FINALLY!

Izaiah was scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday, but, of course, our little man does things his own way! His electrolyte levels and CO2 level combination was just so that if they were to operate on him he would go into cardiac arrest! Once again we waited. No one was more upset to hear this news then Kennedie! For days, I had been telling her she would finally be able to see her brother! She picked out a pretty dress, and actually sat still to get her hair done! This was going to be the best day of her life! Now, let me tell you how awful I felt having to tell her she would have to wait! She bawled and she bawled! All she wanted to do was kiss her brother! It's RSV season, so she is not allowed to go into the NICU. She has not seen him for 4 months! This is not an easy thing for a 2 year old to understand! However, over the night, they were able to stabilize the levels and he was put back on the schedule for Wednesday. When they wheeled him out and Kenna got a glimpse of him, she SQUEALED!! I'm not joking you, she sounded like a pig!! She laughed and she giggled and the first thing she said was, "My brother is so cute!" The whole way to the operating room, she kept saying over and over! "That's my brother! He is CUTE!" She kissed him on the forehead before they took him in, and that was the best I have felt in months! After about an hour I received the call that they were closing him up and he was just fine! The surgeon came out about 45 min. later and told us the great news! Izaiah's blockage was just from his stoma being sucked in and all of the rest of his problems were just because his body was ready to be put back together! That's it! No more surgery! (hopefully) My beautiful boy is FINALLY on the road to coming home! Zai is doing pretty well after surgery. He was in a tremendous amount of pain so they have to keep upping his medicine and in result he is still on the ventilator. He was given his 8Th blood transfusion today, but everything else looks great! After about 1 week they will try and start feeding him and see how he does. Once he tolerates full feedings and has no problem digesting or throwing up, he can come home! He can COME HOME! AAAHHH!! Let's pray for only about 4 to 6 more weeks! So what can I say, FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS!!!!

Now, I know this is kind of a sad picture, but look how beautiful he is even after surgery! And look, NO BAG! What an amazing baby boy!

surgery

So quite a bit has happened since the last time I wrote about Izaiah. Because he was so sick, they had to keep him on a lot of antibiotics, take his blood often and give him TPN for nutrition. The plan was to give him a pic line because he didn't have anymore veins that were good for IV's. The IV team came over and tried for hours to place the pic line but were unsuccessful. They said that the back up team would be in the next day and they would be able to get it in. The next day the back up IV team tried for hours and were also unsuccessful. By this point, Zai had to be sedated because he was in so much pain from the attempts. He was taken to surgery so they could place a central line. They made an incision in his neck and ran a tube down and out through another incision made in his chest. Now they can take all of his blood and give him his antibiotics through this one tube. After that was over, we thought he was in the clear. However, he became very ill again and his belly was so tender he would cry every time it was touched. They did a lab work up and it came back that he had inflammation in his belly. They didn't think too much of it because he just had surgery and they figured it was from that. After a couple of days, he was still in so much pain that he had to be sedated most of the time. Then his stoma sucked into his abdomen and so they had to place a tube in his belly to suck the stool out. He has been given enemas through the tube ever 6 hours for 2 days. When they realized that the surgery wasn't the cause they put him on a ton of antibiotics, placed an anderson tube down his throat to suck out his stomach and have been taking x-rays and labs everyday to see if they can figure out what is wrong. All in all, they think he may have another stricture or obstruction. He is going to have exploratory surgery tomorrow to see if that is what it is. They are very unsure of what they may find, but if it is in fact a stricture, depending on how bad it is, they will have to cut and reconnect the bowel, or connect another ostimy bag. If they are able to reconnect the bowel, they will do his "take down" at the same time and he will then be ostimy free! The surgery will take a minimum if 2 hours and we won't know until he comes out if he will have 2 ostimy bags, no ostimy bags, or something completely different! These will be the longest 2 hours of my life!

GO JAZZ!

We had the amazing opportunity to meet the Jazz and hang out on the floor while they warmed up for their game against the Spurs. It was such a fun night! (Except for the fact that we lost) We got autographs and pictures and... oh yeah, I touched Kyle Korver! The boys were so excited! I don't think Coby knew what to do first, either pee his pants or pass out! We were all like 4 kids in a candy store! I loved every second of it! GO JAZZ!

Millsap got a little signature happy and flipped me around to sign my jersey, my Korver jersey!! I didn't want him to do it, but what do you say..."Um.. excuse me Paul, no thanks. The one autograph is enough." I don't think so! So now my Korver jersey has a random Millsap signature on it! Not cool Paul!

