Last 2 DR appointments... Home

Thursday was Brody's  big appointment where they removed the mold that has been on his ear for two weeks and the bandage over his skin graft site. Brody did very well. He is pretty much done with anything or anyone who is in a doctors uniform or in the nurse uniform. He had to have the stitches taken out of the mold as well as the skin graft bandage. This is slightly painful. As any of you know who has ever had stitches. After all the tears and holding Brody down to remove everything. The nurse showed Brody his new ear in a mirror. He had an instant smile and stop crying for about two seconds and then resumed crying and said it hurt. which I'm sure it was a little sore. Once again Brody got to show off his new ear to another child who had surgery a few days before. I think it helps when he sees other kids who've had surgery just like him. He is quite the trooper. 

Dr. Reinisch said his ear looked good as well as his tragus. It has a lot of swelling already and Will take up to a year for the swelling to completely go away.  We said our goodbyes and thank you's and Brody and the Rilyn  both left happy with lots of candy. 

We then left on our descent to Palo Alto. It took us six hours to drive there. We were lucky the kids watched movies the whole time and we only had to have one potty break. We arrived in Palo Alto at 10:15 PM. It was definitely a long day.

Today. Friday. We relaxed all morning and then had Brody's next appointment at 1 PM with Dr. Balacker. Dr. Robison was out of the office today. Dr. Balacker checked out Brody's  canals and cleaned his right canal with some debris. He did really good and we celebrated with a cupcake and a very sweet card from everyone at the doctor Roberson's office.  The card was very sweet and left mom with only a few tears.  It was bittersweet.

After his appointment we went to a park and played for a few hours and let the kids run around and enjoy the fresh air befor heading back to Wisconsin where we hear it's very cold. 

This time around it seems easier because we know what to expect. Brody even seems more comfortable with his second ear, almost too comfortable. He still likes to play rough with his toys & with Rilyn so we really need to keep on him about being careful so he doesn't bump his new ear as it takes a good four months to heal completely. It is pretty surreal looking at him and seeing two ears, He is one handsome dude. He is pretty excited to show off his new ear to all his friends. 

We ended the day playing basketball of course. the sunny vale hotel that we stay at, have a outside basketball court that the kids really enjoy playing at.  

Sunday morning very early we leave Out of SFO and head back to MKE. We are all ready to go back home even if it's -20° out. 

Bye - Bye Dinos... sponge. Beach

Monday was our appointment to get his green dinosaur bandage off. This appointment went very well. Brody was thinking that it was the appointment where all the stiches come out so he was a little hesitant, once he realized it was just the wrap coming off it well smoothly. They needed to take out some cotton that was in the canal which was a little tricky as it was dried on pretty good.  Brody felt like a million bucks after this appointment, no stiches taken out and his big heavy wrap came off.

The next few days we have been pretty laid back... just relaxing and hanging out at the beach (our home away from home). The weather has been very nice... 70's and into the lower 80's. James even has some nice raccoon eyes to prove the sun is very nice.

On Tuesday night, Brod and I were cuddling on the couch and I was checking out his new tragus on his left ear and I noticed  something still in his ear canal. It was a sponge which the Doctor uses to help prevent the canal from swelling during surgery. The assistant which took the wrap off, just simply forgot to take the sponge out. I called to see if this needed to come out right away or if it could wait till next Thursday when we have out next appointment. She said it needs to come out and that we could just simply take a tweezers and pull the sponge out... well this is defiantly easy for a professional to say. We did attempt this 'easy' task it did not go so well. I have a phone call into the office to see when we can come in and have it removed... :) hopefully today or Friday.

Next Thursday is our big appointment where the ear mold comes off and all the stiches come out. We are getting very excited to see Brod's second ear!! :)

Off to the park today for the kids to run around and soak up the sun!

 

Here are some pics of the beach. This is Brody's new dew rag that he gets to sport. It has some cool NBA clips on it. (Uncle Matt would be proud of the official basketball gear)

Weekend. Beach. Feeling better.

Friday evening Brody was very quiet and still very much out of it. We noticed a rash on the back of his neck and down his back. He didn't have a fever at the time. We called the dr to inform him of the rash, he said it was probably just a reaction to the soap they used at the hospital. This was a relief as we were nervous for infection around the ear. Later that night Brody was very warm and still very sleepy. He was starting a very low-grade temperature.  Thankfully it went away. Saturday he was starting to feel a little better and really wanted to get out of the house. So we decided to go to the aquarium in Long Beach. The kids enjoyed checking out all of the different sea creatures. It's must have wore him out he fell asleep as soon as we got back in my car.  Once we got back to our house he was still pretty quiet and went to sleep. Sunday morning he woke up back to himself. He was playing with all his toys and fighting with his sister.  We decided in the afternoon to go hang out at the beach for a while and let the kids run around in the sand.

 Monday we go see Dr. Reinisch again and get Brodys green dinosaur bandage off. Hopefully this let's him feel a lot better and back to himself. 

