Pictures

Zeke in the Pre-Op room before surgery

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Aunt Annessa and Cousin Shelby stopped to visit

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 Resting in his room after surgery

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 The red mark on his chin is because he spent so much time on his stomach during the final stages of surgery. It was already fading away by last night.

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 The "soft" casts

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Update:

Last night, Zeke had ice chips, a popsicle and some apple juice.

This morning, he's already progressed to pancakes! The surgeon stopped by this morning and said everything looks great. She was also excited to see that there wasn't as much swelling as they usually anticipate. Steve's still at the hospital and said Zeke had a good night and got some rest (Zeke, not Steve :) The baby and I will bring lunch over at noon and then stay for the evening. If Zeke wants someone to stay tonight, I'll take my turn.

Yesterday's Schedule

Wednesday Sept 29th

6:13am - Arrive at hospital
6:15am - Wait in line to check in for surgery
6:45am to 8:00am - Finally checked in waiting in Pre-Op. Talking to various doctors and nurses about procedures.
8:00am - Zeke and I are taken into the operating room so he can be sedated. He goes to sleep really fast and was talking and giggling with us right up until he fell asleep.
8:45am - Dr calls me to check on a possible part of the procedure we had talked about but they hadn't had me sign off on. I verbally ok'd it to the doctor and nurse. They also asked permission to give him and injection while his incisions were open and we ok'd that too. Then they began surgery.
10:25am - Call from the nurse stating surgery was going well. They were working on the femers and had the plates and two screws in.
11:40am - Call from the nurse stating surgery still going well. They were done with the femers and working on the Tibias.
2:00pm - Call from the nurse. They turned Zeke over. Everything was done except for the knees.
3:45pm - Call from the nurse. They were closing the last incision and then would put on the dressings and "soft casts". They don't put the regular "hard" casts on for 3 days because of swelling.
4:15pm - Surgeon came out and visited with us. Everything went really well and they accomplished everything they set out to do. She showed us Xrays of what they did and is letting us keep the pictures.
5:15pm - They took us in to recovery where Zeke was waking up. One of the doctors decided to temporarily discontinue the epidural to make sure that Zeke was getting feeling back into his legs. Once they determine he has, then they will start the epidural again. Until then, he'll have plenty of other medications.
6:00pm - Zeke was taken to his room upstairs. We traveled with him and they got him all set up in his room.
7:30pm - I went back to the hotel with the baby and Steve spent the night with Zeke.

The report is that Zeke had a good night. I'll try to get some pictures up later today.

Surgery Done

Surgery went well and they accomplished everything they intended. Steve is spending the night with Zeke at the hospital tonight and I am staying at the hotel with the baby.  I'm exhausted so I'll post more on the surgery in the morning.

Surgery Begins

Surgery began at 8:50am. Scheduled to take about 8 hours.

Here at Gillette Children's Hospital, when your child has surgery, they give you a pager that vibrates and lights up. The nurse pages us every so often and I call from a phone in one of the waiting rooms. They connect me directly with the nurse in Zeke's operating room and she gives us an update. That's also how I was able to visit again with the main doctor just before surgery began.

Now the waiting really begins!

Sedation

When the two surgeons were ready for Zeke, I suited up. I probably should have let Steve take a picture. I do have one of Zeke in his blue hospital cap but fortunately none of me. I had to put on one of those paper/plastic white full body suits and a cap and mask. Then they wheeled Zeke's bed down to surgery. Steve waited in the pre-op room with the baby.

Once we were in the operating room, they transfered Zeke to the surgical table and got his mask ready. The reason they give the kids a flavored chapstick is that they put the chapstick on the inside of their mask so the kids have something good to smell instead of the weird smelling gas. The bonus is that the kids get to keep the chapstick. Once they placed the mask over his face, Zeke was out in a matter of seconds. He had enough time to ask me if he could keep his mask and laugh a bit because he thought everything was funny. Then he was down for the count. They let me remove my mask to give him a kiss and they reasurred me that they would take very good care of him. I always do fine until that point but for some reason, I feel like tearing up when I leave him in the operating room. I was back in the pre-op room at 8:02am.

Pre-Op

We arrived at the hospital at 6:11am this morning.  We had to wait in line for quite a while before we could get checked in, mainly because they were having computer issues. I don't know if it was just our check-in person or others also but it took her a long time to check in the first person. By then, it was 6:30am and we were supposed to check in at 6:15am. Then the person directly in front of us started their check-in with the comment, "We're checking in early!" My prayer at that point was, "God, please grant me patience!"

