Well,Timmy had surgery Tuesday the 14th. He had a fistula-ectomy (sp?). The surgery went well, but he had complications with waking up. They had trouble taking out his breathing tube. He stopped breathing 4 times (actually he just held his breath for a long time). They had to give him meds to get him to relax his muscles. Turns out he has a mild case of tracheomalacia. That is a weakness and floppiness of the walls of the windpipe. They say he will grow out of it as he gets older. Needless to say, he stayed overnight in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at MaryBridge Hospital. By Tuesday night he was acting more like his happy self and Wednesday morning we were able to take him home. We have a follow up appointment on Monday the 27th with the pediatric surgeon.

Surgery

Timmy had his appointment with a pediatric surgeon today. He is scheduled for outpatient surgery at 9am on Tuesday the 14th. (Mom, I know that I told you 10:30am, but they called and moved it up to 9am.) He has what is called a fistula. A fistula is almost always the result of a previous abscess. It is a small tunnel that forms under the skin and connects a previously infected anal gland to the skin on the buttocks outside the anus. The doctor told us that it was nothing we did that caused it and that everything that was done previously (i.e. draining the abscess and the antibiotics) was what was supposed to be done. Timmy has to have anesthesia because it would be too painful otherwise. The actual surgery should only take 40 minutes, but we will probably be at the hospital for 4 hours (counting pre-and post-op). We have a follow-up appointment with the pediatric surgeon on Wednesday the 15th. Please keep us in your prayers. I know it is not major surgery, but it is a risk when young children have to be given anesthesia. I am doing fine now, but will probably be a basket case the few days leading up to the surgery. We are hoping to have friends watch Benny for us on the day of the surgery. This should lessen the stress a bit for us since we would not have to keep Benny occupied.

6 Month Checkup

Timmy had his 6 month checkup yesterday. Here are his stats: Weight 16.4 lbs, Length: 25.25 inches. So he gained almost 3 pounds but didn't grow in height. Overall he is doing okay. He received 3 shots which he didn't really cry about. He cried more when they had to prick his heel and draw blood. I have tried solid foods with him, but he has shown little to no interest. The only thing he likes somewhat is squash. He still has the abscess on his bottom, so we were referred to a pediatric surgeon (appointment on Sept 8th) to see if it needs to be surgically removed. It doesn't really bother him but we still need to get it taken care of. Timmy took a three hour nap yesterday, but no nap longer than 20 minutes today. Not eating as much today either, but I chalk that up to the shots.

On another note, Benny now has a sand/water table. I purchased it from craigslist today and he has been out playing with it most of the afternoon. It only has water in it because we need to go and purchase some sand.