Surgery #3

On November 18th Tate had his 3rd surgery. This surgery was a good one though, he had Tubes put in his ears and his adnoids taken out. They are hoping this will be the end of Ear infections and well all infection. He did really well. We had to be there at 7am, he went in for surgery around 830am and was done by 9am and we went home just after 10am. He slept most of the day but was eating good and playing, the anesthesia made him a little angry but by Friday he was fine. And he has been fine ever since, it has been great!! Love it! His doctor was Dr. Schueller, he is out of McKay Dee and he is the BEST!!

Again.....

Sunday Aug 1st while at church I noticed a lump on Tate's right side of his throat. I was thinking oh great, but maybe it was from when he just fell a few minutes ago. Monday came and in the morning it looked a little smaller and he slept great so I didn't think anything of it, by the time Josh picked him up Monday night he looked bigger and was hard. Well Monday night Tate wouldn't go to bed until 1030pm usually he is fast asleep with no fight at 8pm. He was up again at 2am and stayed up pretty much the rest of the night. Finally falling asleep around 7am.
So I called the Pediatrician and scheduled an appointment.

Doc. Rose saw Tate at 11am Tuesday Aug 3rd, here he at his office. You can see the right side of his face is a little swollen compared to the other side. Dr. Rose said definately an infected Lymphnode again and sent us to McKay Dee for blood tests and a CT scan to see if there was an abcess.

They did the blood work and then they did the CT Scan, and that was not fun becuase he had to get an iv and then he had to hold still in order to get a good picture and He was so mad and then finally I think he was getting so tired from all the crying and fighting that he just layed there and they got the picture. We waited for them to review it and they called Dr. Rose and he did have an abcess so he was admitted.

They were hoping since it was still small enough antibiotics in the IV would be enough to get it taken care of but...

When he woke up Wednesday morning this is what his sweet little face looked like. the Abcess had doubled in size over night. The ENT doctor came in, Dr. Shueller and wanted to do surgery as soon as possible. Tate had eaten breakfast so they didn't do it until about 6 hours later.

Dr.Shueller said that when he cut it open it popped like a zit because there was so much pressure. He face was as hard a rock, and so red. It was so sad.

The surgery went really fast, He was in and out in a total of 20-30 minutes. After surgery he was super tired and we loved to snuggle up.

Every day the abcess got better and better, we didn't get any of the cultures back until middle of the thursday night, and it came back as staph again, then friday night we found out it was the same kind that he had had the first time (good because it will be treated with oral antibiotics). Saturday morning they decided we could go home since his white cell count was normal and he seemed fine, he was playing and smiling all day!

We were so happy to be home, Tate wanted his dogs first thing, it was cute.

Me: this was so hard this second time around, so much scarier than the first, the first time, you know kids get things and there is nothing we could have done but for it to come back a second time and so quickly really had the doctors worried. Was there something wrong with his lymphnodes? was it Luekemia or Lymphoma? I was a wreck, it is so hard to sit in a hospital with your baby and feel so helpless because you cannot fix whatever it is that is causing them to be so sick, and you can't explain to them that the pokes and medicines and nurses are just here to make sure he gets better.

I am so grateful for all the Nurses and doctors at McKay Dee on the Pediactric unit, every single one of them was amazing and so willing to help with whatever. There was one nurse, she was such a blessing to us. Tate loved her, Anne was her name and I will never forget her. And also Jessica she was so wonderful too, I even got her crying cause I was a ball baby when he was going in for his 4 IV while we were there. (yes 4 nights 4 IV).

Neal the nurse manager was so great, he even called me on Monday to see how Tate was doing, that touched my heart so much. And Dr. Shueller, he did the surgery and was so good to explain everything and reassurring. And of course Dr. Rose Tate's Ped. He is the best and he has even called to see how Tate has been.

Then there is our families, Josh and I have the best families ever. Tate had visitors from his GG, and Nonna and Uncle Shane, his Aunt Chelese and Uncle Steve, Great Grandparent Johnstuns and Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Keven. The 3 Grandma's even kicked me out so I could come home and get a shower and new clothes. WE love you all so much thank you for being so great to us!!!

Tate's First Surgery....

