Another SCARE with Matthew!

I tell you one thing. Gray hair? I've got it. Thank God for color, but I'm going to need another bottle by the end of the week. I'm wondering if I'm just too darn old for this!

I woke Matthew up today (I let Becca and him sleep in) and he was hot. He just wasn't hot, he was HOT ENOUGH TO FRY SOMETHING ON HIS FOREHEAD! He didn't want to get up, he didn't want breakfast, he didn't want something to eat, he didn't want to change clothes, nothing...............just cry and whine and do nothing. Well, luckily I know the number to Children's Hospital by heart now! Spoke with another on-call physician about his 102 degree temperature. (Mind you, he's still on TYLENOL!) So I'm wondering...........being on anti-biotics, being on tylenol, and he still has a big temperature! Off we went.

By the time we got to the hospital, his temperature was up to 102.5. AFTER, I gave him Tylenol, yet again (because I was told to give it to him before we left). Geez. He was so hot. He didn't want his coat on, he started taking off his no-no's, he didn't want his hat on......etc. Spongebaths (no real bath because of his ear tubes and facial sutures) and Tylenol. The end result is they think he has a viral thing happening. He has a nasty cough, but his lungs are clear. (Asthma is ok.) The cough is related to the tube being down his throat for inabation. (hope I spelled that right)

No meds. Just to treat the symptoms but if the temperature reaches 104? Take him to the local ER, ASAP! So far, it's down to 101. With Tylenol. He's gotten it every 4 hours.

I tell ya, rushing him here and there and as hot as he was..........they took us right in! No waiting! He was NOT a happy camper. Listless is a good adjective to use for him.

Now though? He is sleeping. He slept for 4 hours at naptime. He's tired. He's better. He's drank alot of apple juice (the one with splenda). Had a "blue clue's" ice pack on his forehead for a bit. Made him feel better.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully? NOTHING! His sutures are starting to fall off his lip. We took the packing out of his nostril yesterday before church and WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! What a difference!!!! Still puffy, mind you, but wow!

Oh yeah, we've had 4 nose bleeds since Friday too. (that's another reason why Children's knows us REAL well at the moment. Because of the color of the nose bleeds! Bright, bright red! *clot red*) Other than all of this? We are doing well.

Kim? (from CHI?) Thank you for telling me about the "blowing in his ear with the Floxin"! It works like a charm! Have no clue why, but he doesn't fight us anymore when we do that. Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who is giving us encouragement through emails, IM's, comments, mail, etc. We appreciate it!

Momma Kooky

A little quirp from daddy

My otherwise eloquent and beautiful wife forgot to mention that Matthew also has a huge improvement in his hearing. Just about an hour after he woke up from anesthesia I whispered with a very, and I mean VERY, soft voice from about 3-4 feet away and Matthew turned around and answered me. It made my fathers heart leap with joy. When you can say something to your son without having to almost shout for him to hear it, is a really big thing in my book.

Crazy Daddy

Matthew is home! Praise God!

After a VERY long day and part of the evening at Children's Hospital (Wash, DC), we were finally allowed to leave the recovery/CICU. Our day started out early. TOO EARLY! We got a call on Thursday night from the Surgical nurse who said our time had been moved up. (earlier) His allotted time was changed to 7:45am for surgery.

We got to Children's about 5:45am. Checked in and started to wait. Didn't have much to wait for. They took us right back. Matthew was one of the first children having surgery for Friday. Trust me when I say, he remembered where he was. The first person he saw with green and/or blue scrubs, he was IMMEDIATELY scared and didn't want them to touch him. (he remembered from September 2007's surgery) With some coaxing, he allowed them to work with him. He fit those little surgery gowns MUCH better this time around. Still weighs just 29 pounds. Still 35 3/4's in length.

Then we got to meet all the surgeons. First was Dr. Murthy! He was ready to go. Matthew LOVES him! He says they are "buddies". Matthew gave Dr. Murthy a high five and Dr. Murthy's resident was with him and started smiling/laughing. Dr. Murthy turned around and said that gaining the trust of your patients and their parents was definitely a key for a healthy and mutual friendship, as you will see alot of the patients and parents for years to come. (cleft patients) I thought about it and I think he is right! We feel so at ease with Dr. Murthy! I totally trust him with our precious prince!!!!

