CR Update...

We're back from surgery and Clinton is doing quite well with his leg. Tuesday was hard (the day of surgery)- Clint and I got VERY little sleep and SLC was frustrating as ever for traffic. We waited around until about 11:00 for him to go back. They gave him some Versed (anti-anxiety) before he went back and it made him super-loopy. He went from acting like a baby, to yelling, to making faces... all in about 60 seconds. It always makes Clint and I laugh when he gets Versed. He goes from being worried about what going on- to giggling and goofing off in about 3 minutes. It's such a dramatic difference it surprises us every time. Here's a video just after he got his 'drugs.'


The happy feeling didn't last long though, unfortunately. When the docs came to take him back he started to get nervous. Clint and I walked back as far as we could with him, but when we came to the double doors he broke down. That's by far the worst part for me. I dread it every time. His face is so sad. Luckily, we had a great anesthesiologist that promised he would take good care of him. He told us later that Clinton put up quite a fight, but they were able to sedate him pretty quickly. It took about an hour/ hour and a half and when we went back to see him I was really surprised to find him awake already. Usually he's out of it for hours afterward. - Then we learned the reason he was awake so early...he hadn't had his pain meds yet. His face quickly turned from happiness to see us to wincing and then sobbing from the pain. The injection fluid they use to clot the veins is made with alcohol, so it burns-burns-burns. His blood pressure soared up to 170 systolic and his heart was racing. As soon as the nurse gave him his Fentanyl he fell back asleep and his heart would relax. This pattern would repeat over and over until he'd finally been so drugged he zonked out for about 3 hours. Then we go into the apnea phase. This is the other part that I dread. He eventually gets so drugged out and tired he forgets to breathe while he's sleeping. - Doctors don't like this much, understandably, but Clint and I expect it every time. We have to nudge, pinch, and shake him out of it about every 2 minutes. This gets real tiresome after about 3 hours. And we eventually begin to lose compassion to allow him to sleep and become obsessed with getting him to wake up enough to start the discharge process. It was a long day, Clint and I were STARVING,(we'd only eaten a pack of peanuts and some Mn M's all day) and Clinton suddenly remembered we'd promised him a present if he was feeling ok. This became his obsession and he worked real hard on staying awake so that we could go get a toy. He did great and we left U of U hospital at about 6pm. But before we left entirely, we wanted to go pay a visit to the woman we give credit to for saving Clinton's life on countless occasions. Ann Kamp. She is a Nurse Practitioner in the Nicu at Primarys. University Hospital is connected to Primary's by a large elevated walkway- so we thought we'd take Clinton over and introduce him to the woman who worked so diligently to figure him out. He was still kind of tired, but we quickly became excited to see Ann.(It had been about 6 yrs.) She remembered so much about him- much more than I would have expected, she also told us about how nervous she was to send us home with him when she did. (She didn't want to send him home because he was on 23 medications at the time, most of which had to be given 4 times a day- and she knew this would overwhelm me- I disagreed, I was DESPERATE to get him home)- But- she was very right- I was overwhelmed ,not to mention, severely sleep deprived, but we made it- it was by far the most difficult part of my life. And I had to tell her how right she was about the amount of physical and emotional exertion it would be. She then told us that she never had, and never since then had sent a family home on that many meds- not even close. And that even though she was scared, she knew we could do it. She said too, that Clinton had inspired her to research and give educational speeches on hypertension in Neonates. (Clinton had severe hypertension (high blood pressure) as a newborn- he still does, though, it doesn't affect his heart the way it used to. She said she thinks of him every time she speaks about it and often uses him as an example. I was so happy to hear that he had a lasting effect of her, as she has had such and effect on our lives. Here's a couple pictures of us with our beloved Ann...



And here's a few pictures of the aftermath...




He's been feeling good- too good actually, he won't settle down- he's had next to no rest this week. But, I'm just thankful he's feeling well. Thanks for all the prayers! ;)