Karma Rears Its Congested Chest

Some people like to drive around looking at Christmas lights; some people like to visit antique stores; some people travel around collecting stickers from every town they visit. We go to hospitals. And they give us bracelets.

Because my little girl was born with the same sick sense of humor as her old man, we have postponed a third scheduled surgery. Molly's been sick for a few weeks, but she was getting better. We told them this over the phone yesterday. They scheduled us for first thing this morning and told us we would be a go for surgery unless she was really sick. So we got up this morning and drove down there at 4:30. Wouldn't you know it, she was more sick this morning than she has been for a week.

Molly was evaluated by a nurse, then by the head of cardiac anesthesiology, then by the surgeon. Everyone - including Molly's parents - agreed that this entirely elective surgery should wait until Molly is healthier. They assured us we could get in for surgery on 48 hours notice, and we should call when she is well so we can schedule it as soon as possible. In the meantime we're going to go to the pediatrician and see about some antibiotics to kick this thing.

Guess who has only sneezed once since we left the hospital? And I am not absolutely certain that wasn't actually a giggle.

Surgery Tomorrow

As of right now surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. We have to be there at 5:45 am. The doctor said that as long as she isn't too congested and uncomfortable they'll go through with it. So we're heading down there assuming it'll happen. I'll post something as soon as possible.

Lockdown

Just the other day I was talking to my buddy, Charlie, about how badly I could use a day off. An entire day of nothing. See when Charlie and I were younger we used to designate certain days for Lockdown. On one of these days there were no plans; no visitors; comfy clothes all day; a couch and a TV. If Lockdown can fall on one of those weekends I referenced in my last post, all the better. But if not, then DVDs and Seinfeld reruns can certainly pass the time. [Who am I kidding, when we did this they were VHS and Seinfeld was only on Must See Thursdays] It's much harder to pull this off as I get older and my level of responsibility increases. But it's certainly possible to have a modified version of Lockdown.

I was explaining this to some co-workers shortly after that discussion and they all seemed to think it was impossible to do this. Either there were too many things that absolutely have to get done over the weekend, or there are individuals who are incapable of staying inside and not doing anything for an entire day. I tried to describe how they were looking at it from the wrong point-of-view. You see Lockdown is something. Waking up and moving to the couch to watch TV is the plan. These are your priorities for the day. I guess you either get it or you don't. Regardless, I am a huge fan. So Erin and I decided that yesterday (Saturday) would be one of those days. We had no plans so we decided to make Modified Lockdown the order of the day. Going to sleep Friday night, I was really looking forward to it.

Can you guess how this story ends?

At 7 am yesterday morning we were in the car; Gavin still half asleep and in his pajamas, Molly unhappy because she is hungry. When Erin went to feed Molly at 6 am, her tube was clogged. This has happened before, usually through some effort the clog subsides and all is well. In the rare case that we're unable to unclog the tube, we simply replace the tube with a new one. In this particular instance the clog would not subside, and there were no extra tubes. Since you can't just buy these at Walgreens, we called the answering service for our pediatrician. When the doctor called back she told us to go to the nearest hospital and go to the ER. She said she'd be shocked if the hospital didn't have a replacemnet tube. We should have realized at that point what we were in for.

We arrived at the University Medical Center at Princeton and the ER was virtually empty. The good news was there was no wait to be brought back to a bed. The bad news was once we got to the bed all we did was wait. Now keep in mind we love UMCP. We chose to deliver Molly there even though everyone was encouraging us to go to a hospital that specialized in delivering sick babies. We couldn't have been happier with our experience there for either of our children. To say the least, they didn't have the tube we needed.

The first doctor that came in to see us was on his way home. He checked her out; looked for some writing on the tube; went home. The doctor that replaced him looked a little more awake. He couldn't believe it when we told him all he needed to do was get us a tube and we would put it in.

"Hey Bill, they don't need anyone from neonatal, they can put the tube in themselves."

Medical professionals were astounded.

We thought we'd end up teaching a class.

Ultimately they got a nurse from neonatal down and she put the tube in - the wrong tube. We ended up having to stay in the ER because the only way we could feed Molly was with their apparatus (the valve of their tube was too narrow for the dispensing cone on Molly's feeding bag; so it wasn't actually the wrong tube, it just wasn't perfect).