Then, we saw Dr. Pena, Dr. Tate, his OR nurse, and the anesthiaologist (sp?). They gave Matthew some sleepy stuff to make him at ease beings he remembered things from last surgery and the nurses picked up on that. In 20 minutes? He was doing the bob and head duck that a boxer would do, except he was watching Jo-Jo Circus. Holding him in my arms like a baby was a treat. He just closed his eyes and a second or two he'd pop them right back open to fight off going night-night!! But.....he didn't last long. Those two oral liquids they gave him, that smelled like GRAPE, did their job. He was totally incoherent and eyes glazed over.............it was time. I handed Matthew over to the resident anesthiaologist and she carried Matthew to the OR. He wasn't with it. Trust me. He went. No crying. No nothing. HE WASN'T THERE. (I wonder if they give that stuff to the parents? Hmm.....*kidding*)

8:30am is when they came and said they were starting. We waited in the Family Surgical Waiting Room with a couple of other parents. And waited, and waited, and waited. Dr. Pena came out about 10 to nine and said her part was done. Everything went fine. About 9:10am, Dr. Tate came out and said that she took the tooth out. It was a VERY good thing that she did. They left another tooth behind that one (didn't know there was another one behind it) because of bone issues. But that the one that was removed was literally almost dead. *Thank God it's gone!!!*

From 9:10am to 11:50am, we waited. Dr. Murthy said it would only be 2 hours, max. I (Momma) was starting to worry at 11:10am. Dr. Murthy is usually RIGHT on with everything that he says. Well, it took a little longer than expected. Working with delicate tissue in the lip and in the nostril/nose. End result? Matthew has an artificial "bump" at the end of his nose to give it height. (which will be absorbed by the body to be totally natural looking in about 6 months) His flattened side of his nose is now TOTALLY MATCHED with the right side of his nose. It's VERY, VERY swollen!!!!!! It's bruised!!!! It looks horrible, but it'll get better!!! His lip? LOOKS SO DARN GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh. It's a miracle! Give it 6 months and I'm sure you won't even tell there was ever a surgery done on it!! (the lip) He does have sutures. Mostly on the top lip, both inside and out. He has sutures on the inside of his nose and on the outside. (mostly inside) His lip is bruised as well, and kinda fat. They said it will go down within 3 days. His left eye is swollen (because of the left nostril being worked on) and the left part of his face is bigger than the right, but he is doing well.

We had a REAL BIG scare about noon to 2pm. Matthew's temperature was going up and NOT coming down, even after having Tylenol 3 w/codeine. (for pain mostly) It was almost up to 102 degrees. They paged Dr. Murthy twice, but he was in surgery again. As soon as he got out, he'd be with Matthew. I made some calls to some folks and they started PRAYING quick for Matthew!!! THANK YOU GUYS! Matthew's temp finally came down. (don't know if it was infection starting or just the fact that he just had surgery, but it came down)

Yes, he is in some pain, but we are handling it. He will tell you if it's too bad. He ate a popsicle and about 4 apple juices RIGHT OFF THE BAT FROM SURGERY! Dr. Murthy was totally happy about that. For dinner he had softly scrambled eggs. So today he can start real food.

He's doing well. He's sleeping alot, but the Tylenol 3 will do that to you. So will some of the other meds he is taking. Matthew's ear drops are the WORST! He screamed when we put them in his ears last night! Literally SCREAMED! It was horrible, but he has to have them.

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Forgot to add this, HE CAN HEAR US AT A WHISPER! HE CAN HEAR! HE CAN HEAR! HE CAN HEAR! From the moment he woke up! He told us "too loud" when his vitals machine went off from his BP cuff falling off! AMAZING! THANK YOU LORD!!!

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I'll leave it here as this is really long. Will update you more later.

Momma Kooky

Less than 24 hours now!

Ok, mommy's getting more nervous by the hour here! Why? Have no idea!!! I've let alot of the adoptive community know about Matthew and his surgery and am just asking for prayer that everything goes according to plan and with minimal pain and that our boy CAN HEAR!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYTHING!!!!

I do not know if I will be online to tell you guys anything or keep you informed as Children's Hospital has some sort of "jammer" or something that won't allow our laptop wireless to get connected to the Internet, but we'll try and let you know something AS SOON AS WE CAN! Honest!

