10 Jul 09

***The next week was all a blur, so the details of this post may be incorrect.***

0730 – Joelly’s only gotten a few hours of sleep and he is out cold now. So tired he doesn’t notice the pain. So, of course the nurses all check his vitals during shift change and the doctors do the same during their rounds. He wakes back up. Bah!

1200 – Grandpa B and Aunty Karen come down to help watch Bo so that we can get some sleep when we’re not in the hospital.

1400 – Dad and Karen bring Bo to the zoo and Joelly is doing better. Hospital food is already starting to get old. We ordered food to our room for the second and last time. The chicken is like a rubber shoe.

1800 – I go home to sleep for the night. Andrea is taking this shift.

1000 – I wake up. Yes, I just slept for 12 hours.

1800 – Great news. We’re going back to the main floor, no more PICU. Good News: Joel’s getting better. Bad News: PICU nurses have a lot fewer patients per person.

8 Jul 09 (Cont’d)
1800 – The surgeon comes out and tells us the news. Apparently he had a disc battery in his esophagus from our DVD remote. Good news: they were able to get it out. Bad news: It did a lot more damage than they expected. He tells us that he’s going to be there at least through the weekend. He tells us to start taking turns at the hospital so that we don’t get burned out (best advice we got).

1830 – We get to see Joelly Bear for the first time and he has a feeding tube and arm restraints (so that he won’t pull the feeding tube out).

1900 – Joel goes back to his hospital room and is hooked up to a bunch of machines. He’s very unhappy.

2200 – I go home with Bo for the night and tell Andrea to call me if anything changes.

9 Jul 09

0200 – Andrea calls and says that they are moving Joel to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) because he is having trouble breathing. Because he can’t swallow, he’s getting a lot of fluid in his trachea. They finally prescribe some pain meds for him (they didn’t give him anything at first because it would mask a fever which would be the first sign of complications). Morphine is very good for him. He finally gets some sleep.

0700 – I get back to the hospital with Bo right before the doctors do their daily rounds. The ENT doctors want to do a CT Scan w/ a special dye to determine if Joel has a puncture in his esophagus. They’ll do it later that day.

0900 – Andrea goes home to sleep.

1000 – I burst into tears when one of the doctors comes up and starts talking about Joel as “the patient.” There is no worse feeling than seeing your child in excruciating pain when you can’t do anything about it. (Note to any potential docs: They are people, call them by their names when you are standing in front of them. And don’t keep calling me dad for the fifth day in a row…you know my name too.)

1400 – CT Scan is over, all is intact. He can start eating later tonight.

1600 – My dad and sister are coming down from MN to help out for the weekend. They call to say they left and will be down tomorrow.

2000 – Joel eats for the first time in 36 hours…through a tube.

2100 – The neighbor boy isn’t doing so well. He’s been in the hospital for months. It’s a sad place to be. We know that Joel will get better. We don’t know how long it will take, but we know he will get out of the hospital. Next door, they’re praying for one more day.

2300 – A night of 30 minute naps followed by 15 minute butt-patting sessions starts. I don’t know how it works. I’m tired out of my mind, but God’s given me something to get my lazy ass out of the chair every time to calm him down. I think I’m getting a taste of what it means to be a daddy. I wouldn’t trade these moments for anything.

So, since we’ve been in the hospital with Joelly Bear a few people have asked us what happened, well here is a rough timeline.

8 Jul 09
0930 -Andrea calls me saying Joel ate something, is gagging, and can’t get it out. I rush home and he’s breathing fine, but won’t take a bottle. He clearly has something lodged in there still.

1030 – We arrive at the local hospital (St. Elizabeth’s). They listen to the story, take one look at him and rush him right back (much faster than the average 2-3 hr wait).

1130 – After bringing him for X-rays the doctor comes back and says that he has something lodged in his esophagus. It looks about the size and shape of a quarter. They let us know that they can’t remove it and will be sending us to Children’s Hospital in downtown St. Louis.

1430 – The ambulance finally arrives. Andrea rides in the back with Joel, and I take Bo home to get some things and get food at Hardee’s.

1530 – I arrive at the hospital and Andrea is already in back, checked in with Joelly. They want to do a another X-Ray. Our friend Leslie is there to help watch Bo, the first of many friends and family to help us out.

1600 – The doctors are saying that they will probably let the coin pass, so we will most likely be staying the night to see how it goes.

1615 – The Ears, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctor comes back and asks us if we have any watch batteries lying around our house. We tell them no, but we do have a disc battery in our DVD remote. They look concerned and say they need to talk to the attending ENT doctor.

1630 – They come in and tell us that they are bringing Joel up for surgery right away. They are really concerned about the possibility that he may have a battery in his throat. Our heads start swimming.

1700 – Leslie takes Bo to her house to play with Lucas. Andrea and I kiss Joel goodbye to rush into emergency surgery. They must really be concerned, they cancelled another scheduled procedure to get him in there.

1730 – We wait…

“A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.” — Frederick Douglass

The Ministry of Silly Walks sketch:

Raiders of the Lost Ark – 6/10
You’ve got to love a movie about an archaeologist foiling the Nazis.

Air Force One – 8.5/10
This one makes you want to vote for Harrison Ford for President.

The Empire Strikes Back – 9/10
It’s the best Star Wars movie.

Passeggiando nella nebbia…

Originally uploaded by beppe610

“Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think
I suffer after
I have held my pain
So long?

Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter,
You do not hear
My inner cry?
Because my feet
Are gay with dancing,
You do not know
I die?”

– Langston Hughes

Blog
Cake Wrecks is one of the funniest blogs out there. This post is a great example of what happens when you give too much information.

Food
So, you want seafood? Here are some octopi for you…even the kids’ll like ‘em.

Life Purpose
Life doesn’t end with the loss of your limbs, as Noel Piper attests.

Song
And So It Goes — Billy Joel.

5. A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn — Elisabeth Röhm, Law & Order

4. Detective Elliot Stabler — Christopher Meloni, Law & Order SVU

3. Detective Ed Green — Jesse L. Martin, Law & Order

2. Executive A.D.A. Michael Cutter — Linus Roach, Law & Order

1. Detective Robert Goren — Vincent D’Onofrio, Law & Order CI