He's HOME!!!

Connor is home!!! It has been a very difficult day both physically and emotionally for Connor. And very hard for mommy today! My adrenaline finally succumbed to my fatigue and it was down right exhausting. 

I'm not going to get into the details tonight as I'm too tired and we all need our rest. I will leave the run down of today for the next post.

Please continue to pray for Connor as it is extremly painful and there is absolutly nothing I can do. I can't even say it will get better because honestly from what we've been told it won't, he will just learn to handle it as best a 6 year old can. 

Loving being home with all my sweet, precious babies!

Rock star!!

Today Connor started off with his PT and every time it gets a little easier but it's still really tough. He's walking farther and farther with his walker. He has not put any weight on his leg/foot yet as it's still very swollen and being such a huge discrepancy we have to wait until his foot can get back into his shoe. 

After PT Connor had his first shower where we removed all the dressings from his leg. He was absolutely terrified of taking a shower. He was afraid he was going to see blood. After a good 5+ minutes of screaming in fear he finally looked and saw it wasn't that bad and actually enjoyed the nice warm shower! I learned what needs to be done with his pin sites and got him cleaned and dressed and back to the room for a much needed nap. 

Daddy came up and brought us lunch but Connor was out cold! Such a busy morning he was so tired. It was nice spending some time just Andy and I while Connor slept. We haven't really talked since Wednesday so it was nice sitting and being with each other. Connors Mawmaw and papa came up for a bit and visited and then GG and papa OG Uncle Patrick and Brenden and Macie. I left with my mom to get us dinner and when I got back our friends The Johnson's came up to visit Connor. All the kids got to play together in the huge rec room! They had a blast. 

Connor is back in bed asleep and I'm not far behind him in going to sleep myself. These are very long nights and days but the good news is we are going home tomorrow!! We still have a shower and 2 PT sessions before we can go but we do go home tomorrow. We will get settled and I'm sure Connor would love to have some visitors!!

Way to go Connor we are so proud of you!!

Better Everyday!

Each day Connor is getting stronger and stronger! As if he wasn't the strongest little man I know!! He amazes me everyday! 

I was not with him this morning but daddy was. Dad said he had a bit of a rough night trying to fall asleep and get comfortable. He was finally asleep by 2AM and he slept until 7AM! Once they were up they had some breakfast and then went to PT. His PT is the hardest for him. Right now we are just doing the stretches that we will do at home 2x a day. They are still hard on him. Once they finished up they played in the playroom for a bit then headed back for lunch. He tuckered out quickly and fell asleep before lunch even got there. He slept till about 2:15 when Brenden and I showed up. (Macie misses Connor but she is all over the place and is hard to keep her calm and contained so she stayed with Aunt Mimi for a bit) Connor are a small lunch and then we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and we took a walk around the hospital and sat out in the garden and just soaked up the sun!

Great Grandma and great Grandpa came up to visit him and so did Great Aunt Holly and cousin Kelly. He had a great visit with them and even showed off his mad skills of getting up and walking with his walker to his bed. 

They left and so did Dad and Brenden and we ate dinner and then I did my first session of stretches with him by myself. It is so hard making him stretch and not stopping when he cries out in pain and pleads for me to stop. But we both made it through. I will have to work with his therapist to make sure the stretches are sufficient because I don't honestly know if I did ok. After we did his stretches we went to the playroom. Connor and I played a little bit but then he and his new friend Ashton played for awhile. 

I swear he had a blast even though it doesn't look like it here.

Right now Connor is resting comfortably in bed watching cartoons. Tomorrow looks to be a little more interesting. In the morning he is getting his first shower!! They will remove all the dressings, this can be very intense, not necessarily pain wise but seeing all the pin sites. We already had one situation in which Connor saw a pin site and some blood and he was very scared. So tomorrow will be interesting to see how it goes. We did NOT turn his pins today but we are scheduled to turn tomorrow. We also have one session of PT again and then I will have to do a stretch session myself. Connor may be getting some friends come visit tomorrow which he loves to have visitors! We are also going to try and get outside again tomorrow weather permitting.

We continue to thank everyone for their prayer, support and everything!! We are so blessed to have such an outpouring of love and support! Connor is rockin this Fixator and is the strongest little man I have ever met!! ❤️All My Babies💙

Still doing great!

I am going to keep this kind of simple.

Andy has hospital duty tonight. I need to get some rest and see my other babies too!! 

Connor had a good day today. Woke up happy and feeling good. We got a bath and headed to PT where he saw his friend Myles! It was awesome watching these two boys encourage each other as they both worked really hard to do their PT! He had a few visitors today. Mawmaw Aunt Gina Aunt EE Uncle Patrick and Aunt Mimi. 

Connor did have his pins turned for the first time today. He did really well with it. He did see one of his pin sites and the blood and had a major meltdown but Jill, Dr Gordon's AMAZING nurse helped get that covered and shortly after he began to calm down. 

He is amazing and we couldn't be more proud of him!!!