Waking up and day after surgery

At about 4:30pm yesterday Brody was out of surgery and in recovery.  He woke up a little cranky and dazed but for the fourth surgery we knew what to expect as we are all too familiar with surgery day.  He was thirsty so we gave him some apple juice (think he had 5 glasses) and Dr. Renisch found a Popsicle for Brody which put a little smile on his face.  We talked with Dr. Renisch to see how everything went, and saw a picture of his new ear before he put the cup and bandage on. It looked GREAT!

 The first ear surgery Brody didn't have enough  cartilage in his little ear to make a Tragus (little bump on your ear that covers the ear canal) nor did he have enough on the second ear, so we met with Dr. Renisch before he took Brody into surgery, and he said he could take a little cartilage from his rib to make the tragus for both ears. we gave him the ok to take the cartilage from his rib, and from the pic he showed us after surgery looked like it turned out very nicely.  Brody was very tired but doing good and said many times he wanted to go "home" so the nurse took out his IV and all the other monitors he was hooked up to,  We got him dressed and headed back to the house, where Brody pretty much went straight to bed, as did mom and dad as it was a very long day.

Today, the day after surgery Brody is pretty sore and tired yet (especially near the incision where he took the cartilage from his rib).  We are hanging out at the house and resting which we all need.  Rilyn is helping out today as well, getting stuff for Brody and being such a good little sister, she also says she wants a bandage on her head just like her big brother :)  We also said good bye this morning to Brody's cousins Jack and Emma, and Aunt Amanda and Uncle Joe as they head to Disneyland for a weekend of family fun.  We want to Thank them for coming out and helping us, and for watching Rilyn while we went to appointments and Surgery yesterday!  It was a great distraction for Brody as he loves playing with his cousins and he was sad when he woke up and seen they had left.

We are planning on going out for a walk today to get some fresh air, and Brody wants to head to an aquarium,so hopefully he feels up to it and will be able to go this weekend.  

Surgery update.

We just recieved a call from the nurse that Brody should be out of surgery at 4pm.  Then we get to see him once he is in recovery.  It was nice to have updates every hour. I will spare you all the detailed step by step of the procedure! ;)

Can't wait to see the little guy!

Surgery day.

We arrived at 6 am and we're checked in right away.  Brody did pretty well. He was very hesitate about everything we did. The anestigiologist was very good with Brody. He wanted brod to drink the medicine , which we knew wasn't going to happen. He then ended up giving him a nasal injection instead of drinking the medicine. This was the quickest way since we have a fighter on our hands.  Now mind you Brody is a  'gagger' he was not impressed with the medicine since it has a few side effects; burning of the nose and bad aftertaste. He did pretty well and only puked twice with the very little bit that was in his stomach! Poor little man! Then we finally got him calmed down and watched curious George! The simple joy of cartoons!  He went out like a pro though, hardly any tears! He went into surgery about 8 am and I just got an update from the nurse at  9:15 that dr renisch was just starting to operate. Should be about 8 hours from now and we can see him in recovery room. 

Here's a pic of the little man after his medicine and watching his cartoons! 

Beverly Hills. Pre-op.

We flew out of Milwaukee (-18 degree weather) on Tuesday 1-7-14 and arrived in LA to 72 degree weather. It was quite the improvement from Wisconsin. :)  Wednesday (Today) we had Brody's pre-op appointment with Dr Renisch. He checked out Brody's ear and said it looked GREAT!  He got his before pics taken and we got to see a comparison with his before and after with his last surgery! It was pretty awesome to see. Brody did very well at the appointment with much hesitation with his upcoming surgery tomorrow, he is dreading the medicine and mask. We also discussed some options for Brody's Tragis. He didn't have enough cartilage for him to make a tragis the first time around, so this time he is going to take a very tiny piece of bone from his skull and use that as a tragis for both ears. I'm a little nervous as how Brody will do with the healing part as he will have bandages on both ears when he wakes up.  We ended the appointment with candy for Dr Renisch and Brody got to pick out what bandage he gets to wear after surgery. Green with dinosaurs. :) He will be styling now!

Brody is pretty lucky to have his cousins Jack and Emma with us, which is a great distraction. Mom and Dad are pretty lucky to have James' sister (Amanda & Joe) staying with us for  a few days to help out with Rilyn while we have appointments and surgery day! :) THANK YOU!!

Following his appointment we did our annual trip to the toy store for Brody to pick out a toy (a little bribe we do for him to behave at his appointment and incentive for surgery day). He picked out some cars toys from the Disney movie, cars. The kids played in the afternoon and then we went for a drive. We ended the evening at the Santa Monica Pier with a few rides and a stroll down the pier.

We need to arrive at Cedars Cinai Hospital Thursday morning at 6:00am with the scheduled surgery start time of 7:15am. The surgery usually is about 8 hours long. Please send up some extra prayers for the little man that all goes well. We know he is in good hands all around!

Negative 18 degrees

We are headed to MKE and hoping on a jet plane for our 2nd big boy ear! :) wish us luck! If everything is on time we should be in California by 11:30am. (1:30pm Wisconsin time)