| UPDATE ON ANDREW JUNE 5, 2002 Monday, June 3rd we (Brian, Andrew and I) went to John's Hopkins to see the Cranio-Facial Specialist regarding Andrew's Cleft Palate. Our appointment time was 9am, and we were seen pretty much right away. The doctor explained to us what would occur during surgery and that he would reconstruct Andrew's nose to be more "uniform" , redo his lip that was already done in Ukraine, and close his palate. I was a bit overwhelmed, but happy thatall of this could be done with one surgery. After we saw the cranio-facial doctor, they asked if we would be able to return later that day to see a geneticist, a speech therapist and an ear, nose and throat doctor. I of course said yes, I mean if we can do it all in one day....why not! So we went home and I changed my clothes and gassed up the van and off went Andrew and me to Hopkins once again. We saw the geneticist first, he just asked alot of questions regarding Andrew's background and it was awful because every other question he asked I had to say, "I don't know". But we made it through. After that we saw two speech therapists. They both said how well Andrew is doing in picking up his English! They gave us some letters to work on that Andrew really needs help with and gave me a number of a place to call through the Carroll County School System for speech therapy. (He can't get the therapy until after surgery...) Once we finished up with the speech therapists we went down to see the ear, nose and throat doctor. This was basically a precautionary doctor....to see if Andrew had fluid in his ears. Apparantly many children with a cleft have many problems with their ears. If he had fluid in them, they would have to put tubes into his ears while he undergoes surgery. Andrew did not like this doctor. The doc said that Andrew had ALOT of wax build up in his ears so we took him into another room where the doc put a black plastic thing in his ear and moved a camera down so that he could see what he was doing on a tv monitor. Then he literally dug out all the wax in Andrew's ears. One ear was so bad there was so much black wax that came out. Poor little guy....he was NOT happy! After that the doc said that he did not need tubes in his ear which I was elated about! So we left to come home! Andrew passed out on the way home....it was a big day! He was snoring SO loud, I was laughing!! :o) The next day, June 4th I called back to Hopkins and we scheduled his surgery for next Wednesday, June 12 at 7:45 am. We need to be at John's Hopkins by 6am. Surgery will last at least 4 hours...I am going to lose it! Then he will have to spend the night one night at the hospital, and of course I will spend it with him. I'm not leaving my little guy there all alone! Needless to say, Brian and I are very excited to be getting this done so quickly, and we are both a bit nervous too. Andrew is a STRONG little guy and he will be fine! Keep us in your prayers anyway! I will keep everyone informed as to what is happening, so continue to check our site! Our love to all! Laurie, Brian and Andrew JUNE 10, 2002 We spent the majority of our day yesterday outside playing in Andrew's pool. He also motored around in his motorized jeep. We figured that he needed to play outside as much as humanly possible since he won't be able to go outside for a while after his surgery. Brian is out of town tonight, so Andrew and I played outside again, blowing bubbles, riding his bike and playing catch. I think Andrew is starting to understand that he is going to have his "mouth fixed". He keeps telling me that the doctor is going to fix his mouth, nose and lip. He doesn't seem at all bothered by it...me on the other hand, well let's just say that I can't wait until it's all over. I feel sad, but happy. Anyway, I will update again either tomorrow or Thursday, as I will be spending the night in the hospital with Andrew on Wednesday....unless the nurses let me use their computer... :o) (Good idea!) Thanks to everyone for the emails and prayers! They mean the world to all of us! JUNE 17, 2002 We were told that Andrew's surgery time was going to be 7:45 am and to arrive at 6 am...BUT, surgery time ended up being 9:30 am so we were at Hopkin's at 5:45 in the morning for no reason. Oh well, atleast we were there. We got Andrew all changed and the anesthesiologist came in to talk with us a bit and give Andrew some "juice" (sedative) to help relax him a bit before they took him back to the operating room. I was allowed to carry him back myself and hold his hand while they put him under...Boy did I cry! Anyway, after I left the operating room and met Brian back out in the waiting room, we decided to grab a bite to eat. Surgery actually started at 10:10 am. Around 2pm I started getting very nervous because we hadn't had any updates. I went up to the man in the waiting room and asked him to call back to the operating room and they said they were just wrapping up. About 10 minutes later they wheeled him out of the operating room right past us, so they stopped and let us give him a kiss. Well, he woke up and saw me and tried to say Mama, but you could barely hear him through the oxygen mask, then he saw Brian and started to cry...OH MY GOD, did I lose it. Poor little guy looked so terrible, but it had to be done. I felt terrible. He was in recovery about an hour and a half, and Brian had to leave to fly to Boston for work, so of course I stayed with him and spent the night too. Around 3am the plastic surgery team came in to check on him. They said that he was breathing funny so they took an x-ray and told me that they thought he had pnemonia or bronchitis. I started getting nervous, so they put the oxygen mask back on. I finally got the result around 5pm that same day that there was definately a spot on his x-ray, but they didn't think it was pnemonia. (What a relief!!) They put him on antibiotics anyway as a precaution. That night, Brian came back and I left around 9pm to go home since I had to go to work on Friday. Brian spent the night and the next morning, (Friday) they took the tube out of Andrew's nose and the stitch out of his tongue and moved him out of the Pediatric Intermediate Care area to a regular room!! That evening after work I went back to the hospital to see a completely new little boy! Andrew was running around like a normal little boy! I was so happy!! A few hours later, he started not feeling so well again so Daddy left and Mommy stayed the night again. We fell asleep around 8pm and tossed and turned ALL night!! We woke up around 7 and the plastic surgery team came back in and said how well he was doing and that they were going to let him go home that day!!( Saturday). Daddy came around 9am and we got Andrew's discharge papers and left! We got home around 11am, and the three of us slept almost all day! WHEW! It's over....atleast for now! Sunday was Brian's first father's day. We enjoyed it by staying home and being with Daddy. Andrew got his Daddy a gift certificate to a golf course called Rendition's. Our friend Kelly and their little one got Keith one also so that they guys can go play golf together. Andrew is very tired still, today he napped from 11 am till 3 pm when my sister had to wake him up. He should get over the tiredness in about 2 to 3 weeks as per the doctor. (It's actually kind of nice right now...most of you who have met "Hurricane Andrew" know that for a fact. More updates to come. Thanks to all for the love and support and prayers through Andrew's surgery! |