By the time I stepped up to the desk, it was 6:36am. The receptionist had me sign a couple of papers and then considered us checked in because her computer still wasn't working correctly.  Shortly after that, a nurse came and ushered us inside the pre-op area.  He then weighed Zeke, took his temperature and blood pressure and gave him a gown to change into.

Next we were visited by a nurse who would remain with Zeke throughout the surgery in the operating room. Then came the anethesytist (I have no idea how to spell that and I'm not sure how to access spelling on this hospital computer :) Anyway, one of the doctor's who puts Zeke to sleep and controls the flow of medication during surgery. He explained exactly what they were going to do for Zeke and the effects it would have on him. He also explained the pros and cons of giving an epidural. We chose to let Zeke have one for this procedure. We were also visited by a child life specialist. That's the social worker that comes in and tries to help the child feel more comfortable. Zeke was already pretty comfortable because so far they had given him a blanket, a bear, slippers, bubble-gum flavored chapstick, a mask and a surgical hat. But she gave him a list of movies and then brought SpongeBob for him to watch while we were waiting for the doctor. She also had a few bears that were "dressed up" like Zeke would be after his surgery. They had the kind of casts and bar that he would have. Another bear had an IV. Zeke wasn't too concerned. He just keeps asking when he gets his wheelchair!

The last visitor was the doctor. She again explained the procedures and asked if we had any questions. We had to sign off on everything and then she pulled out the marker. Zeke has been wonderful about everything up to this point but he started to have a meltdown when the Dr wanted to write on his legs! They do it to make sure they and we know exactly what will be operated on. I guess it's just so ingrained in him that you aren't supposed to write on yourself that he didn't want her to write on him. She played with him for a few minutes to distract him and then we got it done. The writing was actually the doctor's initials (DQ for Dr Quambeck) so I convinced him it meant that he could have Dairy Queen when he felt better.

More later!

Night Before the Surgery

We arrived in St Paul and checked into our hotel around 10pm. Unfortunately, it was too late to let Zeke swim but he seemed satisfied to be able to watch TV for a while. The drive took us a bit longer than expected because someone forgot to inform the baby that we don't stop on roadtrips. She and Zeke both slept the first hour of the trip. Then she cried for the next hour. We finally stopped so I change her, hold her and feed her some cereal. After we got back in the van, she wasn't exactly happy but at least she wasn't screaming anymore. She and Zeke both slept for the last hour of the trip and Steve & I sang along to the CD's Brittney made for me from my favorite songs. I'd better get to bed so I can get everyone to the hospital by 6am.

Zeke's Surgery

We're planning on leaving at 5:15pm today for St Paul.  That will hopefully give Zeke a little time to swim at the hotel after we check in.  Then we'll try to get a good nights sleep before we have to check in at the Hospital at 6:15am.  Surgery is scheduled to begin at 7:45am and last for 8 hours.  I'll do my best to keep the blog updated. :)

Great devotional thought for the day from a friend: "God doesn't promise any of us a lack of pain and anguish. His peace is supposed to come in the bearing of our problems, not in the lack of them."

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One day your life will flash before your eyes.

Make sure it's worth watching.

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It's official.  I'm losing it.  Court was not this morning.  It's in a month on OCTOBER 27th.  I realized this after I dropped the baby off, went to the courthouse, watched some proceedings and visited with the baby's lawyer.

6:21am and 5 of my six children are awake.  We find out this morning if we're keeping the baby longer. 

I'd better not spend time on the computer until I've got everything ready for tomorrow.  I will be taking the computer with me to St Paul so the blogging will continue. I feel a lot less stressed with this surgery than the past one, maybe because we've been there before.

Ok.  Time to go.  Child number 6 is up, too!

