the waiting room, and it he has had stage one done. His ear really looked good, from what we saw. It's been nice that both times we were in the waiting room we have seen some of Dr. Jone's work firsthand.

Surgery is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, and we need to be there at 8 a.m. The hotel is right across from the hospital so that will be nice. By the way, this area is amazing...there are 3 major hospitals right in this area...across from each other.

Tonight Nicholas decided he wanted to experience "Atlanta Underground." From the brochures we saw, it looked neat. Instead, we experienced Atlanta traffic ;o) And once we got to the Underground area, Scott and I decided that it didn't look quite as safe as what we'd like, so we headed back to the hotel area and found an Applebee's to eat at. Nicholas' took a little nap on the way to Applebee's, so I think Scott will have a buddy to watch baseball and basketball with tonight.

Tomorrow is a free day. We have bought tickets to the Georgia Aquarium and we are excited to go.  It looks like an amazing place.

Thank you for all of the comments and for your thoughts and prayers. It is truly appreciated, and we most definitely feel all of you keeping us in your prayers.

We're here.

We pulled into Atlanta about 9:45. Thankfully, it was an uneventful 
day with much beauty to be seen. Nicholas, as always, was a real 
trooper and only asked about 100 times when we'd be here! We weren't 
planning to drive all the way, but everything was going so smoothly 
that we figured it would be better to arrive tonight, than fight 
Atlanta traffic in the morning...and after seeing and experiencing 6 
lanes of traffic, I'm glad!

Nicholas is about asleep, although he's trying to convince us that 
he's still hungry and needs one more cookie...