Home Again, Home Again

We had such a nice time in Minnesota (despite the surgery), and are so lucky to have the incredible family that we do.  But boy, did we miss Ben.  We were ready to get back to him, Harlan, and spring time in Albuquerque.

Asher skyping with daddy.  He went totally nuts and wouldn't stop trying to touch his face.

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And now we are home!  Just in time for the cherry blossoms to be in full bloom.

 Asher & I split a chocolate croissant today.  Believe it or not, this was not the highlight of the day :)

 Highlight of the day was introducing Asher to his new water table :)

Here come the boys!

The beautiful blossoming trees in our back yard.

Poor baby is having quite the reaction to where the EKG leads were stuck to his chest and belly :(

Asher is Doing Great

Yesterday Asher had his procedure done at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital.  Surgery lasted a little over an hour, and they did a laryngoscopy, bronchoscopy, supraglottoplasty, and esophageal biopsy.   Asher was incredible.  He had to stop eating at 7:30 a.m., we arrived at the hospital around 2:00 p.m., and then his procedure was delayed because the case before him went long so he didn't actually get back to the OR until 7:00.  But he was a champ.  He made lots of friends in the waiting room, was called a flirt more than once, and took a short little snooze at one point.  It was so helpful having grandparents there to keep him entertained for 5 hours at the hospital before it was time to go back, and the surgical floor had no shortage of toys and interesting things to look at, so that helped too :)

The surgery went really well.  His doctor said that his tissues looked really healthy, actually not what you would see in a chronic aspirator (good news!).  They did not see a cleft or fistula, which was the main purpose of this 'investigation', so he will not need a follow-up procedure (yay!).  They did 'release' (cut) some tissue that may have been interfering with his ability to swallow, but neither surgeon seemed very convinced that would have been what has caused him to aspirate.  The plan now is to keep him on aspiration precautions and see how he is doing in about 3 months when we repeat his swallow study & upper GI.  If he does not start gaining weight, we will follow up with GI to see if he has something interfering with absorption when he eats. 

But otherwise, he is doing beautifully and we are happy to be done with doctors visits for a while.

We were lucky enough to have four grandparents with us, so I have lots of pictures to tell the story of our last 24 hours.

Taking a bath in his pre-op soap before heading to the hospital

Amplatz

We were greeted by a familiar face!  Penelope was riding 'round and 'round in the front door :)

Grandpa Jim & Asher playing with trains

Hanging out during the pre-op physical (baby blood pressure cuffs are the cutest...)

Running laps with Grandma Jo in the pre-op area

Hugging his turtle

 Clapping for himself.... Yay Asher!

Asher graffiti'd the white board, and Grandpa Jim added himself as a team member :)

 Relaxing with Grandpa Rich

Looked like a little wizard in his unsnapped pants running around the waiting room

This was a well deserved nap!  After 5 hours of serious Grandpa duty, time to crash :)

Getting closer to 'go time'

Asher napping before surgery, mommy supervising

Getting Ash gowned up

They let me go back into the OR with him while the anesthesia team put him under

....and then we waited....

Post-op was probably the most distressing part of the whole deal.  Asher had a tough time coming out of anesthesia and was fairly inconsolable.  His heart rate got up to 197 at one point, which made me really uncomfortable, but we were told that's all normal in little ones.  After he had calmed down, we were able to head up to the floor where we spent the night.

 King of the Castle, riding around on his throne

Our room 

Not wanting to sleep 

 The view from our hospital room-- brrrrr.

Feeling better in the morning, time for poofs

 

Someone took his pants off but couldn't quite escape them because he was tethered by his 02 monitor

Ahhhh, freedom....

Asher wasn't super hungry in the morning, but he enjoyed poking his pancakes

And then we went home!!  

Grumbly bear is currently downstairs waking up from a nearly 4 hours nap, which he needed.  

It feels great to be out of the hospital and know that nothing big & bad & scary is wrong with our baby.

T Minus 6 Hours

Asher is napping and we are about 6 hours away from his procedure.  It is not a big surgery and he won't be under long... but crap, it totally and completely sucks knowing that your 1 year old is about to be under full anesthesia while people dig around in his airway.  Absolutely sucks.

A better countdown is probably to when this is all over, which should be within 7 hours.

T Minus 7 Hours.

Pulmonology...check.

Good news from the pediatric pulmonologist today!  Asher's lungs sound perfect and the doctor says there is no reason to suspect a problem with the lower airway.  He agrees with our plan to check out the upper airway on Thursday, but said Asher definitely doesn't need a lower lung scope under anesthesia (which is what the pulmonologist in Albuquerque wanted to do).

So that's a victory.

Minnesota

It's freezing up here!!

We flew to Minnesota on Friday for a birthday bash and second opinions at Amplatz (the U of M children's hospital).  We were very surprised to see about 40 feet of snow on the ground...

Such a good little flier.

Bewildered by the snow.

Eating some of Grandpa's sketti & meatballs.

Having breakfast with Grandma.

This morning we had our pediatric ENT visit at Amplatz.   Last week before we left town, I had spoken with the pulmonologist who saw Asher in Albuquerque and she had told me that he could wait until August to be scoped (which didn't sit very well...).   When I asked the doctor today if she thought that was a good idea, she said no.  That he continues to be a high aspiration risk and that waiting that long would damage his lungs.  She also said that reflux and laryngomalacia do not explain his symptoms of his aspiration (which is what we'd been told by some of the doctors in ABQ).  So on Thursday, Asher will have surgery at the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. They will do the rigid scope to look for a laryngeal cleft, and also take a biopsy of his esophagus.  If they see a cleft, the doctor will repair it during the procedure.  Asher will likely spend the night in the hospital since the procedure is happening at the end of the day.

 Panera- brave boys get to eat broccoli cheese soup like it's Gerber baby food (meaning every day...).