An unhappy little boy......

That and a semi stressed mom is what I left at the hospital couple of hours ago. Matthew got through his procedures really well and was awake and semi alert when he got to the recovery room. However when the pain meds started to wear off he got more and more discomforted and fuzzy. It is a little hard for a almost three year old to comprehend that a few hours of pain makes for a lifetime of gain. One thing is for sure... It is very tough to watch your little son in pain and not being able to give him sufficient comfort to make it better for him. If everything is well with him in the morning he will be able to come home, if not he'll be admitted for at least one day.

Roy

Surgery update as of SUNDAY NITE!

Here is the latest in what the surgical ward/recovery nurse has told us as of today. Monday, Matthew's surgery was moved up to 10am. We need to be at Children's Hospital by 8am. (Parked, signed in and waiting.) Things will get rolling as Roy and I sign him into the surgical ward. Matthew WILL be staying at least until Tuesday. (Best case scenario is that he goes home Tuesday. If one thing goes wrong, he will stay indefinitely until the doctors see fit to discharge him.) The main reason for him staying awhile is because his surgery will take a while to do. Appx. 4 hours. Going in at 10am and coming out at 2pm, being in recovery for up to 2 hours afterwards, Matthew may not feel like drinking anything for dinner. If he cannot drink something, he will not go home..............but also, his hernia side of the surgery. He will have 2 incisions on his lower abdomen where they "pushed" all the intestines up where they should be. They do not want infection to set in.

Today was Matthew's day. ALL DAY.....he got his favorite breakfast, bacon and eggs w/hasbrowns, for lunch he wanted a hot dog and for dinner? PIZZA! He wolfed it down too!!! The blender is cleaned up, ready to go, momma has so many fruits lined up in the refrigerator for Matthew's smoothie's, it's quite interesting to see. Ice cream is freezing......oooo, forgot to turn on the ice maker. Will do that as soon as I'm done. Other than that? NO MORE FOOD or DRINK for Matthew until after the surgery! Roy and I will take turns going to eat breakfast at Children's tomorrow. (being a diabetic, uh, YEAH, like I have a choice?) All the kids in the surgical ward have to fast for surgery so there is NO FOOD and NO DRINKS allowed in that area.

Daddy's doing fine. Becca? Oh my gosh was she in rare form today! (Knew she was going to her Aunt Kimmy's house.) Matthew? He's fine. He says he's going to see Dr. Murthy tomorrow. He truly likes him ALOT! I'm glad.....Mommy? Well, I'm trying to keep myself together. Putting Matthew to sleep will be the hard part. That's like the "real" part to me. Maybe it has alot to do with my parents dying, whatever, who knows. I'll be fine. I just keep telling myself to GET OVER IT already. It usually works.

Anyway, I've told some, now I tell all, CALL OUR CELL PHONES and leave messages on the voicemails! We will get back with you when we make it to the cafeteria! If we need to get messages out to folks, we have our avenues! YOU WILL KNOW! Just hang tight.

Thank you for praying for our son. Please keep up the good fight for him. Prayers are always welcome for him and for us!!!

I think that's all for now.

Everything looks like a GO!

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! LOL, thank goodness Matthew doesn't have to do all this paperwork. And there is surely going to be more on Monday, I'm sure.

Matthew went yesterday to the pediatrician for last minute pre-op stuff and was given the OKIE DOKIE sign to go. I've spoken with Children's Hospital and we had to fax one thing to them but other than that, it looks like a go on their half too. So now we wait for our Surgical Ward Nurse to call us with details about Matthew's 24 hours leading up to the surgery.

Gosh, so many things run through a parents mind. I tell ya. Racing, like Indy or NASCAR wouldn't be able to keep up with my brain at the moment. I'm just waiting to get home to start doing things there. (Taking away sippy cups, do Matthew's bedroom/tidy up, pack for Matthew, myself and Rebecca, getting my recipes in order for Matthew, etc.)

