Our travel day, Wednesday started at 4am and ended at 7pm. It was fairly uneventful. Just tiring. Brody woke up with his last bandage laying next to him in the bed... Usually the this one stays on for a few more weeks. This was the one over the skin graft site. This is a very sensitive spot now and Brody defiantly lets us know about it. The canal still seems to be red and not getting much better. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon. As soon as we got home Brody wanted to ride his bike, and of course the broken record came out.... Sorry honey we need to not move too fast and not jump etc. etc.
Reuniting Brody and rilyn was the cutest thing ever... They kept hugging and holding hands! I do think they missed each other. Now today we are back to the normal, fighting and all the fun brother-sister stuff. ;)
We all slept really good last night in our own beds. Brody's next appointment is July 10.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Last day in cali....
Today was a great day... Brody did awesome at his last Dr appointment today. He was very scared but between a very helpful Dr Roberson and a bribing mom we had a great appointment. They noticed a little redness around the new canal which they prescribed some antibiotics just in case there is any bacteria in there which may cause an infection. We thought the best way for him to take this would be chewable, but turns out he very much dislikes this as way... since he "chokes" it up... guess we will have to get a little more creative when giving him these pills. Otherwise they said his canal looks good and we are ready to go home.
After the appointment, we decided that we needed to go somewhere to get out of the hotel to occupy the little man. So we headed over to San Jose to the children's discovery museum featuring a display with Curious George. Brody was running from one thing to the next... ok not running but walking fast.... he thought it was great and it helped that there was other kids to play with too... he is getting home sick to be around his friends and cousins. This museum was great and I highly recommend it if you are out this way. Lots for all ages. Brody enjoyed this very much.
Then we headed back to the hotel house and started cleaning up and packing everything for our early flight in the morning...
Thank you to everyone who has been following Brody's journey so far. We are so grateful for all the love, support, thoughts, and prayers that you all are giving. Brody is truly loved and adored by many and we are so happy for this. Please continue to pray as we are in the recovery and healing phase we need to keep a close eye on the redness and swelling as well as keeping him still so that his prosthetics can heal properly for the next 3 weeks... yes 3 I thought it was only 2 but it is now 3!
Happy Trails California, Till we meet again in September!!
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sunday. Monday. Relaxing...
On Sunday we traveled to Santa Cruz, about a 50 min drive, to check out the boardwalk and to find some more surfers. The boardwalk was a huge carnival with lots of rides and games... Really not the place to go for Brody who is suppose to be staying still for two weeks post-op.... But we rode the merry go round and let him play a few games. Then we walked down to the beach again didn't see any surfers so we headed back to our hotel house. The drive was very scenic again. The redwoods are huge and all the shrubs and flowers are blooming beautifully.
Monday. We needed a day to just relax and catch up. Mom and dads idea of relaxing is apparently not the same as Brody's. when we stay in the hotel room for too long, Brody gets very ancy. Even after we played trains, semis, watched franklin, and built forts... It just wasn't cutting it for brod. We went for a little walk and then went for a ride downtown and got some supper. Now we are back at the hotel and Brody is loading his horses in the trailer.
Tomorrow we have Brody's final post-op appointment with Dr Roberson. I'm hoping it goes well for two reasons... First Brody is sick of doctors and dislikes doing what they say because he knows the end result is pain... Second, the new canal seems a little more swollen the. I can remember from the first time and a lot more red around the new skin graft site. I hope that we get the ok to go home and the new canal is doing wonderful. We have been trying to talk to talk Brody into cooperating tomorrow at the appointment with a few bribes, but we will see how it goes. He doesn't believe me anymore when I tell him it will only hurt a little. The poor boy has been threw so much with these surgeries already, I fear come September he really will want nothing to do with it... But he so far says he wants to come back. (With the next breath, asking when we can go home) We are very positive when talking about his new canals 'holes'. I do believe this helps as he always asks me if I like his new hole... :)
Nagging mom... I've been feeling like the nagging mom the past few days since we are suppose to keep Brody calm and not to jump around and make fast movements... (Im sure James feels the same way) We try to explain to him that he can't jump or run around, but he just doesn't seem to understand,I mean come on, you try telling your 3.5 year BOY that he needs to sit in a chair and not move for 2 weeks... Haha. So for 9 more days I will sound like a broken record.