I will have my calculus book with me reading and doing alot of problems during the wait and during recovery, so I'll be just fine. As long as I know Matthew is ok, I'm ok.

Please say a prayer for him. He's one tough cookie at 3 years old and has already been through at least 4 surgeries now. That's more than I've had in my life! (2)

Momma Kooky

This is THEE week!

This is Matthew's surgery week. Everything is a GO. We've had a slight change in doctor's who will take out Matthew's decayed tooth, but everything is alright. Dr. Obeid forgot one small detail..........HE WOULD BE ON THE WEST COAST on February 1st. Um, yeah. He's one busy dude! Trust me. Anyway, a doctor at Children's will remove it. Again, the ear tubes will take about 15 minutes to do. (providing nothing is wrong) They will clean both of his ears real well, slit his ear drums, put in the tubes and be done. Then? I think the tooth is removed next. (Have to ask the Surgical nurse who calls us) That seems to be like a simple open the mouth, and tug real hard, pack the spot and end of story UNLESS...........the tooth totally falls apart. Then? Who knows. I'm guessing they will cut it out. LUCKILY, the plastic surgeon/reconstructive surgeon will be there to do his part which is to fix Matthew's flattened nose and "Elvis" lip. *Matthew cannot close his lip like the rest of us can.*

OH yeah, the nose and lip part of it? It will take about an hour and a half to do. So Matthew will be "under" for about 2 hours. Maybe 2 1/2. He did well before, in September. Let's hope it's just as good this time too!

Alot to be done. In a short amount of time, yet, I'm hoping we can go home that evening. I hope so. I really don't want Matthew to be hurting, but at the same time, staying the night, or two, at Children's is NOISEY!

Matthew has already been set up for a post-op hearing test to be done February 8th. I can't wait. HE'S GONNA HEAR! I JUST KNOW IT! HE HAS TO! They have warned us about "sensatory overload" for him when he wakes up from surgery. Since he's never heard alot of sounds the right way before, HE WILL when he wakes up from surgery. He may have to have cotton in his ears or those plug things for awhile because he just won't know what to do about everything he hears.

Think about it, his whole world is about to change AGAIN to hear. Instead of hearing things like he is underwater, he will actually hear!!! No Charlie Brown wamp, wa, wah, sounds...........I can't wait.

Please join with us in prayer for Matthew. Please.........that everything will go according to plan and the tooth comes out just fine.

We will be leaving MIGHTY early Friday morning. Aunt K will have Becca Boo, so no problems there. As soon as we hear something from surgery, we'll try and post as soon as we can!!!! :o)

Momma Kooky

Our beautiful kiddos!!!!

Well, alright. So many have been emailing and "getting on us" about not having more pictures of the kids. You do know we are busy, right?! And school is back in session once again. EXCEPT this time, Daddy AND Mommy are both going to school. (Mommy online, CALCULUS! *ugh*) Daddy is physically going to a college nearby our house. He has school on Tuesday/Thursday and then another class on Wednesday. I don't know about daddy, but I can tell you that mommy is stressing just a tad.

Anyway, enough about us. DO YOU SEE OUR BEAUTIFUL KIDS!?!?!?! Aren't they cuter than anything you've seen?! I love this picture. Rebecca is so beyond her years. In a way it's a good thing, but in another? It's not, because she doesn't allow herself to be a KID! Hey, it has nothing to do with Mom and Dad! This is all her! Honest. She is mother hen to Matthew. Matthew loves to rebel against her too! I think he knows it agitates her so much!!!! hehehhee....*s*

Rebecca is doing well in daycare. She's EXCELLING BIGTIME at Awana's. (at our church) She is THEE ONLY 4 year old who knows every scripture (and I mean, EVERY) since she has started with them about 2 1/2 months ago. That's alot. She has about 8 patches to show for it on her little vest too. She loves Awana's. The teacher has given her extra things to do because she was doing everything and getting bored. Imagine that...................Oh, Rebecca also wants to join the church youth choir. She'll be the youngest one, but I tell ya, SHE'S READY!