Over the weekend we were in St.George, we took Tate to the ER (see previous post) we thought he had a hernia, the doctor said to see our pediatrician so Monday July 12th Tate and I headed to the Pediatrician, Dr. Rose checked the "hernia" and was really concerned so he called Primary Childrens, scheduled us an appointment and off we went. We met Josh at home, and we headed to PC. Here is Tate the night before we went to the doctor, you can just see in his eyes he doesn't feel good.

So here he is waiting to go into Surgery, Dr. Rollins, checked the lump and he was very concerned about the hernia, he was going to have Tate get an Ultra sound but decided to not wait any longer, He was going in through the belly button with Laproscopy to see if the hernia was on both sides (so far just on the left).

So they have a miracle drug that helps the kids with Anxiety and also helps them so they don't remember anything (all the trauma) It was within minutes Tate was so loopy. Here is he all drugged up ready to go into Surgery.

Josh and I couldn't stop laughing, we would ask him where he nose was and he would point to the side of it and rubbed his face, it was hilarious. We felt bad laughing but couldn't stop.

Post Surgery, he was in there almost 2 hours, I was starting to get nervous. But then they came and got us. When I went into recovery the nurse was holding him I took him and he was very out of it. They told me it wasn't a hernia, he ended up having an infected Lymphnode, Dr. Rollins came in and talked to me and so did Dr. Phelp (the Anesthisiologist), she is the best Anethisiologist I have ever met, so nice! He did great in surgery and they were going to keep him over night, they wanted to find out what the infection was, so they took a culture of it and also wanted to make sure he did okay after the surgery.

The first night he did really good, slept great, I think because of the meds were not quite out of his system.

Checking out all his wires, not so sure what to think of them and really he was not a fan. Tate started getting fevers Monday night, and had them Tuesday morning, Tuesday night and all night wed. Wednesday morning, then Wednesday he seemed to be doing really good. Played all day and we thought we were going home for sure. Then when the night nurse came in around 730/8pm she checked his IV (it was in his foot) and was really concerned so she had her tech help her and they removed it because the medicine was not going into the vein it was going into the tissue. They then had the Resident Surgeon come in and look at his leg and he proceeds to tells us that they are going to give Tate 5 shots in his left leg, to hopefully force the antibiotic into the vein, if it doesn't work we need to watch for redness, or white spots, this means the antibiotic is eating the tissue and could cause severe scars, possibly would need skin graphs.

By now I was freaking out, I had held it together pretty good while we were there, I hadn't cried one time, but this was really getting scary. Josh's parents and Chelese and Steve and my Grandma were all there, so the guys gave Tate a blessing. Once they all left they took us to another room and I said I would hold Tate while they gave him the shots, big mistake, I was bawling, it was so hard to see him in so much pain, he was screaming. It was probably the hardest thing I had to do.

Well the shots worked and Tate's leg was fine. Thank goodness. But he kept getting fevers so we stayed another night yet again.

Wednesday they sent the Infectious Disease department in to talk to us and they wanted to run a bunch of tests to make sure that Tate didn't have an immune problem and that all the infection was out. From the culture the infection ended up being Staph infection, that is why they wanted to check everything, they did a stool sample, mucous sample, blood tests, and gave him a catheter for a urine sample. Poor kid! I felt so bad.
Friday the tests were all okay, he had gone 24 hours without a fever and seemed to be feeling much better!! : )

Tate's favorite sleeping position while at the hospital, he would nap like this all day.

Funny Story: I had Josh bring me some clothes on Tuesday and some other necessities because I needed to shower!! Primary Childrens provides shampoo and towels so I didn't have him bring any of that, so he got there and I hurry and jumped in the shower, (not in Tate's room there are showers in the unit for parents), well there I am and after I get in I realize I have no shampoo/conditioner or towel. So I shaved my legs, washed my face, wet my hair, and dried off with my T shirt. Kind of funny but I couldn't Wait.

Mom and Tate hanging out.

Tate had lots of visitors, here he is with his Nonna. Grandma and Grandpa came also and his GG and Aunt Chelese and Uncle Steve.

Friday he was so much happier, playing and dancing I think he knew we were finally going home.

So happy to be home and sleep in his own bed again. I love how he is using the bumper as a pillow.

Here is a video of Tate dancing while at the hospital, he loves the music on Barney.