Night all, tomorrow is our last full day in Cali.... Yippee
Monday. We needed a day to just relax and catch up. Mom and dads idea of relaxing is apparently not the same as Brody's. when we stay in the hotel room for too long, Brody gets very ancy. Even after we played trains, semis, watched franklin, and built forts... It just wasn't cutting it for brod. We went for a little walk and then went for a ride downtown and got some supper. Now we are back at the hotel and Brody is loading his horses in the trailer.
Tomorrow we have Brody's final post-op appointment with Dr Roberson. I'm hoping it goes well for two reasons... First Brody is sick of doctors and dislikes doing what they say because he knows the end result is pain... Second, the new canal seems a little more swollen the. I can remember from the first time and a lot more red around the new skin graft site. I hope that we get the ok to go home and the new canal is doing wonderful. We have been trying to talk to talk Brody into cooperating tomorrow at the appointment with a few bribes, but we will see how it goes. He doesn't believe me anymore when I tell him it will only hurt a little. The poor boy has been threw so much with these surgeries already, I fear come September he really will want nothing to do with it... But he so far says he wants to come back. (With the next breath, asking when we can go home) We are very positive when talking about his new canals 'holes'. I do believe this helps as he always asks me if I like his new hole... :)
Nagging mom... I've been feeling like the nagging mom the past few days since we are suppose to keep Brody calm and not to jump around and make fast movements... (Im sure James feels the same way) We try to explain to him that he can't jump or run around, but he just doesn't seem to understand,I mean come on, you try telling your 3.5 year BOY that he needs to sit in a chair and not move for 2 weeks... Haha. So for 9 more days I will sound like a broken record.
Night all, tomorrow is our last full day in Cali.... Yippee
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Saturday. San Fran zoo. Surfing...
Today we wanted to take Brody somewhere to get him out of the hotel... He has been very cranky since surgery and our little 15 min walks weren't cutting it. We decided to take scenic highway 1 to half moon bay and check out some beaches. Brody really got into watching the surfers and walking along the beach and playing in the ocean little waves... (Only our feet mind you.) then headed to San Francisco zoo.
Brody was still a little edgy but was enjoying looking at all the animals... Pretty sure his favorite part was the five minute train ride . But it was really neat seeing all the different animals! Brody's favorite animal was the flamingo because they were all standing on one foot. We spent pretty much all day there, from 10:30 till 4! Then we took the scenic route home to avoid the crazy highways. It is a very nice drive, between driving through the tunnels, huge trees, valleys and of course the ocean. Brody talked us into stopping at one more beach on the way back... Here we watched some more surfers and walked along the beach again.
On our travels back to Sunnyvale we decided that we should stop at a seafood restaurant since they were all over along the ocean.... We chose an ocean front dining restaurant with outside seating..... Brody wanted to sit outside.... It was freezing we had to find our jackets! We all ate fish and it was very delicious! Brody quickly made friends with the waiter and the people sitting next to us.... While sitting there eating and looking at the ocean we got to see dolphins swimming and jumping! This was very neat!!! Brody enjoyed seeing them and so did we!!! The people next to us, really liked Brody and were very talkative with him,,,, Brody talked his new friend Nate in to taking him surfing!!! And found out where the big waves Were. When we left the restaurant, the waiter told us he took care of Brody's meal. What a nice guy!!!! :) we really hit the jack pot with nice Californian people.
Now we are back at home getting ready for bed! Goodnight all!
