Back to Normal

Well things are back to normal in the Brown house. And, as tends to happen when things are normal, another weekend has flown by without a whole lot of rest. But hey when the choices are laying around all day watching movies in a hospital room or staying busy doing holiday things, I'll take busy every time. If you're curious, neither make it particularly easy to get up on Monday morning...especially when it's freezing cold.

As you can guess from the photo, we've acquired and adorned the Brown Family Christmas Tree 2007. We found a new farm, closer to home, with a better selection. Saturday morning we all went down there and within minutes everyone had agreed on winner. As is typical, Gavin wanted to bring home some others that were either too wide or too small [he tends to lean toward the "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" more so than the "Sean Brown Christmas Tree"]. It then took the remainder of the day Saturday to get the tree and the rest of the inside of the house decorated. We have decided that, as well as having an overcrowded garage, we have too much Christmas stuff.

That reminds me: I told Gavin he had to go through his toys so that we could pick out a bunch to give to the kids who weren't as fortunate as he is and don't have as many toys. He wasn't happy, but he'll go along with it. Anyway at one point during decorating he came out to the garage with me where I told him I was going to have to go through my mess out there and he says, "you mean you have to give it to people who don't have as much junk as you?" Sometimes I swear he is 14.

Then yesterday we did some grocery shopping and some baking (Pumpkin Bread: I'd share the recipe but it's not mine and there may be some copyright infringements). We also went to a birthday/holiday party with some friends, which was nice. The roads were pretty bad north of where we live, but as a result most people stayed off the road. Amazing thing is that the only people who went out, however, were the idiots. This, I've noticed, is no different than any normal day, except when the roads are bad there just aren't as many idiots.

Then I wound up the weekend watching the Giants stink up all of East Rutherford and its surrounding areas. If anyone hasn't been paying attention they're 9-5, third in the NFC, and could have clinched a playoff spot with a win last night. But they stink.

And I know, all you care about is how Molly is doing. Well she is great. She's got a bit of a cold and she has been sneezing and coughing a little more than normal, but her insides seem to be working the way they're supposed to (we go back for a follow-up with the GI this week) and she has been smiling and happy. More like Molly than she was the last few weeks.

Home Again

We left the hospital last night around 7 pm. Molly recovered fine from her procedure and tolerated her feeds all day.

We'll have the biopsy results some time next week, and have to schedule a follow up visit with the GI. Hopefully we can get this all figured out very soon.

For the time being, Molly is quite content. She is back to her happy, smiley self. And as of this morning when I left the house she was sound asleep in her crib. Gavin and Mom were also sound asleep in their beds. And Dublin was sound asleep on his. What I wouldn't have given to be doing the same.

Back at RWJ

On the one hand, it's easier to do this when I am posting regularly, so I just have to throw in an update. On the other, in that case I would have to find time to post regularly. Since I haven't had time to post with any consistency, I'll have to figure out a good place to start.

I mentioned Molly's Thanksgiving virus in my last post. She was miserable that day, and a few days before and after. On Thanksgiving evening, while I was holding her, I noticed a big lump in her belly. It was pretty large, and hard as a rock, and nurse Cara confirmed it could in no way be something that actually belonged there. We mentioned it to the pediatrician, but considering Molly's other symptoms, he didn't think it could be a bowel obstruction. He said if it was she wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom at all, and she would be throwing up a lot. Neither was the case, and in the days following she went back to her normal, happy self.

Then last week we realized that she a) still had the lump, b) was throwing up a little, and c) still hadn't really gone to the bathroom in a while. This coincided with Molly's fifteen month check-up. When she went in for that check-up her doctor agreed there was definitely something amiss and suggested we call Molly's GI. All day Thursday both Erin and Dr. Paul called the GI, without a response. A fellow at CHoP suggested it was simply constipation. After 24 hours of this, Erin decided to take Molly to the ER.

Oh but wait, let me back up. I totally forgot that while most of this was happening I was in Chicago.

So Tuesday night I went to the airport to fly to Chicago. Minutes before boarding, both my flight and the flight following were cancelled due to weather in Chicago. I booked a seat on the first flight Wednesday morning and went home. I was going out for a two day conference and if my morning flight was on time I would only miss about 90 minutes of the first day. Nothing is ever on time flying to O'Hare, so I figured maybe I'd miss three hours tops.

Wednesday morning we board and pull back from the gate on time. As soon as we've backed away the captain shuts down the engines and comes on to tell us that due to weather in Chicago we're going to have to hold for an hour.

40 minutes later we're taking off.

All goes well and we're still scheduled to arrive just a few minutes late. As we begin our descent into O'Hare, something happens I have never experienced before: the pilot aborts the landing and pulls back up into a holding pattern. He told us the runway was icing up and we needed to hold while they set up landing on an alternate runway. Hold time estimated to be 30-40 minutes.

After half an hour I notice we are no longer circling, but now climbing and heading straight in some direction I can't figure out. Captain comes on to tell us we had been put in another holding pattern, 30-40 more minutes, and we haven't got enough fuel for that so we're being diverted to Indianapolis.

We land in Indy, they refuel us right there on the tarmac, and then we're told there is a two hour wait before we can take off again.

15 minutes later we're taking off.

We arrive in Chicago about four hours late where it is now sunny. After a quick cab ride (during which it again began to dump snow) I arrive at the conference roughly five hours after it started.

Day two of the conference I am planning on making the most of it. My flight is scheduled to leave that evening around 9 pm. The facilitator is aware that people are trying to catch flights that night and intends to condense the second half of day two to ensure everyone gets where they're going on time. Unfortunately there is rumor of another dumping of snow that night and people are starting to work on even earlier flights. I am confident I'll be spending one more night in Chicago because of the snow. That's just how it goes with me and that city (some of you may recall in July I flew out to play golf and was supposed to go out and back the same day; I spent three days trying to get home because of thunderstorms and overbooked flights).

Then about three hours into the morning session of day two I get the call from Erin that she has just come from the pediatrician and she and Dr. Paul are unsuccessfully trying to reach the GI. She mentions taking Molly to the ER and/or her being admitted. I decide to get on an early flight home so I beat the snow for sure. I walk out of day two of the conference after a two-day total of six hours of a scheduled eighteen.

Now back to Friday morning and Molly in the ER at RWJ.

X-ray confirmed there was a giant mass in her stomach and the doctor was pretty sure she wasn't passing it on her own. They began some aggressive treatment to try to break up the mass, which continued all day. She finally was admitted and brought up to a room at around 9 pm. Their aggressive treatment continued through the night on Friday, all day Saturday, and all night Saturday night. By Sunday she had passed most of it, and was clearly feeling better.

With that being said, we were pretty sure she would be heading home yesterday. However, the doctor is still concerned there may be a more serious issue than just a build-up. They're concerned there may be some malfunction in her system that could cause this to be a recurring issue. So after talking with us, and then consulting with Molly's doctor's at CHoP, it was decided Molly would have a minor surgical procedure this morning to test for Hirschsprung disease.

If all goes well with Molly's recovery after the procedure she should be able to go home tonight. We're really hoping that is the case.

The only really good thing about this hospital stay is that RWJ is literally two blocks from my office. So I am heading over there now. I'll post another update later.