Long restless night turns into day.

Overall, compared to the other two boys who had this surgery yesterday as well and who are quite a bit older than Connor, he is doing really well.

Last night was long. He was on the PCA pump with morphine and because of this his vitals were checked every 2 hours. Also a side effect of morphine is itchiness and poor Connor has it bad. He seemed to finally be comfortable around 4:15 when 5am arrived Mother Nature decided she wanted to test my limits and throw in tornados. All 11 kids on the floor were moved in their beds into the hall, 11 is a very high number here their norm is 3!!! Anyways, we finally got the all clear to go back around 6. He was running a slight fever during all this as well! Kid just could not catch a break. We stopped his morphine this morning around 8:30 and he has been well controlled ever since. He did have his first huge muscle spasms and oh how I wish these were not part of this. The poor kid freezes in INTENSE pain until it stops. He is so tough, a grown man would not be able to handle this. Connor started PT today and got up to his walker and got into bed a few times. He's using a wheel chair for now but this is not part of the plan. We had visits from Macie, Daddy, GG and Papa OG today. Connor got to play in the rec room a few times and seemed to enjoy it. In all I think today went pretty well.  

Tomorrow we begin the pin turning. We have a schedule we will follow but I don't remember all of it as this momma is running on about 5 hours of sleep over the last 36 hours. When I get the schedule I will post it. He will have 2 PT sessions tomorrow just like today, 1st at 9am with a very special friend from DASA named Myles! These two boys when are together can't stop laughing and talking! A great friendship!! The 2nd will be in the afternoon. I am not sure exactly when we will turn the pins but Connor is very nervous about this. We have more visitors tomorrow that Connor is ready to see including Myles Mawmaw Aunt Gina Aunt EE and Aunt Manda(in order of apperance:)) Seems that Sunday he will get a shower and the dressings will be removed and we will learn the pin care then. 

As I am writing this, once again St Louis weather is making things a bit more challenging. It is 8:30pm and we have have been moved into the hall for tornados twice in the last half hour. And it is of course time for Co. It's meds and fortunately he is resting nicely. Thank you to all for the continued thoughts and prayers! I was very touched by Connors principal who took time this morning to just call and see how he was doing. We really are in the best community and have an amazing support system! Thank you to all our families, friends, DASA, Everyone at Lakeview Elementary, the caring coworkers Andy works with at Peaody and especially the care we are getting here at Shriners! I will update tomorrow night with all the new and exciting things happening with Connor!

PS-I have not seen Brenden since early yesterday but I am so proud of him for helping and being such an awesome big brother and Macie for being our sweet little princess giving Connor a huge kids when she saw him today!

~Good Night~

Surgery Day!

Connor is AMAZING! He is so strong and we are so proud if him.

He started out the day only able to have clear liquids until 10am. He did great, actually never even asked for food. We arrived at Shriners at 10:40 this morning and got checked in. As soon as we got upstairs he was asking for the playroom. After about 45 mins he and daddy went and played while I talked with the nurse. At 12:30 they called us down to the OR. Connor did get very emotional this time and cried a bit. I think his nerves caught up with him. We calmed him down he got his "happy juice" and he began and relax. The drs came to give us a quick run down of the surgery, anasthesia, and history. We gave him tons of hugs and kisses and they wheeled him out at 1. We stayed strong for Connor and managed to not cry too much after he left. We got an update at 3pm that they were still working on him and trying to get the Fixator right around his knee. Andy and I went to get some fresh air thinking we would have about an hour before they call and tell us he's done. On our way back to the waiting room at 3:30 we saw Dr and he said he did great that believe it or not this was the easy part the hard work is only just beginning. We were able to go back and see him at about 4:30. He was somewhat awake but we got him comfortable and the nurse hooked up his PCA pump, which is a machine that gives him his pain medicine and if he's really feeling pain he can press a button that will give him an extra dose. He won't overdose on this, he can press it as much as he wants but it will only allow the medicine to be released every 10 mins. He has been in pain and pretty intense at times but he presses his button and he quickly starts to feel better.   

Tomorrow sometime in the afternoon we will get him up to at least a chair but if he's up for it we will do more. He will be here at Shriners until at least Monday. 

He is a very strong little man and we are so proud of him. He has flashed that one of a kind smile he has at us and it melts out hearts! The road has just begun and he will be an inspiration to us everyday!! I will try and update more tomorrow!

Almost Time

Surgery day is just about here! To say we are nervous/anxious is an understatement. We knew this would be happening one day but it seems like just yesterday he was born!!! Time has flown. We only hope and pray that everything goes smoothly and we all adjust to this easily. Praying Connor is calm and comfortable and learns and understands that this is all for him, to get his little leg big like he wants. I know he will be in great skilled hands, just praying God guides them and keeps Connor safe and comfortable. We just ask for prayers and support for all of us as it will be hard for everyone for a bit. I will try and update at the end of each day on here with how Connor is doing.