Brody was still a little edgy but was enjoying looking at all the animals... Pretty sure his favorite part was the five minute train ride . But it was really neat seeing all the different animals! Brody's favorite animal was the flamingo because they were all standing on one foot. We spent pretty much all day there, from 10:30 till 4! Then we took the scenic route home to avoid the crazy highways. It is a very nice drive, between driving through the tunnels, huge trees, valleys and of course the ocean. Brody talked us into stopping at one more beach on the way back... Here we watched some more surfers and walked along the beach again.
On our travels back to Sunnyvale we decided that we should stop at a seafood restaurant since they were all over along the ocean.... We chose an ocean front dining restaurant with outside seating..... Brody wanted to sit outside.... It was freezing we had to find our jackets! We all ate fish and it was very delicious! Brody quickly made friends with the waiter and the people sitting next to us.... While sitting there eating and looking at the ocean we got to see dolphins swimming and jumping! This was very neat!!! Brody enjoyed seeing them and so did we!!! The people next to us, really liked Brody and were very talkative with him,,,, Brody talked his new friend Nate in to taking him surfing!!! And found out where the big waves Were. When we left the restaurant, the waiter told us he took care of Brody's meal. What a nice guy!!!! :) we really hit the jack pot with nice Californian people.
Now we are back at home getting ready for bed! Goodnight all!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Waking up.... and sleeping again....
Right after we talked with Dr Roberson about the surgery, Dr Baliker came out and talked to us in a little more detail about his left ear canal and how good it looked. She tried to clean it in the pre-op appointment, Brody was very hesitant and didn't want anything to do with that. So she decided to do the cleaning in the Operating room, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since on the ear drum were some crusting and it was attached pretty good. So she mentioned that it looked great and got it all cleaned up with minimal bleeding. :) This saves a little less craziness for the office visit.
A short time later, which was suppose to be 45 min turned into 10 minutes they came and got us and told us that Brody was awake. We went in to a crying and irritated little guy. He was a little out of it still and all he wanted was his IV taken out and his heart monitor off his finger... (This is a huge difference from last time as when we went into recovery room we waited what seemed like forever for him to wake up and then he was just a sleepy little boy with no care in the world.) The nurses then decided I should hold him to try to comfort him.... this was good for a few minutes and then he decided it was time for the IV to come out well after about 20 minutes of trying to get him to eat and drink something they sent us home... Brody cried most of the time because he was thirsty and of course we left the juice in the trunk! Once we got back to the hotel he and mama took a long nap for about 3 hours.
He is still kind of dazing and just wants to get out of the hotel room. The Drs want us to keep brody calm and no high impact for the nest 2 weeks, like no jumping! Because of his prosthetic middle bones. Well lets just say, how in the world am I going to keep my 3.5 year old from jumping into and out of the bed?!?! Maybe we should take the nurses advice and duct tape him to a tree!! ;)
Brody is sleeping again now and hopefully he sleeps all through the night with either mom or dad... he needs rest to get back to his normal self. Tomorrow will have to take him to the store and he gets to pick out his "I had Surgery" toy.
Thank you everyone for the thoughts and prayers. This surgery was defiantly the harder of the 2 for both brody and us!! But in the end this will defiantly be worth all the tears! I hope his recovery goes well and we can find enough things to entertain him with to keep him from moving around too much. Brody will need lots of encouragement when we get back home as well as when it is time to get his 3rd surgery.
A short time later, which was suppose to be 45 min turned into 10 minutes they came and got us and told us that Brody was awake. We went in to a crying and irritated little guy. He was a little out of it still and all he wanted was his IV taken out and his heart monitor off his finger... (This is a huge difference from last time as when we went into recovery room we waited what seemed like forever for him to wake up and then he was just a sleepy little boy with no care in the world.) The nurses then decided I should hold him to try to comfort him.... this was good for a few minutes and then he decided it was time for the IV to come out well after about 20 minutes of trying to get him to eat and drink something they sent us home... Brody cried most of the time because he was thirsty and of course we left the juice in the trunk! Once we got back to the hotel he and mama took a long nap for about 3 hours.
