Well, after more than a week of living in the PICU of Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital, Zach finally came home Tuesday night.
After alternating nights at the hospital for that week, it's safe to say that both Janine and myself were quite sleep deprived. No matter day or night, there is always the same amount of activity going on in the PICU, and because the glass is so heavily tinted, there was little sunlight to be seen. Put that together for a few days and you really have no idea what time it is, or if it is day or night. Zach wouldn't really ever sleep for more than a few minutes at a time, which didn't make things any easier.
At one point after looking at the clock at seeing it was 9:30 I actually asked the nurse if it was AM or PM. It was really freaky there for a while... If they ever need actors to play the part of Zombies in a horror movie, they could do the casting right in the local PICU - wouldn't even need to use much makeup.
There are a million things that went on while Zach was there, but it would take forever to write, so I'll give it to you in a brief format...
After surgery Zach slept, then couldn't sleep, then wouldn't sleep, had a seizure (maybe), had another, got put on anti-seizure medicine, slept, itched, itched some more, slept, itched, itched some more, got some medicine for the itching, slept, itched, got more anti-itch medicine, slept, couldn't poop, got medicine to make him poop, didn't poop, got an enema, got another enema, still didn't poop, got more medicine to make him poop, pooped, pooped, really pooped, wow look at all the poop, slept, woke up, didn't sleep, got arm splints to stop him from itching, hit various people with the arm splints, got more anti-itch medicine, slept, woke up, complained about the arm splints, learned to itch face while wearing arm splints, got his cast, pooped some more, ate a small bit of food, pooped again, man where is all this poop coming from, got discharged.
That's it in a nutshell.
Did I mention that while Zach was in surgery, I got a call from the marathon people because the Miami Herald wanted to do a story on Josh? He was going to be the youngest runner this year. It killed me to tell the guy that we were not going to be doing the race. I know that given everything we have been through the past couple of weeks that I at least am in no shape to run. Still though, it would have been great to get our story in the paper. The guy I spoke to from the race said to get in touch with them if we are going to do the race next year and they will help with some publicity for NPT, so I guess it's not a total loss.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Quick surgical update
I only have a few minutes, but here's how things are going...
The surgery went well for Zach. It took about 3 hours for the procedure itself, and there weren't any real complications.
The recovery was rough for Zach for the first day. The doctors had trouble getting the right mix of sedatives and painkillers that would keep him comfortable, but I think they have it worked out now.
Zach had two seizures early yesterday (Tuesday) morning. Nobody is sure why. It's probably related to the surgery/pain/stress that he is going through. However it could just be MPS. In any case, he is on anti-seizure medication for now, and will probably continue on it once he goes home.
This morning (Wednesday) he is running a temperature of about 103. His blood work isn't showing any infection though. Janine was told this sometimes happens in fusion cases, and may just be the way the body reacts to the rods along the spine. The doctors don't seem too concerned about it yet. I'll know more when I get over to the hospital this afternoon.
The surgery went well for Zach. It took about 3 hours for the procedure itself, and there weren't any real complications.
The recovery was rough for Zach for the first day. The doctors had trouble getting the right mix of sedatives and painkillers that would keep him comfortable, but I think they have it worked out now.
Zach had two seizures early yesterday (Tuesday) morning. Nobody is sure why. It's probably related to the surgery/pain/stress that he is going through. However it could just be MPS. In any case, he is on anti-seizure medication for now, and will probably continue on it once he goes home.
This morning (Wednesday) he is running a temperature of about 103. His blood work isn't showing any infection though. Janine was told this sometimes happens in fusion cases, and may just be the way the body reacts to the rods along the spine. The doctors don't seem too concerned about it yet. I'll know more when I get over to the hospital this afternoon.
Monday, January 5, 2009
'Tis the season for giving...
Blood that is.
In preperation for his surgery on the 12th, Janine and I had to donate blood in case Zach has a need for it.
Now, due to a rather unfortunate incident involving a lady at the Red Cross donation center that I still to this day refer to as "Nurse Pincushion", I have not donated blood since I was about 20 years old.
I got some giggles from the questionaire I had to fill out before making the donation. One of the questions asked if I had ever or had "sexual contact" with someone who took money, drugs or other payment for sex since 1977. Now, I'm pretty sure on the money and drugs thing - the thought that I am talented enough in that field to actually get paid for it is quite laughable come to think of it. Since I've been married for quite some time, I've never had a need to pay for sex. (Beg for it perhaps...)