The whole time we're there I am on the phone with the home care company to see if we can get a new tube delivered, or if they can direct me to a place where I can buy one. None of the above.
So we leave Princeton planning to drive to Robert Wood in New Brunswick. We figure if RWJ can't help, St. Peter's is right around the corner. And if that doesn't work then we'll take a leisurely drive down to CHoP. Secretly I was hoping to visit all the hospitals Molly has been to in one day - a Lockdown day no less!

Instead of going to New Brunswick we decided to drive to Clark, because it's a good 20 minutes further and they won't charge us another however much it is to visit two ERs in one day. The woman at the home care company - Sharon, the only person in the whole building because it's a Saturday - went back into the warehouse and tracked down the last size 8 they had (size 8 being the size they told us they used at Princeton; we should have taken into consideration this would be a different brand). When we arrived we quickly realized that an 8 was roughly the size of the coaxial wire for cable television, and in no way suited for our daughters nasal passage. We tried it anyway. Fortunately, there was also one size 6 left. Sharon went and found the size 6, the perfect fit, and we put it in on the cafeteria table.

By the time we got home it was about 2 pm. Gavin was at Grandma and Grandpa's, and Molly was sound asleep from a stressful morning. I decided to take advantage of the quiet and clean up a little and then relax. I settled in on the couch at around 2:45 and spent a solid fifteen minutes resting. Then it was off to the grocery store.

Gotta love a good Lockdown.

Glorious Weekend

To me there are a few weekends of the year that just can't be beat: the first weekend of the NCAA hoops tourney; the Masters/US Open weekends; the Ryder Cup (it's every other year, and every four years it's in Europe so it comes on TV at like 6 am); and the first two weekends of the NFL Playoffs.

Last weekend wasn't that great because the Giants played and that always stresses me out. This weekend, however, was perfect. Just relaxing and watching football; little emotional involvement. All the games were good, and I would have only liked to see the outcome of one change (I was pulling for Seattle). And, let's face it, to me, an Eagles loss is a close second to a Giants win. I mean it's almost just as good. Don't get me wrong anyone beating the Eagles makes me happy, but I am really rooting for the Saints. So it was double-good.

So in addition to all this great football, my mom came up for the weekend. It's always nice to have her around. She was only here for a couple days, but at least she got here. When my mom comes up here it's like Christmas: yes, I mean we always get stuff, but it's also like having a whole family around. I don't know how she does it, but she actually holds Molly for like 12 hours at a time. When the whole family is around for a holiday like Christmas, everyone passes Molly around to the point where Erin and I have no worries about where she is or what she needs. When my mom is here she somehow accomplishes that feat on her own.

As for Molly, she is still not feeling well. She is very congested - though improving. She has not been tolerating feeds well, but she is still getting a lot of food in her. When the nurse came last week Molly weighed 8.7. Up two ounces from the previous visit, despite the stomach issues. She went back to the orthopedic doctor this morning to see how she is progressing with her hips. we can move from three diapers down to two, which is nice. He said she is still a little stiff, but seems to be improving. There were no x-rays, so nothing is certain. She was also fitted for purple, neoprene gloves. The purpose of these gloves is to keep her little finger spread out a little more, and to keep her from folding her thumbs in. Hopefully this will help her skeletal and muscular development.

We're still scheduled for surgery next Tuesday. If Molly doesn't shake her cold it's not likely to happen.

A Pattern and a Warning

So it's now one day before surgery and Miss Molly has herself a cold. As a result, they're going to postpone her surgery. You may recall, this exact same thing happened with her heart surgery. I am starting to think Molly Bear has an aversion to surgery.

I'll keep you posted on a reschedule date. I think the surgeon only does them on Tuesday, so it'll be some Tuesday not too long from now.

As of this morning we'll start getting Molly better; she is going to see Dr. Paul in a couple hours.

As for me, well I am all kinds of grouchy: it's Monday morning; it's raining; the Giants lost to the [fill in obscene descriptor of your choice] Eagles last night; and I have a physical this afternoon that prohibits me from eating and/or drinking anything (which includes coffee) beforehand!

Happy 2007

It's been a very hectic couple of weeks in the Brown house. We had a great Christmas with the family and a relaxing new year's eve with the sisters. Between the Hilton Head Browns and the Wilberts up from Houston, we had plenty of people to spend time with - and lots of additional babysitters.

The day after Christmas Molly's nurse came over to check on her. She weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces that day. Then a couple days later she went in for her four month physical and she had ganied another half ounce. Molly seems to be steadily gaining weight as we continue to gradually increase her intake of formula.

Next week is the stomach surgery. We'll keep everyone posted.

Hope you all had a nice holiday and we wish you the best for a happy and healthy 2007.