11=12=07 Slept well last night. Had a couple episodes of severe sweating. Temps have been around 99.9-100 orally---I am a little concerned but they are not worried until temps are greater than 101. They are going to let us go and stay in the St. Louis area for a week. Most likely we are going to the Shriners hospital tomorrow because we cannot figure out anywhere to go being he needs to be on bedrest. Only had 2 doses of Tylenol today. Not in pain and besides I do not want to mask a temp if there is one. Eating great. Let me know what you think about the pictures. His abdomen is still a little distended but it looks great.
The picture above is of our favorite nurses Sharon.

11-11-07 Chris slept well last night. White blood cell count down within range this am and Hgb. is 10.6 up from 9.9gms. His temperature is coming down hovering around 99.5. We are going slow on the diet. Up to soft foods now---Mac and cheese, noodles, hot cereals. The bedrest is really going to be a challenge!

11-10-07 Chris had a good night last night. Slept well. Low grade temps but not considered a temp. I am a little concerned because his subclavian IV looked a little red this am and had a scant amt of yellowish drainage at the site. They removed it. They felt cultures did not need to be done. I will definitely keep a close eye on him. He looks good. Playing a lot more. Using the computer. Tell the kids to IM him; his screen name is tigersbball95.
Thanks Aunt Shelley, Uncle Mark and Jacoby for the balloons and goodies! See you soon Jacoby!
Look at the new pictures!

11-9-07 Chris has had a great day and it hard to believe that it has only been 48 hours since his last surgery. He says his pain score is "0" all day today. Dilaudid stopped. Only made 2 pushes in the last day and a half--and one was a mistake--he meant to press the call button! Getting Tylenol every 6 hours for pain. I can only say that God has had a hand in this---everything is going very well. The NG tube was removed. Things are already working below and he is able to have clear liquids. IV Total nutrition was stopped. Only 1 IV left into his right chest. Possible discharge next Tuesday or Wed. and we are to stay in the St. Louis area for 1 week more. I will take pictures tomorrow. Thank you to all for the E-mails, balloons and cards---Chris is having a very good time reading and receiving them. I will send a picture of him tomorrow.

11-8-07 Chris has been moved back to a regular room. Same room (1022) as before--they were able to save it. The Arterial line and peripheral line were removed. Still not able to eat but loves to rinse out his mouth and suck it out with the suction machine. It's the closet thing to drinking! The NG hopefully will come out tomorrow. Pain service was in and they asked Chris what his pain score was--"0" Since returning from surgery yesterday at 1230 and it is now 6:15 he has only pressed the Dilaudud PCA 9 times and he is not even on a continuous drip. I don't get it but I am glad he is having very little pain. Bob and I got very little sleep last night--it was hard to share a chair to sleep on but we did. Neither of us wanted to leave his bedside and sleep in the parent lounge. The accomodations here are so nice. Ronald McDonald has a Family Room in the hospital--a beautiful getaway to get McDonalds coffee any time--free and they bake stuff and have snacks--just a nice getaway. Great showers--like home. Washers and dryers---everything free. Computers in there with internet and comfy chairs and couches.

2ND SURGERY

11-7-07 Chris went into surgery at 0830 and was out by 1045. Not as long as we thought. Dr. Bridwell said the Aorta and Vena Cava were not attached to the spine--thank God but were able to be lifted off easily. He said they were able to open up the disc space in L5-S1 very wide and put in a PEEK cage (a plastic cage) Minimal blood loss. He filled the space with Bone Morphogenic Protein to help aid in the fusion being solid. He does want Chris to be on bedrest for 4 months to make sure the area stays put and begins to fuse. He said we have only one chance to make this right and Lord knows we would like to make sure this fuses solid! We certainly will manage although once he finds this out I am sure he will be disappointed. He is in the Pediatric ICU. TPN, Lipids going via the subclavian line. Receiving IV antibiotics. Art line in also. Vital signs are stable. Hemoglobin just came back at 8.6gms a drop from 10.6. Not surprised. Will be giving the unit of blood that I donated. It is important to keep up the Hemoglobin as high as possible to make sure he does not have a lack of blood flow to the spine--especially since he had paralysis before---which may have been a vascular event.
I prayed last night that God would give me strength and it was certainly evident that he gave it to me. I had such a confident feeling this morning. I continue to pray that he will watch over Chris.

11-6-07 Chris had a very good night. Slept most the night with only turning him twice. Dr. Bridwell came in this am and surgery all planned for tomorrow--consent signed for Anterior fusion with possibility of cages being put in. Abdominal approach. I am praying that Dr. Bridwell will find that it is easy to view the entire ant. lumbar spine and sacrum and will not need the cages. 3+ hours depending on what they need to do. Thanks for all the Emails through the hospital site--he gets them printed and sent to the room daily. There is a schoolteacher here who can communicate with Mr. Bury if need be. The social worker was here and was able to get us to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. Mainly for when Bob is here or Bob and Erik. I do have such a good feeling about Dr. Bridwell and the staff tells me people come from all over the country to have surgery with him. The incision has steri strips on it but it looks great. This dog visited again yesterday. His owner dresses up in the same exact outfits and from what I am told they never where the same outfit twice!! The owners name is June and she is a stitch! The dog was a rescued dog and is so gentle. The red thing on his nose is a clown nose sticker one of the patients put on her and she never even tried to take it off.