Surgery Buddies!

Brennan's best buddy, Chris, is scheduled for the same Medpor ear reconstructive surgery 2 days after Brennan!!! This is great news because this means they can go through the whole recovery process together! They will be able to go to their numerous post-op appointments and be able to learn how to take care of their new ears together! Not only is this great for Brennan and Chris, it's also such a blessing to have Chris' parents, Susan and CJ, to go through this journey with.
Brennan's ear reconstructive surgery is scheduled on October 12 at Cedars Hospital and Chris' surgery is scheduled on October 14 at CHLA... by the same doctor!!! Chris has to get cleared by his heart doctor and gain some more weight in order to be able to have the surgery done in October. Please keep this little guy in your prayers. Pray that Chris can gain the weight needed and that his heart doctor gives the ok.

December fun

A few things we have been doing this week...

Decorating the Christmas tree

Brennan wanting to taste the apple ornament

Trying to taste the pickle ornament

Adding ornaments with mommy

Kisses from my little Santa

B and Daddy

Another picture of my two favorite boys

Making a gingerbread house

Enjoying the candy!

being so very careful with it :)

Our sweet little P-nut

PJ's on and ready to go driving around town looking at Christmas lights

Time at Knotts

Poor Faith wasn't feeling well, having a hard time with teething

B loved this ride and giggled the whole time

The caboose on the train

Hangin in the stroller

B loved the "slide" on the ride

We all had a blast at Knotts.

A few more work days for Joel then it's off to Arizona for Christmas...

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

On the calendar

May 27 and October 12... Two VERY important dates in 2010. As of now, these are the surgery dates for Brennan.

May 27: Atresia Repair- creating an ear canal and ear drum (to help with hearing and sound localization).

October 12: Medpor Ear Reconstruction- the surgical attachment of a plastic porous material and use of a skin graft to create an ear.

We are excited to get this process started but at the same time terrified to put our little guy through these very serious surgeries. We are at peace that God has planned this for Brennan even before he was born and rest in the fact that our Lord God will be watching over Brennan through everything. We are confindent we are making the best decisions for Brennan and that it will greatly benefit him in the future. We appreciate continued prayers from everyone.

1st Time

Joel and I haven't been to Disneyland in almost 3 years and I have to admit, it's a WHOLE NEW EXPERIENCE with kids. It was Brennan's first time! He loved it. He just had a hard time with the "waiting in line" thing :) We got season passes so I think the more we go, the more he will get used to it. Faith was great the whole time. She took great naps in the stroller and hung out in the sling most of the day. We had a great time and can't wait to go again. Brennan keeps talking about his favorite ride: Buzz Lightyear, he says he wants to "shoot the monsters" again :)

Qualifies!

We got our CT Scan results today. Brennan qualifies for the ear canal surgery, other wise known as atresia surgery. We have lots to do within the next 6 months to schedule it. In the meantime, we will be researching the surgery as much as possible and try to get in contact with families who have been through this before. We would love to talk with parents whose children have had it done and find out about how the surgery has improved the hearing in their children. We also have lots to work out with insurance...that's when the fun begins :)

We will probably schedule the surgery right after Brennan turns 3. The doctor is a brain surgeon up north in the Stanford area. It's an out-patient surgery that involves drilling a hole through the skull creating an ear canal and using a skin-graft to create an ear drum. The surgery will help Brennan hear from his left ear and help him with sound localization.

Thank you for all your prayers and we will keep you updated!

A Long Day

Well, we did it. Brennan's CT Scan is complete. Let's just say we are so glad it's over. We left for Children's Hospital in LA at 5:30am to get there for our 7:00am appt. Overall things went pretty smooth. We filled out paperwork and were in the prep room by 7:30. Brennan started screaming and crying when they were simply trying to weigh him, so we knew this was going to be a difficult process. It was obvious he knew something was up. Thankfully Joel's mom came along to take care of Faith so Joel and I could both be there for Brennan. Brennan's audiologist, Naomi Smith, from the Early Start Program came to lend her support and be there for us. It was truly a blessing to have her there with us to help through this emotional time. Once he was in the prep room, they attempted to do the IV in his hand...twice. It was difficult for Joel and I emotionally because we had to hold him down as he was screaming and crying. He just kept yelling, "All done!" and "Daddy, I don't want to!" After what seemed like an eternity, the IV was in. It took a while for B to calm down and relax so we sang songs, showed him pictures and talked with him about things he loves as we were waiting for his turn in the CT scan room. Once it was ready, Joel carried B into the room and I went back to the waiting area. Joel was there when they put the "white liquid" into the IV and B went limp. Joel came back to the waiting area and we sat and waited with our pager. It was only 20 minutes but the longest 20 minutes of our lives. We were finally able to go into the recovery room and be there when he woke up. He was groggy and hungry, but he didn't cry and was back to his usual self within minutes. We left with two CD's of the scan and immediately sent one up north to his Dr. We should be getting the results by next week.

Thank you for all of your prayers. Going through this has prepared us more for the next stage in Brennan's surgery process. We are learning more about trusting God through all of this and growing closer as a family.

Lastly, walking the halls of the children's hospital has again opened our eyes more to how truly blessed we are for our children's health and our own.


In the car at 5:30am...still in his pj's, he has no idea what is going on



Walking in with Grandma

Our little P-nut, along for the ride

In the waiting room

Still waiting...

He wasn't digging it at all

Not too happy

Not too sure why we are here

Putting on the gown

Going into the prep room

After the IV was put into his right arm and a few minutes of screaming and crying... now just waiting for the next step

Listening to Bible songs on my phone and singing them to Brennan, trying to calm him down

All done!!! After he woke up from 20 minutes of sedation and sharing juice with his monkey

Wed, Nov. 11th

Tomorrow, November 11th, we go in for Brennan's CT scan. We have to be at Children's Hospital in LA by 7:00am. We have been waiting a long time for this day. We are not looking forward to Brennan being starved of food past midnight and sedated for the test, but we are looking forward to getting it over with and finding out the results. It is the first big step into deciding what we will do next: hearing aid or surgery and reconstructive surgeries in the future. We will be sending the CT scan CD to a Dr. up north and we will hopefully have the results within days. We will update with the news.
Thank you for your prayers.