Matthew is doing well. We took him in for his last speech evaluation (to know where to place him within the program) last Friday as well as had his PRE-OP testing done for Children's Hospital in two weeks. His speech eval was again, something I wish I didn't have to see. He didn't do so well. The Cognitive and Intellectual part of it, he is a WHIP at that. The therapist said she didn't know of a 3 year old who could put together a puzzle (that was a cow with multiple parts, that Matthew had never seen before) in 30 seconds, like MATTHEW DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She timed him! I was sitting right there. He did it, just like that. I'm not even sure Rebecca could do something like that and she's 4! Where Matthew excels in one area, he is really "not-so-good" in another. EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE! He failed, he failed OH MY GOSH did he fail. It got to the point that the sw/therapist was asking ME, his mom, "What did he say?" "Did he say this?" "Does he know this word?"

*******My first thought was, OH HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!!*********

I had to answer for Matthew. (audibly understandable) There were about 50 words given to him to repeat and he only got about 5 explicitly audibly correct. The rest were either missing vowels, or syllables, or just not even coherent. BUT, this is a good thing. They know where to start with him. They know were he needs extra help! And he'll get this help! I'm so glad. I know once Matthew gets the ear tubes in his ears and gets speech, people will understand him just as much as you understand me writing all of this!! *so happy*

Remember, February 1st. Before the chickens are passing gas, we'll be on our way to Children's Hospital in Washington, DC for Matthew's surgery. They are saying we will be there at least a day..........maybe two. I just don't know. We'll play it by ear.

Say a prayer, please...as a mother, I pray for so many folks and their requests, I would surely appreciate it if you would remember us. Thank you.

Momma Kooky

OH HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (o happy day)

I love that song! *thinking of Sister Act* When Jesus washed.......(when Jesus washed) When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)...........He washed my sins away....


Anyway.........I like that movie. So, once I started that song I had to keep going with it.


GREAT NEWS!!!!!! We now have 3, count them, 3 surgeons onboard for Matthew's February 1st surgery! PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!! We have to do some extra pre-op stuff at Washington Hospital Center on January 22nd, but that's ok. Dr. Obeid said yes to the surgery and he wants to see how bad this tooth is in Matthew's mouth, if he's lost more of the tooth and whether or not it will need to be cut out of his mouth or "yanked". YES! I'm so happy! My boy is getting what he needs done and the Lord has swung open the doors to do it! YES!

On a side note, we do have to go for another hearing test for Matthew. The full spectrum one with the fiber optic stuff and what not. (for the speech team) They want to get a before the surgery and then after the surgery so they can tell if Matthew can truly hear better with the tubes in his ears. I hope he can hear EVERYTHING! (and then some) Because right now, he isn't hearing much. Well, it was explained to me like being under water and hearing someone call you (which you honestly can't hear too well) or on TV's Charlie Brown specials.....hearing the wham wha wha wa stuff. Either way, it's not good.

Matthew has started showing signs of developmental delay anger because he isn't being heard/understood very well. He gets frustrated. I AM GETTING FRUSTRATED because I can understand my boy, why can't everyone else?!?!?!?! You just have to take the time to listen to him, that's all. But.......anyway, he's acting out at daycare by throwing off his shoes and tossing them across the room, or hitting. Matthew is NOT, by any means, a bad kid. NO WAY! He's so docile! He's my sensitive little man. So we have asked the daycare to fully discipline him by taking things away from him to let him know this is NOT appropriate behavior. (they wanted to know if this was too strong.........HA! Um, NO! I don't want to have my kid being a bully by hitting. DUH!)

Anyway......We are working with Matthew to let him know that this is NOT a good thing to do. Also, we are trying to introduce "avenues" for him when he gets frustrated with no one listening to him or understanding him. That part is harder, but we have told the speech crew about this already. They are aware of it and will help him also. *thank you Lord*

Other than that.........next week starts all the "work" for Matthew. We have another full speech evaluation on the 18th to see where to start Matthew for speech. Also on the 18th, we have a pre-op appointment to make sure he is good to go for surgery. Then on the 22nd, Washington Hospital Center.

By then? We'll get the call from the pre-op nurse for when we need Matthew at Children's and everything will go from there. I know he will be at least one day at Childrens Hospital. (got confirmation from the insurance company on that)

Pray with us. Please........it's alot for our little man, but it'll be ok. Hey, what can go wrong with God in control?! Puhleez.............. *smiling* (O Happy Day...)

Momma Kooky