Sorry

Sorry about the ranting the other day.  I'm over it now.  Thankfully, my friend was available via phone for a bit of venting.  I'm again reminded of all the wonderful people in my life.  There is no reason that I need to dwell on one person who doesn't care when there are so many that do!  So thank you friends for the reminder.
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Yesterday was a great day.  It started out with a women's conference at the church.  Someone couldn't attend so my my gave me their ticket.  It's called First Place 4 Health and it's all about living a healthy lifestyle for the glory of God.  Pretty amazing stuff.  I got to chat with some friends over coffee, muffins and fruit. I  even got to visit with my high school interp coach who I haven't seen for years. After the main event, we broke into small groups to attend break-out sessions. I thought the Creating Healthy Families would be interestsing and I wasn't disapointed.  Then an amazing lunch by one of the best cooks in our town before I had to jump and run home.
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I had agreed to take the baby to a birthday party for her cousins at noon.  Steve, Taylor, the baby and I piled into the van and headed to Pioneer Park.  We got to meet a lot of the baby's family and I even played touch football with them. Good news-I scored a touchdown. Bad news-I sacrificed the body for the game and got mud all over the knees of my pants and I still had to go back to church for the remainder of the afternoon. 
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Then I took the baby and Taylor with me to the church while Steve mowed the church lawn. Brittney watched the other kids at home.  At 6pm, Steve came home and I went to finish up.  It took me until about 8pm and after a quick run to HyVee for milk and a frozen pizza, I headed home for the night.
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Great news! The baby finally popped her first tooth on Thursday and has been sleeping through the night again ever since!  I'm finally feeling like I'm getting a bit of rest.
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Today we're off to church and then after lunch I'm going to do a bit of a presentation on foster parenting for some friends who are interested. I'm hoping to get quite a bit of laundry done since it didn't get done yesterday and we're nearing crunch time before surgery.  Monday is court for the baby's mom, a visit with the baby's mom and I'm also hoping to sneak in lunch with a friend.  Tuesday is bible study from 8:45-11:00am, Steve's dentist appointment, physical therapy for the baby, a visit with the baby's mom,early childhood education for the baby, football for Riley and hopefully get out of town by 5:15pm.  That way we're not getting to St Paul too late.  Zeke wants to swim at the hotel and we have to be at the hospital by 6:15am the following morning so we don't want him to be too tired. Although he will be sleeping the whole next day during the 8 hour surgery :)

Anthony Says

Riley: "Mom! Anthony put the plunger in the toilet for no reason!"

Anthony: "Yes for a reason.  I had to move it to get the trash Dad told me to take out!"

Me: "So you put the plunger in the toilet?"

Anthony: "YES!!!"

You Should Probably Skip This If You're Having A Nice Day

My normal upbeat blog isn't here today.  It's probably because my best friend is out of town so I don't have my usual sounding board.  I guess the blog is it for now.

I'm a bit frustrated with people.  I need to continually remind myself that there generally two kinds of people in the world. Those who spend their time and energy devoted to others and there are those who are devoted  to themselves. 
Sometimes I feel that I get the short end of the stick from people who I think should care and I need to remind myself again that I can use these situations as a reminder for ME to keep others in mind. I don't recall God saying anywhere in the Bible "Make sure you watch out for yourself above all else."  In fact, I think He says lots about what we need to be doing for others.   But my dilemma comes when I don't want to care about the selfish ones anymore.  For years, I continually went out of my way, both in distance and out of my comfort zone, to try to create a healthy relationship.  Now I'm not sure where to draw the line.  I'm really tired of "I really care" coming out of someone's mouth but almost every action implies "No one really matters but myself."

But because I have some awesome people in my life, some friends and some family, who would do nearly anything for me and my family, it has ceased to bother me much anymore.  Although, note the use of the word "much". 

I have so many others friends and family that I'm ok letting the selfish ones go for now.  Probably not the right christian answer but I don't have the time or energy for anything else for a few years, if ever.
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And now I think I'll try to call my friend and see if she can hear me vent a bit from the other side of the country!

Here is the link to one of the news stories about the flooding in our city.



Brookings Flooding

My sister didn't think it was clear how to access the link so here are the instructions, especially for you, Heather!  Click on the blue underlined words above that say Brookings Flooding and it will take you to the news page that has a story and video about the water here. :)

News

Great news!  Prayers are at work and God is moving in the lives of our friends in the Ukraine!  The short version is that many hurdles have been jumped and they might have both their new children back in the US within a month.  Keep Praying!
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Not so great news.  Our baby's mom was living in the area of town that flooded and had to be evacuated.  She was at work so she didn't even get clothes out.  I think she still thinks that she can get back in today but doesn't realize that everything is destroyed.  When we drove by yesterday, the water in that area was so high that the few people there were carrying things over their heads and the water was up to their chests.  Others were using boats to try to salvage some things.  The emergency teams weren't letting anyone in that didn't need to be there because it was so dangerous.  I'm taking the baby's mom to Sioux Falls with me today for the baby's head appointment so I'll find out more about what she needs and how I can help her.
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At Sophia's doctor's appointment today, they will do another head scan so we can see how much the shape of her head has been corrected so far.
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We leave in 4 days for Zeke's surgery!  I'm so not ready yet.  Too much else going on.

