The last 24 hours have had their share of ups and downs. Jacob has been dealing with a lot of itching from his pain medicine (we've learned that morphine is the worst for him), low output and leaking from his continence stoma (along with very dark urine) and a major rash on both cheeks that was spreading to his ears and neck.
Our challenge is that Jacob's condition involves three major disciplines - urology, neurology and orthopedics (along with general pediatrics). In most cases, though, only one of the three disciplines is taking the lead, based on the type of surgery he is having. This time, it is Neurology. However, if something goes wrong with one of the other two areas, it can be quite challenging, especially at night, to get action taken.
We became concerned yesterday evening with the urology side of things due to the output and color. At the same time, we were trying to figure out how to stop the rash from spreading. Jacob was most concerned with the itching and pain meds while Mommy and Daddy were concerned with the pee.
Sleep was almost non-existent last night as both of us stayed at the hospital, wanting to make sure that we didn't miss the Neuro team so they could connect with urology. Despite the rough night, though, the Lord began smoothing out the rough spots today. The pain team came by and were able to change him to a new medicine (Ketorolac/Tordol) - which greatly reduced the itching. Jacob has been able to slowly raise his bed - 10 degrees each hour until he reaches 60 degrees. As of the writing of this, he is at 45. We are still concerned about the Urology side of things, but a member of that team is expected to stop by this evening. We were also able to irrigate/flush quite a bit of crud out of his bladder and we pray this will help with the urinary issues.
At one point, after starting this new pain medicine, Jacob said, "surprise" and started moving his head back and forth rapidly and lifting both of this arms. This was after not wanting to move at all - saying everything hurt and asking us to help him gingerly move a half inch at a time, just to try and roll to his side. Our jaws dropped and we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Dr. Ahn stopped by a little later and was also amazed. Initially, they told us that Jacob would not be discharged from the hospital until Tuesday and then at that time, he would be looking at the possibility of Inpatient Physical Therapy at Kennedy Krieger. However, after seeing his progress, Dr. Ahn said we might be discharged from the hospital - to either Inpatient PT or better yet, to Outpatient PT - meaning we might be able to start heading home on Tuesday or Wednesday.
As for the rash, after initially thinking it might be fungal, two members of the Dermatology team came by and believe that it is a contact reaction/allergy to something he had during surgery (maybe tape or detergent). It is now being treated with a topical steroid.
There is still a great deal of uncertainty concerning his release, PT and ultimately our return to Chattanooga. But we must rest confidently in knowing that there is no uncertainty with our Lord and HIS sovereign plan. Everything will ultimately be used to bring glory to HIS name.
Even though this has been one of our more trying trips, especially in light of the events that occurred on the way up, we are amazed at how many people the Lord has brought us into contact with during our first week here. In addition to new doctors, nurses and hospital staff (and a fair number we already knew), we've met policy officers from Jefferson Co, WV. We've had conversations with multiple individuals from our insurance company and the Repair/Towing shop (where we said goodbye to the ole "family truckster.") We met an Uber driver who took us to Enterprise (who actually said he would pray for us and our surgery), three Employees at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the staff at the hotel where we stayed on the first night, a manager at the short term housing where we stayed the first three nights and our friend Ms. Teresa, who has been so great in terms of finding lodging for us when the Children's House has been unavailable. We've also reconnected with a family that we shared a room with during our 2008 surgery (their son has the same condition as Jacob) and of course Kiki and Liz, two of our most favorite nurses (Kiki from past surgeries and Liz more recently).
I'm sure there are others we've failed to mention and still others we haven't met, yet. One of prayers, prior to any surgery or trip to Hopkins, is that the Lord will bring individuals into our path who may not know Him and then use our feeble words and actions to shine forth with the truth of HIS gospel.
Well, with this trip, He has certainly brought many individuals into our path. We continue to pray that He might use even us to accomplish HIS good purposes and that we might plant seeds that HE will cause to grow into a bountiful harvest.
Mommy and Daddy
Friday, November 11, 2016
Some rough patches, and few potholes and then a smoother road
The last 24 hours have had their share of ups and downs. Jacob has been dealing with a lot of itching from his pain medicine (we've learned that morphine is the worst for him), low output and leaking from his continence stoma (along with very dark urine) and a major rash on both cheeks that was spreading to his ears and neck.
Our challenge is that Jacob's condition involves three major disciplines - urology, neurology and orthopedics (along with general pediatrics). In most cases, though, only one of the three disciplines is taking the lead, based on the type of surgery he is having. This time, it is Neurology. However, if something goes wrong with one of the other two areas, it can be quite challenging, especially at night, to get action taken.