He is still kind of dazing and just wants to get out of the hotel room. The Drs want us to keep brody calm and no high impact for the nest 2 weeks, like no jumping! Because of his prosthetic middle bones. Well lets just say, how in the world am I going to keep my 3.5 year old from jumping into and out of the bed?!?! Maybe we should take the nurses advice and duct tape him to a tree!! ;)
Brody is sleeping again now and hopefully he sleeps all through the night with either mom or dad... he needs rest to get back to his normal self. Tomorrow will have to take him to the store and he gets to pick out his "I had Surgery" toy.
Thank you everyone for the thoughts and prayers. This surgery was defiantly the harder of the 2 for both brody and us!! But in the end this will defiantly be worth all the tears! I hope his recovery goes well and we can find enough things to entertain him with to keep him from moving around too much. Brody will need lots of encouragement when we get back home as well as when it is time to get his 3rd surgery.
Not so happy juice. Recovery room.
We arrived at the waverly surgery center at 6:20am. Got all checked in and waited to go in. Surgery was scheduled for 7:30am. We were called back to the pre-op room at 7:45am. Met with all the doctors, nurses, anesthesiologist. And waited till the surgery room was ready. Then we proceeded to "attempt" to give Brody the happy juice... This turned into a crying game and then resulted in putting the juice in a syringe and having Brody choke it down!!! not a pretty sight, he was not impressed and then dry heaved for ten minutes. :( after we got him calmed down, ( by holding him and rocking him like my little baby) at this point I was pretty sure this happy juice should be called the 'not so happy juice' . Now it is time for him to go into surgery, he didn't want to us to leave him so we walked down the hall and then gave hugs, instant kicking and screaming! :( so much for the second time around being easier! I have to say this time was defiantly harder sending him off for surgery.
I'm holding on to the fact that the he is in the best hands with these doctors and nurses! The staff here with dr Roberson is amazing! I know as soon as he had his pilot mask he is resting comfortably and the magic begins! :)
It is now 11:00am and we just got done talking with the dr. The operation went well. Brody's middle bones were not connected properly so they went ahead and placed the prosthetic middle bones. With the prosthtics, it is likely that his hearing on the right side will not be as good as if he had his orginal bones. Placeing the middle bones now will save from having to come back for another surgery later down the road. We will get to go in recovery room in about 45 minutes.
Excited to see him. Not so excited about how he may wake up.... They warned us that when they go in kicking and screaming, they wake up the same way!
I'm holding on to the fact that the he is in the best hands with these doctors and nurses! The staff here with dr Roberson is amazing! I know as soon as he had his pilot mask he is resting comfortably and the magic begins! :)
It is now 11:00am and we just got done talking with the dr. The operation went well. Brody's middle bones were not connected properly so they went ahead and placed the prosthetic middle bones. With the prosthtics, it is likely that his hearing on the right side will not be as good as if he had his orginal bones. Placeing the middle bones now will save from having to come back for another surgery later down the road. We will get to go in recovery room in about 45 minutes.
Excited to see him. Not so excited about how he may wake up.... They warned us that when they go in kicking and screaming, they wake up the same way!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Pre-op appointments. Happy Hollow...
This morning at breakfast we had a mom come up to us and ask if we were here to see Dr Roberson. It was nice to see someone in the same strange city for the same reason. We got to meet Conner from Texas who had combined medpor a month ago with Dr Renisch and Dr Roberson. We checked out his brand new ear. It looked amazing for only being 1 month after. I think it helped Brody to know that other kids are going to have surgery just like him. Actually on the way to our hotel, he was asking if Manny was going to be here... and he was going to take the mask just like Manny did! Way to go Manny you are still an inspiration to our Brody boy.