Becca is going to my sister's house Sunday night and she will take care of her for Monday and possibly beyond that if need be. (hopefully not though) We will try our darndest to keep everyone up-to-date on Matthew on Monday. NO CELL PHONES are allowed in the surgical ward where we will be. LEAVE A VOICEMAIL on my cellphone! (Yes, we have new ones that let you do that.) I will get back to you, or Roy will. If we start calling some folks, that means something has happened (not a good thing) and will be asking for MAJOR prayers! I hope this doesn't happen, but it would be nice to get ahold of our closest family/friends (if need be).

Charlie goes to the vet on Saturday. Poor thing. POOR THING? HA! Yeah right! Guess who had the runs (outside mind you) this morning because he got into our BRAND NEW LOAF OF WHEAT BREAD?!?!?! Yep, Charlie! At least he has good taste! But good grief!

TMI (too much information), I know. He is a member of the family now! So you get to hear about HIS antics too!

Ok, a little humor amongst some seriousness. That's a good thing.

Until you hear from us again..........don't know if it will be this weekend or on Monday.........stay tuned. AND, keep praying for our son, please! Thank you for your outpouring/tenderhearted prayers for him. He's come a long way! Thank you.

The Mommy files

Pre-op Surgical Tour at Children's Hospital

Sunday afternoon, the whole family went to Children's Hospital (CNMC) in Wash., DC. It would have been really nice had we known that the shuttle from the Brookland-CU Metro stop wasn't running on weekends. *ugh*

Anyway, we ended up taking the metro bus to Children's and lots of folks (even a homeless man) helped us. Thank you Lord! It was Matthew, Rebecca and a little girl named Marlo who were on the tour. (2 families) It was really nice to walk through every inch of what will happen on Monday. The nurses in the recovery unit were so helpful and answered so many questions. We went from the atrium to the beds where Matthew may be staying if he stays the night.

The kids put on masks, gowns, hats, shoe covers, etc. Doctors came by. Doctor Bear was around...........Matthew loves doctor bear! The kids were "dressing up" and looking over everything and able to touch machines and so forth. It was really neat for them to do that.

After the tour, the lady leading the tour had teddybear cookies and punch for the kids and each child was given a little present. I tell ya, everyone was up and happy and at ease about both surgeries. If you think about Marlo on Friday, please pray for her in and out surgery. (herniated kidney) She will be operated on and then released providing everything goes well. Her parents are really cool!

Matthew will go for pre-op lab work Thursday and there are loads of paperwork for our pediatrician to fill out and then, providing no fever and no signs of sickness, Monday morning, we'll go to Children's. Oh, the surgical nurse will call us either Saturday or Sunday night. NO FOOD for Matthew after midnight Sunday night. NO DRINKS except water up to about 4am? Something like that. I'm sure he will be asleep for most of the way to the hospital.

Daddy and Mommy are looking forward to the surgery because his palate will be fixed, and no more food will come out, but at the same time, I don't want him to feel pain. Or be uncomfortable. That will hurt us more so than him. I know once we get into the "sleepy room" (induction room) for Matthew to fall asleep, that will be hard. What parent wants to see their kids be put to sleep?! *sigh*

We'll be ok. Just please pray for our son! Pray everything goes according to plan and that there are no surprises or anesthesia problems. We thank you in advance.

Matt & Becca's mommy

Update

Just letting ya know that Matthew's first pre-op stuff starts happening September 6th. He will have the "standard" routine pre-op check with our own pediatrician. Children's Hospital has sent the packet we are suppose to get and we should get it by the end of the week. Not only that but they have faxed over to our pediatrician, some stuff for Matthew. So everyone is on the same page. YAY!

Matthew knows he's going to the hospital. Not sure if he knows it's for a surgery though. He may think it's just for a visit, like we've been doing. (with the Craniofacial team) Hopefully, everything will be set to go and nothing will hinder us from keeping the September 10th date.

4 hours of not knowing what is going on with your child..........thinking, wondering, pondering the good (and the maybe not so good)...........man, I want this to happen, but at the same time, it's hard. I don't want to see my son "put to sleep".

It's things like last night that make me think of this. Matthew just all of the sudden, without warning, gave me the biggest hug and said, UP momma. So I picked him up. He just held his head in the crook of my neck and hugged me for the longest time. (ugh.....trying to hold back my tears) Things like that make all the cares of the world just melt away. Everything bothering ya, just melt away........