We became concerned yesterday evening with the urology side of things due to the output and color. At the same time, we were trying to figure out how to stop the rash from spreading. Jacob was most concerned with the itching and pain meds while Mommy and Daddy were concerned with the pee.
Sleep was almost non-existent last night as both of us stayed at the hospital, wanting to make sure that we didn't miss the Neuro team so they could connect with urology. Despite the rough night, though, the Lord began smoothing out the rough spots today. The pain team came by and were able to change him to a new medicine (Ketorolac/Tordol) - which greatly reduced the itching. Jacob has been able to slowly raise his bed - 10 degrees each hour until he reaches 60 degrees. As of the writing of this, he is at 45. We are still concerned about the Urology side of things, but a member of that team is expected to stop by this evening. We were also able to irrigate/flush quite a bit of crud out of his bladder and we pray this will help with the urinary issues.
At one point, after starting this new pain medicine, Jacob said, "surprise" and started moving his head back and forth rapidly and lifting both of this arms. This was after not wanting to move at all - saying everything hurt and asking us to help him gingerly move a half inch at a time, just to try and roll to his side. Our jaws dropped and we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Dr. Ahn stopped by a little later and was also amazed. Initially, they told us that Jacob would not be discharged from the hospital until Tuesday and then at that time, he would be looking at the possibility of Inpatient Physical Therapy at Kennedy Krieger. However, after seeing his progress, Dr. Ahn said we might be discharged from the hospital - to either Inpatient PT or better yet, to Outpatient PT - meaning we might be able to start heading home on Tuesday or Wednesday.
As for the rash, after initially thinking it might be fungal, two members of the Dermatology team came by and believe that it is a contact reaction/allergy to something he had during surgery (maybe tape or detergent). It is now being treated with a topical steroid.
There is still a great deal of uncertainty concerning his release, PT and ultimately our return to Chattanooga. But we must rest confidently in knowing that there is no uncertainty with our Lord and HIS sovereign plan. Everything will ultimately be used to bring glory to HIS name.
Even though this has been one of our more trying trips, especially in light of the events that occurred on the way up, we are amazed at how many people the Lord has brought us into contact with during our first week here. In addition to new doctors, nurses and hospital staff (and a fair number we already knew), we've met policy officers from Jefferson Co, WV. We've had conversations with multiple individuals from our insurance company and the Repair/Towing shop (where we said goodbye to the ole "family truckster.") We met an Uber driver who took us to Enterprise (who actually said he would pray for us and our surgery), three Employees at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the staff at the hotel where we stayed on the first night, a manager at the short term housing where we stayed the first three nights and our friend Ms. Teresa, who has been so great in terms of finding lodging for us when the Children's House has been unavailable. We've also reconnected with a family that we shared a room with during our 2008 surgery (their son has the same condition as Jacob) and of course Kiki and Liz, two of our most favorite nurses (Kiki from past surgeries and Liz more recently).
I'm sure there are others we've failed to mention and still others we haven't met, yet. One of prayers, prior to any surgery or trip to Hopkins, is that the Lord will bring individuals into our path who may not know Him and then use our feeble words and actions to shine forth with the truth of HIS gospel.
Well, with this trip, He has certainly brought many individuals into our path. We continue to pray that He might use even us to accomplish HIS good purposes and that we might plant seeds that HE will cause to grow into a bountiful harvest.
Mommy and Daddy
Our challenge is that Jacob's condition involves three major disciplines - urology, neurology and orthopedics (along with general pediatrics). In most cases, though, only one of the three disciplines is taking the lead, based on the type of surgery he is having. This time, it is Neurology. However, if something goes wrong with one of the other two areas, it can be quite challenging, especially at night, to get action taken.
We became concerned yesterday evening with the urology side of things due to the output and color. At the same time, we were trying to figure out how to stop the rash from spreading. Jacob was most concerned with the itching and pain meds while Mommy and Daddy were concerned with the pee.
Sleep was almost non-existent last night as both of us stayed at the hospital, wanting to make sure that we didn't miss the Neuro team so they could connect with urology. Despite the rough night, though, the Lord began smoothing out the rough spots today. The pain team came by and were able to change him to a new medicine (Ketorolac/Tordol) - which greatly reduced the itching. Jacob has been able to slowly raise his bed - 10 degrees each hour until he reaches 60 degrees. As of the writing of this, he is at 45. We are still concerned about the Urology side of things, but a member of that team is expected to stop by this evening. We were also able to irrigate/flush quite a bit of crud out of his bladder and we pray this will help with the urinary issues.