We ventured over to San Jose today to go to Happy Hollow, it is a small amusement park and zoo... lots and lots of kids everywhere. Brody had a blast... they had lots of playgrounds and animals everywhere. Brody's favorite part was the rides... they had lots of smaller kiddie rides. Brody rode them all... he wanted to ride the tilt a whirl like he did with his cousin emma at the fish n fun but they didn't have one so he opted for the frog hopper instead... It was only a little scary to watch, but he was smiling and laughing the whole time...:)
After Happy Hollow, we headed over to the California Ear institute for Brody's pre-op appointments. First we had body's audiogram (hearing test) and brody had fun throwing the play balls into the basket whenever he heard the birdie chirp... he did great. His hearing test improved on his left side 20-30 decibels. It is very close to normal hearing range. This is a great improvement even with some wax on the ear drum. They said that the real hearing test will be in 4 months which will hopefully show the most improvement. We were so very excited to hear these results.
Next we met with Dr Baliaker to check out his canal and all the other fun pre-op things. She was very impressed with how his canal looked and with the audiogram. She then proceeded to tell us that if Brody needs to have the prostatic middle bones put in, they will go ahead and do it right away instead of having another surgery.
Tomorrow is Surgery day... We have to be there at 6:30am and then surgery will start at 7:30am.
Now on to Skype with Rilyn and go eat some supper. Tomorrow is the big day, Thanks for all the prayers already! All prayers will be greatly appreciated!!
We ventured over to San Jose today to go to Happy Hollow, it is a small amusement park and zoo... lots and lots of kids everywhere. Brody had a blast... they had lots of playgrounds and animals everywhere. Brody's favorite part was the rides... they had lots of smaller kiddie rides. Brody rode them all... he wanted to ride the tilt a whirl like he did with his cousin emma at the fish n fun but they didn't have one so he opted for the frog hopper instead... It was only a little scary to watch, but he was smiling and laughing the whole time...:)
After Happy Hollow, we headed over to the California Ear institute for Brody's pre-op appointments. First we had body's audiogram (hearing test) and brody had fun throwing the play balls into the basket whenever he heard the birdie chirp... he did great. His hearing test improved on his left side 20-30 decibels. It is very close to normal hearing range. This is a great improvement even with some wax on the ear drum. They said that the real hearing test will be in 4 months which will hopefully show the most improvement. We were so very excited to hear these results.
Next we met with Dr Baliaker to check out his canal and all the other fun pre-op things. She was very impressed with how his canal looked and with the audiogram. She then proceeded to tell us that if Brody needs to have the prostatic middle bones put in, they will go ahead and do it right away instead of having another surgery.
Tomorrow is Surgery day... We have to be there at 6:30am and then surgery will start at 7:30am.
Now on to Skype with Rilyn and go eat some supper. Tomorrow is the big day, Thanks for all the prayers already! All prayers will be greatly appreciated!!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Travel Day.
Today started out at 5am with our travels starting for round 2 of Brody's journey to big boy ears. We landed in San Francisco at about 12:45 CA time. Brody did very well on the plane, now waiting in line for the rental car was a little harder to entertain him. The wait was about an hour and a half.
Once we got in the car and headed out of the parking garage, we both felt that we had never left. It was all the same, we are getting to be pros at this California driving. And the scenery is all about the same as April, a few different flowers blooming but lots of brown dry grass!
We checked into our hotel. Then We went grocery shopping and got some goodies for Brody for after surgery, you know the staples, jello, vanilla and chocolate pudding, m&m yogurt, and of course some tow mater chicken noodle soup. Then we checked out a new grocery store with a farmers market.
Tomorrow we are heading to a little amusement park so Brody can have a little fun before his pre-op appointments in the afternoon and then his surgery early on Thursday morning.
Night all!
Once we got in the car and headed out of the parking garage, we both felt that we had never left. It was all the same, we are getting to be pros at this California driving. And the scenery is all about the same as April, a few different flowers blooming but lots of brown dry grass!
We checked into our hotel. Then We went grocery shopping and got some goodies for Brody for after surgery, you know the staples, jello, vanilla and chocolate pudding, m&m yogurt, and of course some tow mater chicken noodle soup. Then we checked out a new grocery store with a farmers market.
Tomorrow we are heading to a little amusement park so Brody can have a little fun before his pre-op appointments in the afternoon and then his surgery early on Thursday morning.
