Post-Surgery Update & Special Mother's Day

As many of you already know, Jake's G-tube surgery went very well! We're so grateful!!! There was a two hour delay in the OR, but Jake handled the wait (and empty stomach) with relative ease -- thank goodness! The absolute worst part was watching the OR nurse carry him off for surgery as he looked over her shoulder at us. His actual surgery took almost three hours because they had to be extra careful to avoid puncturing his enlarged liver and spleen, so we had to wait an hour and a half longer than expected. As you can imagine, we were pretty unnerved by the wait, but as soon as he was in the recovery room we were allowed to be right by his side. Jake had a tough time coming out from the anesthesia, so they gave him a little dose of morphine to help him relax and sleep it off a bit.

Holding Momma's hand in the recovery room

Post-operatively, Jacob stayed on the third floor surgical unit in a teeny tiny (8' x 10') curtained off area complete with pull out chair for Momma to sleep on. It was tight quarters, but we had some nice nurses taking care of the little man. For anyone that has ever stayed overnight in the hospital, you know that it is quite possibly the worst place to get rest! Jake was pretty restless the first night and had a bit of pain and general discomfort from the surgery on Friday, so he was pretty uncomfortable much of the day. He had a tough time sleeping Friday night because there were a few other kids who cried off and on most of the night, so he spent much of the day Saturday sleeping. During the hospital stay Josh and I were taught how to use and care for Jake's feeding tube, as well as how to push medicine through his feeding tube -- this will be so great in the future! The first attempt was a little comedy of errors that resulted in 1.) syringe being dropped on the hospital floor 2.) syringe pulled too far out and then a re-do of suctioning causing air bubbles 3.) clearing of air bubbles resulted in Motrin being shot up on the ceiling 4.) call in to the pharmacy for more Motrin since most of it was on the ceiling. We had a great laugh!!

Jake has a new found love for flavored sponges



Watching some cartoons with Ele


During Jake's hospital stay, Josh got a chance to meet two incredible dads who happened to be sleeping overnight in one of the family lounge areas. They each told each other their reason for visiting Children's Hospital. You have to understand that Children's Hospital Oakland treats children with a wide array of conditions and diseases, so everyone that you meet is faced with their own unique challenges and heartache when it comes to their children. One of the dads was accompanying his daughter, who has had severe seizures on a daily basis for most of her life and the family had just moved to California to seek care for their daughter. For those who know Josh, you know what a unique and funny guy he his. Well, Josh showed up to her room the next day and did a few magic tricks for the little girl. Josh said that her face lit up with a huge smile and she laughed with excitement, so much so that her mother got teary because they had not seen their daughter that happy for a very long time. The little girl even told Josh that he was the "best magician in the world" -- pretty impressive for a guy who knows about three magic tricks. I know that my summary of this moment in time falls quite short of truly sharing how truly special it was. That same day the parent's of the little girl, gave Josh a picture that the little girl had drawn along with an incredibly touching note to our family. It's just another reminder that no matter how hard you may struggle with the circumstances that you've been given, there is ALWAYS love, laughter and a bit of joy to "light" up the world. I'm thankful that Jake has such a special Daddy!!

Grandpa Dennis visting Jake

Motrin on the ceiling and magic tricks aside...Jake was slowly being acclimated to the hospital feeding pump as they bumped his feeding rate up every 4 hours or so. This took a while, so we arranged to have his home feeding pump delivered to the hospital. We were bound and determined to get home on Saturday night! We were actually discharged right at midnight on Saturday because we knew any sleep at home would be better than what we could get at the hospital -- no crying kids, beeping monitors, middle of the night vital checks... you get the idea!  It was a late night for Josh and I setting everything up at home, but well worth it to wake up on Mother's Day snuggled up with the fam! This was the most special mother's gift of all! As an added bonus, my Dad spent the day Saturday planting fresh flowers in our big planters out front complete with solar lights to add a little sparkle at night. It was such a sweet surprise to come home to. Thanks Dad!!

Now that we're at home, Jake's G-tube looks good and he's tolerating the nightly pump feedings nicely. I'll post a pic of his "button" once it's healed.  Since Jake's getting so much nutrition at night, his sleeping and eating schedule is a bit out-of-whack. It's going to be an adjustment for us all. Over the next couple of weeks, we will work on figuring out what his new schedule will be and adjusting his feedings as needed.  The feeding pump is the very first piece of medical equipment that we have in our home, so it's a bit of a learning experience. Rest assured, that we're actually catching on quite quickly! We did have a little snafu with the pump last night and a 4 AM BEEP! BEEP! BEEPING! We quickly figured out that it was due to a power cord issue, but we were able to get a new pump delivered earlier this afternoon. We're also getting set-up for on-going supply delivery of all his feeding supplies. All-in-all, Team Brooks is doing well!!

Jake's feeding pump

We greatly appreciate all the love and support that we continue to receive from our family, friends, and even those we have never met. Your calls, texts, cards, e-mails, Facebook posts and prayers mean the world to us!