The latest with Easton.......

My oh My this sweet little boy of ours surely keeps us on our toes....and the doctors here at Childrens...

On the fourth, we were just hanging out and baby E was taking his usual 15 minute cat nap, and when he woke up I found the fluid running along the tract of his shunt tubing.... there was no leakage outside, I just knew that he was swollen along the tubing, so I called the neurosurg resident and he of course said bring him on up....which come on, I was already packing our bags.

So there we were in the ER....and I have to say, although I'm hesitant too - i don't want to jinx our luck, but we have been so lucky when it comes to getting right into the ER, it seems that we just beat the rush everytime..... and now I have no doubt that we will be sitting for hours then next time we come up!  Ah well.  They did the usual catscan, shunt series x-ray and tapped his shunt.... at first glance everything looked good, until the resident took a closer look at the x-ray.  The distal end of Easton's shunt that is normally in the peritoneum had migrated through one of E's hernias.  (yes Easton had bilateral hernias which we were just keeping an eye on, hoping they would heal on their own- his urologists usually holds off on surgery until the kiddos are older)  And so we were admited.....

Welcome to Variety 9!  again.  On Monday we sat around for much of the day just waiting to hear some news.... any news.  Then finally Urology got called in and he was booked for surgery.  Dr Williot said that Dr Li (the neurosurgeon) but an ASAP in the message lol.... and let me tell ya, I couldn't agree more with that ASAP- we have a working shunt here, lets not take any chances! We met Dr. Williot down in the OR maybe a 1/2 hour after he came in to check on Easton, and can I just say that I really do love him.  He has got a fabulous personality, which just makes this whole situation that much easier.  

It was Easton's longest surgery to date, lasting a little over 3 hours as he had to push the catheter back up where it belonged, and then tied off both hernias so that E wouldn't have the opportunity to try this again.... as Dr. Williot said, "he fooled us once, he won't be able to do it again"  As Easton was in surgery Cody and I played a little rummy to pass the time...and he whooped me, but as we were playing, Dr Williot came in and sat down (as we were the only parents in the waiting room due to the fact that it was considered a holiday) and grabbed the cards and did a few card tricks.  All I could think was, well obviously everything went perfect, and then wow, he really is Patch Adams!  And then after wowing us, he told us the the surgery was a success!  Woo Hoo! Thank you Dr. Williot!

We have just been hanging out since because E still has some swelling along his tract, Neuro just basically wanted to keep an eye on him for a couple extra days, just because Easton has somewhat earned that.  Plus they are very good with letting us have the comfort of staying the little bit of extra time, so that we can leave knowing that we won't have to make the 1 1/2 hour drive back up here.  

This makes OR trip #7 for our sweets, and part of me is saying enough is enough- actually all of me is saying that, but there is a part of me that doesn't want to have the throw your arms up in the air, thinking what the eff feeling.  I mean the last 4 days, Easton has been his smiley, flirty, happy self.... he's not throwing his arms up saying what the heck mom.... and yes he is too little to know what he's really going through, but I also know the baby down the hall that has cried his whole stay doesn't understand either.  I just love E's outlook (I say this like I know what he's thinking or something, but I do know that he is the happiest baby on the block, and that's good enough for me!)  So I choose to be like my son, I choose to be happy go lucky- because I have so much to be happy for.  It took me a couple days but I've found the silver lining....we have been stuck in the a/c for the past few days, while its been in the 90's outside....we've been able to have a few dance parties, and have played toys, and he has had the opportunity to win over a few more nurses ;) and drum roll please....we still have a shunt that works (everyone knock on wood)!! I will say that I miss the heck out of Caidence though, and can not wait to see that sweet little girl and snuggle her up!  Hopefully soon!

pre-op

post-op

first snuggles after surgery

whoa mom mom....is that a finch?