I have not had the time to blog! We are expecting another little girl this January. She was an unexpected surprise. Life is always busy with 4 kids so I can not really imagine having 5 but we will make it work.
BIG NEWS: Brendan is having SDR, selective dorsal rhizotomy, this February. We decided to bite the bullet. Dr. TS Park in St. Louis Missouri is our surgeon. We flew out this month for his evaluation and to make sure he is still a candidate which he is. I am oddly excited. I am in the middle of buying everything he needs for the intense therapy he needs afterwards. I am thinking of hiring him a personal trainer, someone who can kick his butt into gear!! Poor kid :). His left hip now looks awful on the x rays and is 50% out of socket. This is horrible news. I absolutely hated the hip osteotomy surgery and now he needs it again. He will need hip surgery 6 months after SDR if his hip gets worse and if not we will wait at least one year. We need him to gain all the muscle mass he can so he won't regress too much after the hip surgery.
I have set up a go fund me account to help us get to and from St. Louis. It will be very expensive because I want to stay out there for 2 additional weeks for intense therapy. I want to start out on the right foot and get him motivated! I will be staying there for a total of 3 weeks with my newborn baby. I would like mother to join me and help out a little so I don't have to always drag the baby out in the dead of winter. I will post my link so you can read the full story.
Brendan has started Middle School this year and is doing well. Three schools were combined so he is meeting a lot of new people. They have 2 dances this year so my boy is growing up on us!! He now attends school with his step sister which is awesome. They went to different elementary's due to his disability.
The kids are all growing up so fast. My little guy is already 2 years old! This pregnancy is flying by as well but so far I am handling it pretty well and can still lift Brendan when I need to.
I will try and post more often especially documenting everything regarding his SDR surgery!
Here is his go fund me link which explains our visit in more detail and how we finally made the decision:
More about SDR:
It was Thanksgiving day back in 2002. I was only 23 years old and my life forever changed on that day. I had a placental abruption and Brendan was born at 33 weeks. He lost oxygen during delivery due to incompetent care but was a fighter and turned 17 this year. My journey in life over the past 17 years took many turns I was not expecting but I try to stay strong and have my husband by my side even when I am not.
So nice to see you back! I think about you and Brendan often!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your pregnancy! You are amazing to be taking on SDR a month after having a baby! Please post as often as you can throughout the process. I'll be thinking of you and wishing you all the best.
What about renting a house or apartment in St. Louis instead of a hotel? Then you'd have some comforts of home for the 3 weeks. Good sites to check out are homeaway.com and airbnb.com. We have rented houses through homeaway for vacations because it's so much easier than staying in a hotel. Good luck!
Thanks Sheila! I wish I had more time. I get so many amazing emails from people that read my blog and I feel guilty for not sharing more. I will totally be on top of this process!
ReplyDeleteTHanks so much for the info on the homes. I will look into that for sure!