not for the faint of heart

There you have it…you are warned.

This is another post mainly for me and for Collin when he is older.

Saturday we were able to change his bandage for the first time. I use the term “we” lightly as all I did was snap pictures. I do not deal well with anything medical show-ish.  I am better at small bumps, bruises and boo boos.
Thankfully for us, Daddy is GREAT with the gory stuff. So he lovingly and patiently (as I snuck in with the camera trying not to look too closely) removed, cleaned, medicated, & re-bandaged Collin’s head.

Want to see???
It is not for the faint of heart…

is that not an ornery face?

 
can you say     O   U   C    H    !!!

“ahhhh”                                    he thinks it is All done.

 
polysporin                                 bandage                                    DONE!!!!

…until next time (tomorrow) that is.

all about Collin

first let me apologize for not posting sooner. Things have been crazy around here to say the least. Not to mention I came home to a broken laptop.  :(  (good news though, I got a NEW one)  YaY!!! Oh and paid cash for it. (hubby is taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Univ.)
And I wanted to take some time to clear my head and remember the details to have for us for Collin later.

Most of you follow me on facebook, so you know most of what has been going on. For those of you who don’t and for me to have a clear recollection,  here we go.

We arrived @ Children’s last tuesday just before 8AM. We were to be there by 8:10am for surgery @ 10:10am.
We check in, fill out a couple forms and are immediately called back to the “holding” room, where the nurses, anesthesiologist, Dr, etc come to check Collin over, ask questions of us, and go over the procedure once last time. 
Things move rather quickly for awhile.  Our young adults Minister from Church comes by to see us & Collin and to pray with us prior to the surgery. (He also has a son Collin’s age and they are our neighbors)
My Mom & step dad arrive and we are just hanging out WAITING. and waiting and waiting.
During all of the waiting Collin was able to go to the Ocean Room and pick out a toy. All kids having surgery get to pick a toy from the Ocean room, which is basically a large closet FILLED to over flowing with toys.

  
Collin chose a Dr’s kit…how appropriate.
And he proceeded to use us as his patients.

   

When the Nurse Practitioner came in to check Collin out, she asked if she could get anything for him…he said “a drs suit”. What he wanted was a pair of scrubs like all the drs were wearing. She told him she could not get him a pair in his size, but she could get him a hat, mask and shoe covers.  He agreed and she came back with them… 
 
the future Dr. Collin  ;)

And the waiting continued, so we were allowed to go to the toy room, where Collin could pick out a couple toys, games or books to occupy some of the time.

He has been wanting this very book from Kohl’s for a long time, so this really helped to pass the time along.
 

We also opened presents from our cousins in Indiana. THANKS Susie & family…Collin says “these are the BEST cars EVER”.

and the wait continues
Finally @ 12:05 pm (TWO hrs after he was to be in surgery) they came to get him. And we were off to the waiting room.

I did not get any pictures of them taking him bc he was crying and I was crying and my Mom was crying and it was just a mess.

The surgery itself was to take 1hr…and @ 1;10pm Dr. G came in to talk to us. He did find an abnormality and was able to realign Collin’s pathway for his spinal fluid to drain. He had been re-absorbing the spinal fluid prior to this. He was a little concerned bc when he first went into Collin’s head he did not know where he was at…turns out bc of the dilated ventricle he was not in the correct spot and had to come out and go back in. He thought there could be some temporary nerve damage to Collin’s left side, but assured us that it would only be temporary.  He tells us he will order a CT scan for the morning to be sure.
Now just more waiting until Collin is out of recovery.
Shortly Dr. G comes back in to tell us Collin is starting to wake up a little, but it will take some time and that he decided to go ahead and have the CT scan done today.
WAIT
WAIT
WAIT
About an hour & half later  they come wheeling Collin out of recovery for us to join him for his CT scan.  He is groggy, but alert and wants either Me or Daddy to be with in his sight at all times.

His Thomas (aka Comfy) blanket and Handy Manny (aka his son) got to go into surgery with him.

He lays real still for the CT scan and now we are on our way to his room.
Once in his room he is in and out of sleep, but does not complain about pain.

his bandage is in the shape of a heart. One nurse commented that in the 11yrs she has been @ Children’s she has never seen a heart bandage. We have no idea who did this as Dr. G was surprised as well.  :)

The CT scan showed no damage and Collin is moving both sides of his body equally. :)

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Collin does get sick three times…mostly from the anesthetic. He eats some crackers and popsicles and drinks sprite.
 