We are truly blessed with our kids! AMEN!

from the Mommy files

A New Iversen! A New Iversen!

Ha! Gotcha, didn't I? LOL

Nope, it's of the four legged kind. My brother had to give away his beautiful English Yellow Lab and we decided to take him. He's a beautiful blond haired, dark eyed, 85 pound boy named Charlie who is VERY docile and VERY, VERY trained. He knows so many commands, it's unreal.

Not sure how the 3 furry little four legged cats will take to him, but he could care less of cats. I'm hoping we can all live and let live without bloodshed. *please Lord*

Charlie has already met the kids at their Aunt Kim's house and the kids LOVE him. He is really good with the kids. He is enough to knock you over with just his tail, much less the rest of him. He's a cutie pie though.



MATTHEW UPDATE:

Matthew didn't have the best weekend. He was stung by a wasp, not once, but apparently twice. Dad removed the stinger. Matt screamed bloody murder, literally. The wasps came out from our walk up ramp from the driveway. 4 of them. Not only that. We dealt with that ok, but this morning, Matthew woke up with one side of his head HUGE!

He was bitten by a bug. Most likely a mosquito? We put meds on it and sent him to daycare as he was fine and jumping around like normal. Well, around 2:45pm, they called. His head was bigger than when he came in. So Daddy took him to the doctor. A bug bite. (yeah, we knew that) He is on Benedryl and Hydrocortisone. If this doesn't get it down soon, we might have to take him in again.

I tell ya, having Chinese children, and mixing bug bites with them isn't a good thing! Mosquito bites leave scars on the kids. I hate it. I really do. We are praying his head goes down. It's the left side of his face. (cleft side, of course) It doesn't hurt him, but it's just big. Looks like he has a mouthful of something on that side. :o)

Anyway............pictures of Charlie and the kids will be forthcoming. Stay tuned!

Ki

Prayers for Matthew's surgery, coming up!!!

Before I forget, in my telling you about the kids, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE lift Matthew up in prayer for us. We are just about at the 3 weeks *mandatory* countdown to his fistula surgery (failed cleft palate surgery failure) and urological issues.

From the MOMMY files:

As the time grows closer, I tell ya, as a mom, it scares the hebbie jeebie's outta me that I will be able to walk with him to the operating table, put him down, and they administer "sleepy" stuff to him and watch him drift off to neverland. So many things run through your mind. Will he wake up? Will something happen? Will he have an allergic reaction? Will he hemorrage? Will something go wrong? Will they find something MORE wrong with him then previously thought?

Oh wow, don't get me started. My mind races, trust me. I need to concentrate on Matthew but at the same time, Rebecca is having a birthday party in just under 2 weeks after Matthew's surgery. I'm trying to get things done beforehand. Even gathering SOFT foods for Matthew, but it's going to be hard. Little Matthew LOVES, and I mean, LOVES food. ALL KINDS OF FOOD! Restricting him to liquids and having him in arm restraints for 3 weeks is NOT GOING TO BE EASY BY NO MEANS! I've also been told that those arm restraints are NOT to come off, even for bedtime! *should get some earplugs now* (note to self, CVS around the corner) :o)

I know that Dr. Murthy (plastic reconstructive surgeon/Craniofacial team) and Dr. Kalloo (the lady urological doctor) are awesome and VERY capable of helping Matthew. I have complete confidence in them, but there's that darn BUT! Prayer. That's all it is to it, prayer.

For 4 hours, on September 10th, at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, starting at 9am I will be doing nothing but praying for Matthew. And I won't stop until he's out of surgery...........which they say will be at least 4 hours later. *You wanna join me? BE MY GUEST!* (Mapquest works wonders)

Ok, I need to stop here. I'm rambling, my thoughts are everywhere and I'm about to cry my eyes out.

Surgery lab work starts in about 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. We truly need for Matthew to have NO FEVERS, no sicknesses, and NO ear infections (which have been quite common since we've brought him home in March 2007). Just no NOTHINGS wrong with him so the surgery will proceed as planned. *trust me, it took awhile for the teams to get together for this surgery, so PLEASE LORD, let nothing hinder it! Please!*

Stay tuned...........
Ki