At one point, after starting this new pain medicine, Jacob said, "surprise" and started moving his head back and forth rapidly and lifting both of this arms. This was after not wanting to move at all - saying everything hurt and asking us to help him gingerly move a half inch at a time, just to try and roll to his side. Our jaws dropped and we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Dr. Ahn stopped by a little later and was also amazed. Initially, they told us that Jacob would not be discharged from the hospital until Tuesday and then at that time, he would be looking at the possibility of Inpatient Physical Therapy at Kennedy Krieger. However, after seeing his progress, Dr. Ahn said we might be discharged from the hospital - to either Inpatient PT or better yet, to Outpatient PT - meaning we might be able to start heading home on Tuesday or Wednesday.
As for the rash, after initially thinking it might be fungal, two members of the Dermatology team came by and believe that it is a contact reaction/allergy to something he had during surgery (maybe tape or detergent). It is now being treated with a topical steroid.
There is still a great deal of uncertainty concerning his release, PT and ultimately our return to Chattanooga. But we must rest confidently in knowing that there is no uncertainty with our Lord and HIS sovereign plan. Everything will ultimately be used to bring glory to HIS name.
Even though this has been one of our more trying trips, especially in light of the events that occurred on the way up, we are amazed at how many people the Lord has brought us into contact with during our first week here. In addition to new doctors, nurses and hospital staff (and a fair number we already knew), we've met policy officers from Jefferson Co, WV. We've had conversations with multiple individuals from our insurance company and the Repair/Towing shop (where we said goodbye to the ole "family truckster.") We met an Uber driver who took us to Enterprise (who actually said he would pray for us and our surgery), three Employees at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the staff at the hotel where we stayed on the first night, a manager at the short term housing where we stayed the first three nights and our friend Ms. Teresa, who has been so great in terms of finding lodging for us when the Children's House has been unavailable. We've also reconnected with a family that we shared a room with during our 2008 surgery (their son has the same condition as Jacob) and of course Kiki and Liz, two of our most favorite nurses (Kiki from past surgeries and Liz more recently).
I'm sure there are others we've failed to mention and still others we haven't met, yet. One of prayers, prior to any surgery or trip to Hopkins, is that the Lord will bring individuals into our path who may not know Him and then use our feeble words and actions to shine forth with the truth of HIS gospel.
Well, with this trip, He has certainly brought many individuals into our path. We continue to pray that He might use even us to accomplish HIS good purposes and that we might plant seeds that HE will cause to grow into a bountiful harvest.
Mommy and Daddy
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Rough start to the day
Jacob is having a rough morning. They are changing his pain meds because he is itching so much on the one he is on now. He has been crying, fussing and itching non stop since 6 this morning. He just fell asleep. Thank you Jesus, because he needs to rest.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Morning Update
Jacob had a pretty good night. After several unsuccessful attempts, an IV nurse was able to draw his blood on the first try (using the fancy vein finding machine) - Praise the Lord. He is still a little swollen and has some leg pain and itching (associated with the pain meds). He remains on his stomach, but the doctor says he can go side-to-side today. Tomorrow, if things go well, he will be able to roll over on his back.
So far, his legs are both moving well and all in all, the Lord has given him a positive attitude throughout.
Thank you for praying and lifting Jacob up before the Throne of Grace.
Mommy and Daddy
Up next - We are known for Thanksgiving and Christmas Inflatables...
So far, his legs are both moving well and all in all, the Lord has given him a positive attitude throughout.
Thank you for praying and lifting Jacob up before the Throne of Grace.
Mommy and Daddy
Up next - We are known for Thanksgiving and Christmas Inflatables...
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
God's timing is everything
We made it back and Jacob didn't even know we were gone. Thank you, Jesus, for that. We hated to leave him and go so far away. But now that is behind us and we continue to move forward with God's plan. Can't wait to see what's next. There is always an opportunity to share with others how amazing our Father is.
Jacob's IV isn't working to draw blood. Please pray they will figure something out because he DOES NOT LIKE NEEDLES, IV's, meds, flushing... anything going into veins.
Jacob's IV isn't working to draw blood. Please pray they will figure something out because he DOES NOT LIKE NEEDLES, IV's, meds, flushing... anything going into veins.
Three years
Three years ago, God gave us this van on our way to a surgery. Three years later, while on our way to a surgery, God is leaving it here. Thank you Jesus for giving us nine amazing safe trips to and from Hopkins. We are truly blessed. We are on our way back now to the hospital. By the way, he is still sleeping. He just woke up one time for a minute and asked "Where is mommy?" Our nurse told him we went to the car and he went back to sleep. Thank you all for praying.
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