Yes, it's Kyle Korver! just so you know, he gave me a little tush squeeze! Don't tell Chris!

Jerry even came over to pose for a photo! I think we were all afraid he would beat the crap out of us if we asked, but he was actually really nice. He even cracked a joke when he left! Who knew he had a sense of humor!




Koufos is probably the funniest player on the team! The entire time during warm ups he was making jokes and wandering around aimlessly! what a goon!





Hey Okur, are you true blue Jazz fan??

"SPECIAL K"

The boys came up with the nickname "special k" for Kyle Korver, and it suits him quite well. I mean, I wouldn't mind going on the special k diet!! He is my favorite player on the Jazz. I know what you are thinking and no it's not only because he is freaking hott, but that didn't hurt his chances! I went a little crazy with the Korver pics, but what can I say, "I love me some special k!"

So Christopher told me to point to this side of my jersey, but as you can tell, the signiture is on the other side. I don't think he has a future in directing! He better stick with appraisals!

??

As you know, Izaiah was scheduled for surgery tomorrow. Unfortunately he will not be able to have that done because he is very ill. When Christopher and I arrived to the hospital on Saturday, he didn't look like himself. He was crying a lot, not eating and throwing up. I had an uneasy feeling, but after talking to the nurse placed my worries to the back of my mind and chalked it up to reflux. Late that night, the doctor called me and told me he had gotten progressively worse and they needed to take blood and give him a spinal tap to figure out what was wrong. The next day we were told he had some sort of infection because his white blood cell count was very elevated as well as his inflammation count. He was put back on oxygen, given two IVs to start three antibiotics and his feedings were stopped. They acted as if they were not too concerned about it and he would be better in a couple of days. A couple of days passed and he was still sick and his count wasn't going down. I finally was able to speak with the nurse practitioner and she nonchalantly mentioned to me that he had E Coli. E COLI!! My first thought was how the hell does an infant in the ICU contract E Coli? Then I thought. why wasn't I told about this the moment they found out? Did they not want to raise any questions? Did they know they were at fault? I kind of freaked out and asked the obvious question and here was her response... "Sometimes, when you change a baby's diaper, some of the stool can get up through the urethra and can cause E Coli." I sat in silence for a moment and asked myself, "Did she really just say that?" My son has an ostimy bag!! There is no stool in his diaper to get to his urethra to cause the infection! I explained this to her and she had nothing to say! I asked several nurses that work at Primary Children's and they told me they have never heard of a baby contracting E Coli in the ICU. My son has E Coli. What happened? Were the nurses hands not washed? Was his ostimy bag not changed when it was suppose to be? What happened? Izaiah is very ill! Not only is he in pain, but he is that much further away from coming home. Could it have been prevented? I am 3 hours away, and have no idea if my son is being taken care of. Is he being neglected? He is at the best children's hospital, but has something like this happen to him. What do I do? I have to stay here and work so they don't take away my insurance, but my son needs me! I need piece of mind that he is being cared for when I am not there, but how do I get that when something like this happens? What do I do? How do I live with myself, as a mother, knowing my son hurting and there is nothing I can do?

one step forward, two steps back

Well, It's been a little while since I have updated you on Izaiah so here is a little info. Zai was taken off oxygen (yeah!) and is doing so great breathing on his own! He has tried figuring out how to eat from a bottle and does fairly well, but still gets a little too tired and has to be fed through his tube. I am reluctant in feeling optimistic about his progress because he is scheduled to have his "take down" surgery on Tuesday, and his last surgery experience was a little on the rough side! Although I am beyond thrilled about him getting rid of his ostimy bag, I am terrified on how the surgery will effect all of the progress he has made. I know he is such a strong little boy, and they say one step forward and two steps back, but I can't help but worry. I'm a mother, that's what we do!

Happy New Year!

My parents came down to see Izaiah on New Years Eve, so we decided to have a little New Years celebration "Kenna style"! We wore princess crowns and danced around the hotel room. Kennedie painted my dad's nails, dolled him up with makeup and blew noise makers with my mom. I must say, it was a pretty eventful evening. Kenna is a hoot to watch when she is all hopped up on sugar! It makes me laugh thinking about the things that make me happy now. Who would have thought spending this night like I did would have been so much fun! I am looking forward to a new year. I am excited for a new beginning with my family. For everyone that reads this, I hope 2009 is everything you want it to be! I hope you have a year filled with wonderful surprises and beautiful moments! This year try and stick with your resolutions! One year isn't that long! It goes by in the blink of an eye! Happy New Years!!