Carson's Surgery
Well we made it through our first surgery. This morning when I walked in to the NICU there were a few people around Carson's bed, that we have learned isn't really a good sign. When the X-Ray girl saw me she asked, "Is he yours?" with a funny smile on her face. I said yes and asked what was going on. Apparently, Carson decided he didn't want to be intabated anymore and pulled his vent tubes out! Little booger! The nurse told me he was a fiesty one but that it was a good thing, it means he's a fighter. So, once he was reintabated we walked to the OR and I left my tiny baby to go have surgery. It only took about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish. The doctor came up right away and told us Carson did wonderful and he we could see him in 15-20 minutes. He now has a V shaped insision in his head, but it is much smaller than I expected. He was still pretty knocked out but not too long passed and he was kicking his arms and legs again. If everything goes well tonight and tomorrow he will be back at Gwinnett sometime tomorrow. Below are some pictures of his trip and in the NICU, which I refer to the Ritz Carlton of NICU's!
We love Ms. Lisa, one of our favorite nurses!
On to my other sweet boy. Cooper is still working on fighting off his infection and all the complications that come with it. His blood pressure needs to stay up pretty high for now so they had to come up on his medicines. Poor little guy is still swollen and a nice shade of dark red. Some sections of his right lung had collapsed early this morning and they were working on getting them back open. He is really being put through a lot. Please pray that he starts to show some improvements soon. I still hold my breath when we call to check on him, wondering what kind of report we will get. I'll be happy with a, "Doing the same has before," and then I can maybe rest a little tonight. It's never good when strangers tell you you look tired. Keep our boys in your prayers. Thank you!
We love Ms. Lisa, one of our favorite nurses!
On to my other sweet boy. Cooper is still working on fighting off his infection and all the complications that come with it. His blood pressure needs to stay up pretty high for now so they had to come up on his medicines. Poor little guy is still swollen and a nice shade of dark red. Some sections of his right lung had collapsed early this morning and they were working on getting them back open. He is really being put through a lot. Please pray that he starts to show some improvements soon. I still hold my breath when we call to check on him, wondering what kind of report we will get. I'll be happy with a, "Doing the same has before," and then I can maybe rest a little tonight. It's never good when strangers tell you you look tired. Keep our boys in your prayers. Thank you!
Comments
With Love, Eileen's Friends in Faith Small Group
Love and Prayers,
Bridget
Lauren you are doing a wonderful job updating your friends and family. You are a great mother and those boys are very fortunate to have you and Andrew as parents. Please take good care of yourself so you can be strong when your boys will need you the most.
It sounds like they are in great hands. The pictures of them are so cute and they are so little. The boys are such a blessing! We will continue to keep you in our thoughts and pray for your family.
Joelle and Scott
With Love, Peggy Woods - Eileen and Phil's friend and Corbitt's mother
Love,
Jeff
of relief now that the surgery
is over. We think of you all
constantly and please know
you are in our prayers daily.
You must be exhausted but are
doing such a wonderful job
looking after your boys.
I pray for your strength to
continue to be there for your
precious family.
Beth Thomas
Now for Cooper to catch up...
Love,
Lisa
KC and I are so proud of your strenght! I pray for the boys everyday and was so glad to hear Carson's surgery went well.
Please let us know if there is anything, ANYTHING at all, you guys need. We will keep you in our prayers.
Love,
Renata
I really miss you at math time.
Your babies are really sweet.I hope your babies get better soon.
Love,
Courtney Henry
How great that all the rest of us are able to share vicariously in these wonderful victories along the way, as well. "V" for more and more wonderful victories as the boys continue to progress, and as both of you are able to let go and relax even a tiny bit more each day. with love and hope and many healing prayers, Aunt Suzanne
I won't go into big detail about Marshall but I will say he was a tiny little guy like yours, born with Group B Strepp Menengitus and was a very, very sick baby. At one week old he suffered a massive siezure with a 3-4 brain bleed, became hydrocephalitic and was totally paralized and would probably not have a viable life. While our friends held hands, did a candle light vidual (sp.) and sent out an incredible prayer chain, our minister said the Lords Prayer while the doctors were planning to disconnect him from life support. As they were doing his final examination, all the machines showed no brain activity. Well, there you go! Marshall miraculously squinted! There's been no stopping him since! See, we have no idea the power of faith! One thing I do know, the prayers of my friends saved our baby along with the wonderful medical technology and great Gwinnett nurses and doctors like Dr. Leigh. Our faith also gave us enough strength to continue to research the best therapies available for Marshall's continued success in his recovery. We lost our minds countless times but our sence of humor remains. Didn't I say God was good! I guess now we are just crazy
I now volunteer with the March of Dimes offering parents a strong, experienced shoulder to cry on. Sounds like you have a wonderful family and friend network going for support but please know I am always open to share my experience if it will help.
I know Dr. Leigh has said that for every step forward you may make many backward and sometimes you even get thrown! Believe Leslie when he says that one day things will start getting better and that one step will turn into two, three, four! And believe me when school starts you'll get thrown all over again! Then it's on to a whole new race!
God will not allow your babies to remember their pain but unfortunately, it won't be the same for you two. You feel all the pain along with incredible emotions all balled into pure exhaustion. Just remember these hard times will pass and you will one day wake up from this horrible nightmare. Just wake up together. I truly know Marshall's energy to progress was through the love and support of his Daddy sticking in there. Now he's his Daddy's shadow and they are my two reasons for loving my life.
Dr. Leigh will help you take care of your babies. You two take care of each other (no matter how crazy you become) and everything else will fall into place. You'll really appreciate all this teamwork when those two start ganging up on you and stealing the car keys!
Give Leslie a big kiss and hug from the Harters!
Oh! I forgot to say that I was sent your Blog sight by Peggy Woods. She is a friend of Eileen and Phil and also one of Marshall's prayer buddies! We use to be neighbors in Lawrenceville, but are still special friends.
Your new NICU alumni buddies,
Bobbi, Gary and Marshall
Love, Kim and Brian
Your neighbors