Close to Home

I had an appointment today with a surgeon who says he can remove Carver's Hickman Line and replace it with a port at the same time. This makes me less scared about having a surgery again. Carver will have a wire threaded through the existing Hickman line. Then, the Hickman line will be removed and the vein will be held open by the wire. The catheter attached to the port will slide over the wire. In this way, there should be less bleeding because the surgeon will not have to cut open another vein. He will probably cut and sew a spot in his skin where the port sits. Since the port is just under the skin it is less of an infection risk than the Hickman line with an open cite. I feel better knowing that this surgery should be less invasive than the one before...we're using the same incision and vein that goes to his heart. Also, the port stick will hurt less even though it is still a stick. We can use numbing cream like we do for Granton. And, our appointments should run more smoothly with less stress on Carver or me with the quick access. Plus, ultimately, the quick access provides a safety net if Carver gets sick and has to go to the ER. And, the surgeon will consider Carver's clotting factors before surgery. And, we can take it out as soon as we don't need it anymore. Not long-term. I think that's all.

The surgery to remove Hickman Line, Replace with Port, and Circumcision will be on Monday all while Carver is under anesthesia. We are probably going home sometime next week!

Jenni

Fun and Frazzled Moments

We have had one big adrenaline rush for the past three days here together! I can only imagine life at home with these little rug rats. Yesterday or today I stopped giving a bath long enough to go to the bathroom while nursing! I thought wiping a two year old and nursing was bad enough. No, motherhood keeps marching on. I've even been caffeine free for several weeks. Maybe I need to work on sugar now. Anyway, we have been outside to play at least two of the three days that seem like five. My adventurous babies have been burning lots of calories running, jumping, swinging and climbing. Oh yeah, dancing and yelling too. Speaking of  yelling, I was cleaning up lunch downstairs in the kitchen today when I hear this voice echo from down the hall and around the corner for the whole house to hear, "NEED SOME WIPES!" My kids are truly nuts! Carver was somewhere in a wagon under his tent and Kaylynn was hopefully in one of the play areas when I went to rescue Granton. But, my sweet baby boy told me a bedtime story tonight. Here it is...

Once upon a time there were three baby calves. One was Granton. One was Kaylynn and the other was Carver. The farmer loved to come and pet his baby calves. One day the farmer was eating his lunch. The baby calves got lost. The baby calf Granton said, "lets go this way." Then, the baby calf Carver said, "no, lets go this way." Then, the other calf Kaylynn said, "Well, OK." They looked and looked until they found a house and Kaylynn said, "no that's not the farm." Then, they saw red and they saw white and they said, "there it is, that's the farm!" The End.

He also told one about four turtles and a pond quite similar to the one I told last night. ; ) But, the baby calf story was all his own. : )

It was great to see them again.

Jenni