Collin sleeps pretty good through out the night and still does not complain about the pain. He does not act too much like himself, but that is to be expected.

The next day, he is allowed up to move around some and that makes him feel better, but he still wears out easily. What do we expect the poor boy just had brain surgery.

The view just outside of his window was of a HUGE playground.

About 3:30-4pm we were released to come home…YAY!!!


THANK YOU ALL for your prayers and words of encouragement. They have meant SO much to us. The blogging world is AMAZING!!!
I just LOVE how so many come together through the Lord and the internet.

We go back to Dr. G on Monday for a follow up and will have another MRI in Aug-Sept.
If all goes well, after the MRI we should be able to start weaning Collin off his seizure medicine. That will be another PRAISE!!!

Tomorrow is the day

Please keep Collin covered in prayer today.
As most of you already know he is scheduled for brain surgery @ 10:10am @ our Children’s Hospital.

 

A quick recap incase you are new to my blog or have not read about Collin’s past medical condition.

August 2006-
has a partial seizure
goes through a series of tests (eeg, ct scan, MRI) where we find the right ventricle is larger than the left. The neurosurgeon does not seem to be to concerned at that time bc Collin is growing and thriving as most boys his age. We all decide to keep an eye on the ventricle by routine MRI’s.

2007 & 2008
Numerous MRI’s all show no change and things are “ok”.

April 12, 2009
while getting ready for Church Easter morning, we notice Collin is not responding and most likely having his 2nd seizure, the first one in almost 3 yrs. We take him to our local hospital where he is treated and then sent to Children’s. We are again scheduled for more tests and to see the neurologist.
April 27, 2009
Collin goes for his EEG…all is normal on it
April 28, 2009
Collin wakes up vomiting and goes into another seizure. We are taken by squad to the hospital and after being checked out we are given an anti-seizure medicine to start him on.
The following week we see the neurologist and she refers us to the neurosurgeon.
June 1, 2009
We go for Collin’s MRI and to see the neurosurgeon. The MRI now shows that the ventricle is not only larger, but that it is pushing “things” out of its way making it harder for the spinal fluid to drain properly. We are given three choices…
1. do nothing & wait
2. have a shunt put in to drain the fluid
3. have the surgeon go in with a camera to see what exactly  is going on and then proceed to realign a pathway for the spinal fluid to drain, thus relieving the pressure on Collin’s brain and therefore (most likely) stopping the seizures allowing Collin to stop taking the seizure medicine.  The neurosurgeon sends us home to do our own research, get a 2nd opinion,  PRAY and come back with a decision.
We did just that and went back with the decision to go with option 3. It seems the best one for Collin. With the best long term results.

This surgery is pretty quick, about an hour and will leave us in the hospital for 1-2 days. Once home Collin will be on restriction from outdoor play or climbing, but other than that can go back to life as he knows it.

THANK YOU for all of your thoughts and prayers. I will update when I am able to.

Tuesday June 23, 2009

10:30AM…
Collin will be having surgery.

We went back to the neurosurgeon this past Monday. After discussing at length our options, the risks, the procedures, recoveries, etc. We decided it was in Collin’s best interest to go ahead and have Dr. G proceed with the surgery.

The surgery itself will be about an hour long. It will consist of him drilling a small hole into the upper part of Collin’s head and sliding in a tiny camera to take a look. Depending on what he finds, he will proceed to use an instrument to re-align the pathway between the two ventricles, thus allowing the spinal fluid to drain properly again.  If he feels this is not an option once he is in there, he can close up and go in at another spot on the lower part of Collin’s head and place a shunt to help relieve the pressure that is there and help with the draining.
The shunt is a last resort. And yes it could go in the same spot he will be going into with the camera, but it is safer to put it in from the bottom, rather than the top according to Dr. G.

I do apologize for my lack of medical knowledge/terminology.

Please keep Collin in your prayers over the next several days/week.
The incision should not have much pain as there is no muscle where they are going in at.
We will spend one-two nights @ Children’s and then he will be able to come home on some restrictions for two weeks until he goes back for a follow up with Dr. G.

Thank you all for your prayers & concern for our little boy.

There is a very good possibility that this surgery will eliminate the seizures and therefore the need for the seizure medicine.

I will keep you updated as I can.