Laura,

Your description of Brian' surgery actually made me
cry. I can just imagine what it felt like to you. My
own son was in the hospital for longish stays twice.
Once he was admitted through the emergecy room for 5
days because of a severe asthma attack, just before he
turned 10. Another time, just before he turned 15, he
was attacked by a roving gang, stomped, beaten,
strangled, and left for dead. He survived, but was
unconscious for nearly 2 days. After I got him home
from the hospital, I had to pretty much take care of
him like a baby--including bathing him and carrying
him to the bathroom and holding him up to pee. He was
very skinny, so I managed, but it was hard, since he
was also over 6 feet tall.

Whenever I went to teach for the next two weeks, I
hired a young man to stay with Michael and help him,
because he had to be spoon fed and was not able to do
much at all for himself. He was also blind for most of
that first week because his eyes were completely
swollen shut.

Seeing the child you love more than life itself lying
there helpless, fearing for his life (because even
with routine surgery things can go wrong), knowing he
is frightened and perhaps in pain--When I think of
those times with my son, I still cry. I so understand
how terrifying and heartbreaking it was for you.

And with a tiny baby, it is even worse, because they
are scared, and you can't make them understand why
this is being done to them.

I can't wait to hear about Brian's progress with the
CI. Were you able to establish any sort of ongoing
contact with the other parents of CI infants? Perhaps
the hospital could find a way to help you get in
touch without violating privacy laws.It seems to me
that a support group would be wonderful for you. The
hospital could facilitate it by sending out notices
and hosting a brief first group visit for those who
would like to do that.

Also, you might want to call your local paper and have
them do a feature story on Brian. That could put you
in touch with other CI people or their parents.

I am so excited for Brian. Tell us about all his
milestones.

Also, would you like to write up an ongoing series
about his CI and have me post it on my deaf website?
You could revise this posting for general publicationa
and I would post it up for you. And then as things
develop, you could add to his story. I think a lot of
people would be very glad to have access to first-hand
information like that.

On my "Out of the Blue" website, I have a series of 11
articles about plantar fasciitis treatments, including
surgery and orthotripsy. It is *extremely* popular.
People write to me all the time to tell me how
grateful they are for the first-hand info. About half
of the articles are actually reports written for me by
readers who underwent either endoscopic plantar
fasciotomy (as I did) or orthotripsy. One of them
continued his recovery reports for me for 2 years.
(Greg and I have become very good online friends over
the years because of this.)

Think about it. I would really love to be able to post
up Brian's story as it develops.

I would also be very glad to post a prequel,
describing your journey from the time when you first
learned your newborn was deaf, through adjustment, and
on to acceptance and dealing with it in a proactive
way. Other parents of deaf children would be so
grateful for such a story. Imagine how it would have
helped you if you had found a story like that on my
website when you first stumbled across my articles. We
would use only first names--and even change them if
you wanted to, to protect your privacy. Over time,
perhaps we could even develop a little ebook over time
and make it available on the site for a small purchase
price (which would be yours and Brian's, of course).

Most of what my sites are for is to help other people
with information that eases their difficulties or
works toward solving their problems. Brian's story
would be perfect for helping people.---Tina






--- lauraandmyson <lauraandmyson@...> wrote:

> Brian surgery went very smoothly. We arrived at the
> hospital at 8
> and filled out all the paperwork. We were then
> taken to a small
> room where we were to wait for the doctors 1st
> surgery to end. Our
> surgeon had 4 implants to do Friday. While waiting,
> we were
> approached by different members of the surgical team
> to explain what
> their roles were going to be in the surgical room.
> It was very
> comforting talking to all these people and getting
> to "feel them
> out" as to who will be with Brian. The last person
> to come in was
> Brian's nurse. We spoke for a little while and then
> he helped put
> on his little yellow robe. He gave me scrubs to
> take Brian into the
> surgery room so I could be there as they put Brian
> to sleep. While
> walking to the surgery room, all I could imagine was
> them putting
> Brian to sleep and cutting him open. I REALLY tried
> not to cry. We
> got into the surgical room and it was like an oven
> in there. As
> soon as we walked in Brian started crying
> hysterically. I placed
> him on this bubble looking bed for him and the
> anesthesiologist
> started putting him to sleep while he was crying. I
> watched him
> drift off crying and then the surgeon told me to
> kiss him and
> leave. That's when I lost it. I became hysterical
> right there
> infront of everyone. I couldn't stop myself. I
> kissed Brian and
> the nurse walked me back to the waiting area and got
> me a cup of ice
> chips and napkins and went back to the surgery room.
> I finally got
> myself together and hubby and I went to eat
> breakfast. The surgery
> was about 2 hours. The surgeon came in to us and
> told us EVERYTHING
> went smoothly. He turned the implant on and gave i
> a test run and
> said there was brain activity. There should be no
> problems when he
> gets turned on. Brian was in recovery within 1/2
> hour. When we got
> there he had a blood pressure monitor attached to
> his big toe. He
> had a catheder in his right hand attached to a
> morphine drip and
> saline. He was crying so hoarsely (he had a
> breathing tube during
> surgery) with the nurses that as soon as he saw me
> he lunged at me
> and got really quiet. He had a bandage on his his
> which was sort of
> in a shape of a football. I sat down with him and
> he fell asleep on
> my chest for the whole recovery (about and hour,
> hour and a half).
> We had our own nurse in recovery which was really
> cool. Everyone in
> recovery had their own nurse. We were then taken to
> our room and
> there he woke up and started staring at his right
> hand. He stared
> for a while and then attempted to put his right hand
> in his mouth.
> The nurses were not allowed to take the catheder out
> until he was
> able to have some water without vomitting. And he
> did. So out went
> the catheder. He also had a VERY big appetite. He
> would eat bottle
> after bottle. I was scared to really give him
> solids for fear he
> would really throw up. He drank his formula and
> surprisingly his
> water as well. He took long naps as the effects of
> the anasthesia
> were wearing off. The nurses told us there was a
> book with take out
> delivery places in case we wanted to eat. We
> ordered some sushi and
> it was good. Brian slept through the whole sushi
> dinner so I was
> able to eat. I sent hubby home and stayed with
> Brian. We walked
> around the floor hoping to see the other 3 implant
> patients. All
> the implant patients were babies. The oldest was 18
> months old. We
> were woken up during the night for blood pressure
> checks and
> tempature checks. The usual. Hubby came at the
> right time in the
> morning. They were serving breakfast. I asked to
> have the adult
> breakfast and they didn't have a problem with that.
> Then the
> surgeon came in and the bandages came off and he
> examined it and
> said we were cleared for discharge. We took a
> picture of the Brian
> with the surgeon. We will need to come to his
> office in a week so
> he can check his stitches. They are the stiches
> that melt away. I
> wasn't allowed to wash his hair Saturday. Sunday is
> allowed and I
> can take him outside starting Monday. Unreal.
> So to make a long story short, Brian is back to
> normal. He's
> playing with everything in the house and is smiling
> and lauging
> again.
>
>
>
>
>
>



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