Another Rainy Wednesday and Other Stuff

So Brittney is a pretty good blogger. I thought we should take turns every other day but she didn't go for it.

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Yesterday I had to be at the clinic shortly after 8am for some blood work. Then at 9, I survived my first mamogram. I'm only 36 years old and they usually don't start that until 40, but with a family history of cancer, the doctor wanted me to schedule them yearly - starting now. It wasn't nearly as bad as I've heard. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't fun. But definitely survivable. The good news is that the blood work came back and I don't have anything to be concerned about. My blood pressure is down, which is what the doctors were worried about, and my cholesteral levels are great. No worries.

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At 9:00am, Steve took Zeke in to meet with the pediatrician for a pre-surgery checkup/exam. Before any major surgery at Gillette, they have us take Zeke in to his doctor and she has to fill out 3 pages of information about his current health and then fax it to the hospital in St Paul. They want to make sure he's healthy before surgery. He's ready to go and way to excited for major surgery. Seriously, he can hardly wait! He loves that hospital.

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After spending most of the morning at the hospital, I went to the Berndt Produce stand to help Dawnna. Normally, I love being outside but yesterday the rain got to be too much for us and we shut down around 1pm. My folks pulled up just as we decided to call it quits and Dad asked if we wanted any help loading up. So the three of us piled everything back into the trailer and van and then Dad took Mom and I out for lunch at KFC. Thanks Dad!

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Our friends, Eric and Joni, are currently back in the Ukraine and have just completed the legal portion of the adoption of their second child. They had a long adoption court hearing yesterday. Like all morning and a good portion of the afternoon for them compared to our US adoption court, which takes maybe 10 minutes.  The good news is that they are now officially and legally parents to their new son. The bad news is they have to wait on red tape for ten days before bringing him home.  Please be in prayer for them, their family back home in the US and their new son. And a special prayer on my heart is for the little girl they are hoping to adopt also. It is appearing that God means her to be a part of their family but it means a lot more red tape, time and expense. God, make your will clear and the path open if she is meant to come to the US with them.  You couldn't ask for better parents than Eric and Joni!

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Amber informed me yesterday while proofing a letter for me that the new APA rules have only one space between the end of one sentence and the begining of the next.  While that may sound Greek to some people, what is means to me is that, after years of putting in two spaces, I am anal enough to type the two spaces I've always typed and then realize my "mistake" and go back and delete a space after every sentence.  Why do they do this to me after all these years?  And more importantly, why do I care so much?

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Bloggie Froggie

My mom now has the title BLOGGIE FROGGIE because.........

                                                                                                                   she is always blogging when ever she has time... But like when does she ever have time??????? which is why im blogging today... because my mom didnt get the time to blog with 5 kids and 1 baby and dad!!!!

                                       
                                               ~!Wilkins News Comming Up!~

• Zekes Sergery
• Rileys football
• Brittney's Wildfire Cheer
• Veggie stand
• Halloween

All comming up in the blog somtime

Zeke has sergery in 1 week

Riley started flag football now on tuesday

Brittney has started at KCK WILDFIRE so hope that all goes well

Mom is helping dona at the veggie stand every wednesday

Halloween is comming uop very soon so im shure she will have pics of of trunk-or-treat at the church and kids costumes i know im very excited.

To Be continued.......



Will it drive mom crazy when school is out in october 18th through the 23rd find out here in.......

Wilkins World!!!!!

By: Brittney Marie Wilkins

Applesause

62 quart jars of applesause and a few bigger jars are now nearly done.  I'll seal the last 20 in the morning.  That should last us all winter!  And the baby slept all night last night : )

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Aren't My Friends Amazing!!!

Zeke's surgery is in less than two weeks and he'll be coming home in a wheelchair.  I shared my concern with a friend of mine about being able to get him in the house with his wheelchair and casts.   Then she shared with her husband Allen and, being the amazing guy that he is, he jumped right into the project!  He and his dad pulled out bushes and sledgehammered out sidewalk on Friday while his wife Jen and I had fun at Bunco with our babies.