Night all!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Cleared for water. Pumpkins. Getting ready for #2...
We had an appointment last week Wednesday, (6.5.13) for a small cleaning and to check on the canal. The Dr said the canal looked great and said it is ok to get water in the canal now! Yipee... this is a big step since bath time is a little tricky trying to protect the canal with boats flying, rubber ducks squirting and hair washing. :) (at least it will be a victory until Thursday...lol) We are continuing to use the mold for the canal with the drops every night. We need to continue this for about 4 months until he has surgery on the outer ear and then they will make a new mold to fit his new ear and canal!
Last weekend we started planting all the pumpkins for Brody's Harvest for Hearing benefit. We moved our patch this year to make the hayride go in a different direction. We didn't get them all planted in one day, but am thankful that we finished today and before we leave for round 2 in California. We are also adding a kids corn maze to the benefit this year and am excited to see how this turns out. The corn looks really good, now we just need to hope we don't' have a drought this summer again.
Today we had Brody's physical to clear him for the surgery. It was nice to go to our local doctor and show him body's new canal. Brody is very proud of his canal and so are we. He was amazed with how good it looked as well. The DR asked him if he likes his new canal and his response was yes. I then asked him why he liked it.With a great big smile on his face he replied. "Cuz I can hear!!!!" He even had to prove it to the Dr. So we took his headband off and the DR whispered "baseball" and asked him what he said, and sure enough Brody whispered it right back to him!! :)
Our next surgery will be very similar to the first one. He will be having his right canal opened. Brody's right side had a lower score when he had his CT Scan. We are very hopeful that it will go as well as the first surgery. I few things that they informed us might be why it scored lower; the middle bones might not be connected properly or there is a mass of something in there(if it is a mass, they should be able to laser it out). I am also a little nervous that once we get to the hospital he will not be very eager to drink the "happy juice" and it may be a little difficult there. But he is excited to go back and ride the airplane!
Please continue to pray for Brody as we are getting closer to our next surgery date, and for Brody's parents as we need lots of encouragement, this one maybe a little easier knowing the procedure but not knowing what's inside his little head is hard. We are defiantly reassured that Brody is in God's hands and is with us every step of our journey. We will be flying out on Tuesday the 18th and having Brody second surgery on Thursday the 20th.
Last weekend we started planting all the pumpkins for Brody's Harvest for Hearing benefit. We moved our patch this year to make the hayride go in a different direction. We didn't get them all planted in one day, but am thankful that we finished today and before we leave for round 2 in California. We are also adding a kids corn maze to the benefit this year and am excited to see how this turns out. The corn looks really good, now we just need to hope we don't' have a drought this summer again.
Today we had Brody's physical to clear him for the surgery. It was nice to go to our local doctor and show him body's new canal. Brody is very proud of his canal and so are we. He was amazed with how good it looked as well. The DR asked him if he likes his new canal and his response was yes. I then asked him why he liked it.With a great big smile on his face he replied. "Cuz I can hear!!!!" He even had to prove it to the Dr. So we took his headband off and the DR whispered "baseball" and asked him what he said, and sure enough Brody whispered it right back to him!! :)
Our next surgery will be very similar to the first one. He will be having his right canal opened. Brody's right side had a lower score when he had his CT Scan. We are very hopeful that it will go as well as the first surgery. I few things that they informed us might be why it scored lower; the middle bones might not be connected properly or there is a mass of something in there(if it is a mass, they should be able to laser it out). I am also a little nervous that once we get to the hospital he will not be very eager to drink the "happy juice" and it may be a little difficult there. But he is excited to go back and ride the airplane!
Please continue to pray for Brody as we are getting closer to our next surgery date, and for Brody's parents as we need lots of encouragement, this one maybe a little easier knowing the procedure but not knowing what's inside his little head is hard. We are defiantly reassured that Brody is in God's hands and is with us every step of our journey. We will be flying out on Tuesday the 18th and having Brody second surgery on Thursday the 20th.
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