Saturday, April 18, 2009

Ready To Go Home











Zachary had a great night.  He slept very well (as usual), and his appetite has returned as well.  The doctors came by this morning and gave him the all clear, so after his 10am antibiotics, we should begin the process of being discharged.  
Yesterday was a very long day, but as we mentioned, the surgery couldn't have gone better. Zachary was not allowed any food 6 hours prior to surgery, so we woke early and fed him at 4am.  All was well until we arrived at the hospital and began his prep for surgery.  The nurses had a very difficult time inserting an IV, and Zachary was very tired and hungry (not a good combination).  After an extended period of discomfort (aka screaming), he pretty much cried himself to sleep for about an hour.  The surgery was also delayed, adding further to his hunger pains, but he finally went into the OR around 10:45.
After surgery Dr. Handler met with us to discuss what he had discovered. It seems the catheter that runs into Zachary's ventricles (the rear parts of his brain) had been clogged up when the tissue in the ventricles began to grow around the shunt tubing.  Dr. Handler replaced this upper section of tubing, and all seems to be working wonderfully.  It is incredible how quickly his appearance has changed.  When Mommy and Daddy first saw Zach in the recovery room we immediately noticed his forehead was not as large or red as before, and his soft spot on top of his head is almost concave.  When the shunt is working, it's REALLY working.  Zachary has a pretty good sized incision on his head.  They went in through the old incision site, but increased its size slightly to accommodate the new procedure.  Other than that he has his IV in his arm, but no other incisions, or areas of concern, which makes holding and feeding him much easier. 
Mommy and Daddy have been passing the time blogging, watching the snow fall, and enjoying the comfortable confines of Zachary's room.  For those of you who may not know, Children's Hospital opened a beautiful new facility here a little over a year ago, so everything is state of the art, and modern, and new.  Zachary's room is on the 6th floor, in the neurology wing, and looks out towards the mountains (although we can't see them trough all the snow). It also has its own bathroom, shower, couch, fold out bed, LCD TV, Xbox, and PS3.  Sadly, Daddy has not been able to utilize the gaming systems, but we did watch Wall-E last night when the snow storm disabled the satellite reception on the TV.  A few door down the hall is the floor's game room, complete with a Wii, air hockey table, toys, tons of board games, books, movies, and stuffed animals.  It's great to see the kids who are here with smiles on their faces in that room. This truly is an amazing place where there are some incredible people who do great things, and we are extremely blessed to have it close by for Zach to receive the best care possible.  
The plan for tonight is drive home safely in the snow, get settled in back home, and rest, rest, rest.  We were somewhat bragging last week when we said Zach had no doctor's appointments, but boy did we more than make up for it this week!  Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes these past few days.  We are incredibly blessed and continue to pray in thanksgiving for all God has given us and all he has done in healing Zachary to this point.  Love, and God Bless - Brian + Kimmie

5 comments:

  1. Can't believe we were practically neighbors this week! I'm sure our families cross each others paths quite a bit and we'll have to officially meet up soon since the little ones are out of the hospital (hopefully you all are home now). The SB Walk, Run, and Roll is coming up on Mother's Day and it'll be our first so maybe we will see you guys there too.

    We'll say a prayer for Zachary and hope his healing is speedy.

    Nicole, Jimmy, and Alex

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  2. YEAH!!! This is a true connection... I too watched Wall-e last night during my satellite disruption... Cute movie... but alas the Puglets snored during the movie so guess Wall-e is not their type??? Who knew?

    Glad that all is well w/the 3Z's and will look forward to seeing more updates on the littlest Z.

    Love ya bunches...
    Sherrill

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  3. Thanks for keeping us all in the loop between text messages and your blog. The story of Zach's life truly encourages the rest of us to see our lives as the true miracles they are. Thank you for sharing your family so openly .... you remind all of us to stop and notice the small, tiny things that should mean so much and most of the time, we just let life wiz them right by. You guys are angels and we love you more than you realize. Dave and Denise

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  4. Yippee for the 3Z's! Your faith and good spirits have been an inspiration. Wishing you all lots of good sleep and continued healing for your little trooper. Love, Pat K.

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  5. I am a recent follower of your post. Our little boy was born with bilateral clubfeet on Jan 17th. Thank you for sharing your life with us all. Its amazing how great your spirits are..always smiling and having faith even in dark situations. I pray for your family and your little man to heal well and fast. God bless you all.

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