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Then on Saturday, he brought nearly the entire Pickard Clan, plus my dad and Steve, to construct the ramp/deck.  The men built all day and the women kept the children occupied and made lunch.  Gail brought cookie dough to bake for an afternoon snack and Sylvia even cleaned my awful stove top that still had burnt-on applesause from my canning!

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Don't you wish you had friends as amazing as mine?

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Thanks a million Pickards!!!

A full night's sleep does wonders!  I feel like I can function again.  I think it's been at least a couple of weeks since I had enough consecutive hours of sleep.  A huge thank you to Sandy!!!

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Anthony Says

Anthony:  "Mom, I don't know how to tell you this but a girl in the red class has a crush on me."

Mom:  "Really.  What's her name?"

Anthony:  "I don't know.  I never asked.  I'm going to meet my friend on the basketball court at recess."

Mom:  "And he's going to tell you the girl's name?"

Anthony (in a very annoyed voice) :  "No!!!  We're going to play basketball!!!"

I Don't Even Flinch Anymore

School gets out early on Wednesdays and today I was barely running on time after Sophia's physical therapy, doctor's visit and dropping her mom off at her home.  My wonderful mother-in-law picked up Subway for me for lunch and I was finally sitting down to enjoy it at 3 o'clock when Brittney went into the bathroom and immediately ran back out.  It's a credit to my years of parenting challenging children that I didn't even flinch when she yelled, "Taylor poured bubble bath in the toilet!!!"

Children's Museum

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Seriously, why is it that when I have interesting things to blog about I don't have time to write?  I was also hoping to post picture of the kids at the Children's Museum and the Go Fish concert.  But between the baby getting up at 3:30am to eat, an hour long Social Services vist to our house, taking the baby to visit her mom and canning 20 quarts of applesause and helping kids with homework, it appears that the day is almost over.  I'd say better luck tomorrow but Tuesday morning bible study starts tomorrow morning, the baby Early Childhood time with Amy at our house and Steve is working at the circus at the Swiftel Center at night.  Maybe I should just learn how to go without sleep again like I did in college.  Somehow I don't think it'll be the same thing at all!

Tired - Tired - Tired

That's all I have to say today.

If I hadn't Vowed to Blog...

If I hadn't vowed to blog today, I'd be in my bed right now watching the Vikings.  The baby didn't feel very good last night so I was up every hour with her.  My poor mother-in-law was up with her the night before.  Nothing serious, just a bad cold but it makes it hard for her to breath and swallow when she's lying down to sleep.

Anyway, we had Zeke's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) at school today with his teacher, the resource room director, the special education director, the speech therapist, the occupational therapist and the physical therapist.  Nothing really new and exciting, just happy that he's doing so well this year.  Hopefully I can post the video I took of Zeke reading.  He loves school and is reading at an about a 1st grade level.  He's also Mister Popular at the school.  He definitely loves friends!  With surgery scheduled in a couple of weeks, I've got a lot of extra things going on to make sure we're ready.  Zeke also has to have an appointment with his regular pediatrician in a couple of weeks so we can send the last of the paperwork to the Children's Hospital. 
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I'm taking tomorrow morning off to road-trip with a friend.  I'd tell you where we're going but I can't remember.  All I know is that we're leaving at 8am and we'll be back by noon because I have a meeting at 1pm and another meeting at 2pm.  Then the kids get out of school at 3:18pm.
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Great news of the day:  I received a phone call from a gal that I serve with on the PPRT board.  She said that the Larson Foundation had requested the name of a family to sponsor for a year membership to the new Children's Museum and she asked if it would be ok to give them our name.  So now our whole family can go play at the Museum for a year!  Isn't that awesome?!!!!
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Now I'm off to cheer for the Vikings.  And, as usual, my husband will have to remind me to keep it down because the kids are sleeping : )

I knew I hadn't posted for a day or two, but apparently I haven't since Monday!  The short update is everyone's fine, Steve's been hobbling around, baby is still here, the kids love school, I'm helping Dawnna at her produce stand 'cause all her kids are back in school, Sandy's still job hunting, and I've been placed on another board and am now trying my hand at grant writing. 

And I vow to blog tomorrow.