Still though there is that "other payment" issue.... Does that mean if a guy takes a girl out on a date to a nice resturant and they end up doing the deed later on that evening? Or is that not "payment". These are the things that go through my head while I'm sitting there waiting on the nurse to enter my information into her computer. Obviously there are more pressing issues I should be spending my time thinking about, but that's just how my mind works.
As part of the whole donation routine, they give you a "mini-physical" of sorts. My blood pressure was 126/84. Not great, not horrible. Actually, it's usually at least 10 points lower than that, so I'm not really concerned. Pulse was 62 which I'm quite pleased with. It was closer to 90 before I started on the exercise bike.
When you donate blood, they also test your cholesterol level. I had to log in to the blood center website to get those results a couple of days ago. Considering that I'm not known for my healthy eating habits (Damn pizza - why can't I quit you!), I wasn't really looking forward to these results. I was expecting a number in the mid 200's. Enough to send me off to Lipitor land. I was actually paranoid enough about it to look up some of the anti-cholesterol drugs out there.
Did you know Lipitor has "accidental injury" listed as a side effect? As in "People who take this drug are at a higher risk of getting hit by a bus". I'm not sure how they measure that, but it's good to know. Crestor does not list "accidental injury" as a side effect, so that's obviously the one to go with. I'm an expert on "accidental injuries", I don't need any help in that department.
So, imagine my surprise when I logged in and found that my cholesterol is only 182. Safely in the good range. I'll chalk it up to genetics. I didn't get a good/bad level breakdown, but overall it's not that bad.
So on to the bad news...
Due to Zach's surgery, we have decided not to run the half-marathon on the 25th. There are just too many unknowns at this point to allow us to really dedicate the time needed to the race. We'll revisit the idea for next year. However, we have decided to enter into a few of the local 5K events. It's a long story, but Josh actually jogged over 5K on concrete, wearing baseball cleats after a 2 hour practice in about 30 minutes. Given ideal conditions I think he could probably shave close to 10 minutes off that time. We'll have to see how it goes.
I'll update on Zach's surgery as things progress.
In preperation for his surgery on the 12th, Janine and I had to donate blood in case Zach has a need for it.
Now, due to a rather unfortunate incident involving a lady at the Red Cross donation center that I still to this day refer to as "Nurse Pincushion", I have not donated blood since I was about 20 years old.
I got some giggles from the questionaire I had to fill out before making the donation. One of the questions asked if I had ever or had "sexual contact" with someone who took money, drugs or other payment for sex since 1977. Now, I'm pretty sure on the money and drugs thing - the thought that I am talented enough in that field to actually get paid for it is quite laughable come to think of it. Since I've been married for quite some time, I've never had a need to pay for sex. (Beg for it perhaps...)
Still though there is that "other payment" issue.... Does that mean if a guy takes a girl out on a date to a nice resturant and they end up doing the deed later on that evening? Or is that not "payment". These are the things that go through my head while I'm sitting there waiting on the nurse to enter my information into her computer. Obviously there are more pressing issues I should be spending my time thinking about, but that's just how my mind works.
As part of the whole donation routine, they give you a "mini-physical" of sorts. My blood pressure was 126/84. Not great, not horrible. Actually, it's usually at least 10 points lower than that, so I'm not really concerned. Pulse was 62 which I'm quite pleased with. It was closer to 90 before I started on the exercise bike.
When you donate blood, they also test your cholesterol level. I had to log in to the blood center website to get those results a couple of days ago. Considering that I'm not known for my healthy eating habits (Damn pizza - why can't I quit you!), I wasn't really looking forward to these results. I was expecting a number in the mid 200's. Enough to send me off to Lipitor land. I was actually paranoid enough about it to look up some of the anti-cholesterol drugs out there.
Did you know Lipitor has "accidental injury" listed as a side effect? As in "People who take this drug are at a higher risk of getting hit by a bus". I'm not sure how they measure that, but it's good to know. Crestor does not list "accidental injury" as a side effect, so that's obviously the one to go with. I'm an expert on "accidental injuries", I don't need any help in that department.
So, imagine my surprise when I logged in and found that my cholesterol is only 182. Safely in the good range. I'll chalk it up to genetics. I didn't get a good/bad level breakdown, but overall it's not that bad.
So on to the bad news...
Due to Zach's surgery, we have decided not to run the half-marathon on the 25th. There are just too many unknowns at this point to allow us to really dedicate the time needed to the race. We'll revisit the idea for next year. However, we have decided to enter into a few of the local 5K events. It's a long story, but Josh actually jogged over 5K on concrete, wearing baseball cleats after a 2 hour practice in about 30 minutes. Given ideal conditions I think he could probably shave close to 10 minutes off that time. We'll have to see how it goes.
I'll update on Zach's surgery as things progress.
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