Catching up

 I just realized my posts went from Christmas to Griffin's surgery and skipped everything in between. I'm not good at this blogging thing! So here's a quick nutshell of the last 7 months of our lives in pictures.

 

Reading with Leapfrog Tag Readers- They LOVE them!

 

Playing with colored rice- messy but so worth the hours of fun

 

 

Valentine's Day 

 

 

First Cereal 

 

Playing Ninja Turtles

 

 

 

Sitting all alone

 

6 am at the Powell house on a typical day

 

 

Temple Square and LDS Church Office buildings in Salt Lake

 

City Creek

 

Easter Eggs make good baby toys

 

Egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Powell's house...

 

... and then at Grandma and Grandpa Jorgensen's.

 

The Easter Bunny hides our baskets!

 

Easter outfits

 

Deegan reading Go! Dog, Go!

Griffin was hiding from me and it only took a minute or 2 before he was asleep on the floor.

 

Deegan was a Racoon in a local community play of Winnie the Pooh and had a lot of fun!

 

Griffin turned 3 right in the middle of his hospital fiasco's when he was feeling really well! Good timing!

 

Summer!

 

being forced to eat dinner is exhausting!

 

Ritter learned to crawl and hated it!

 

Lazy Summer afternoon

 

 

"take a picture of my arm"

He liked to show off his picc line bandages

 

Ritter's favorite place to stand up. I think he thinks he's going to get in if he stands there long enough.

 

 

Providence City's Annual Celebration

Got a new old piano!!

 

He got his blanket taken away at bedtime after jumping around and playing in bed, so he made good use of his pillow instead?

 

Swimming break for a few minutes until dad got home.

 

That's about it, lots of playing and wearing ourselves out this summer! We are ready to get back to a normal routine and cooler weather though!

Chapter 4

It will probably take me a good 6 months or more of Griffin having no complications before I accept that he's off this rollercoaster we've been on, but it's been 2 weeks since he stopped his antibiotics and he's still not in pain, so I'm ready to atleast write another update. An hour or 2 after I wrote the last update (Chapter 3), I got a call from our home health nurse saying she had received orders to do a blood draw and check his infection levels. If he was back to normal we'd be able to ditch the PICC line and move on with life!!! She came that night and did the blood draw and called me later that night to tell me that he was doing REALLY well and we were ready to stop antibiotics and take the PICC line out! We were so excited! I continued through Thursday because the soonest she could come was Friday morning. It worked out SO perfect because Adam and I had already gotten tickets to go see Superman at the IMAX in Salt Lake for Friday night long before Griff was back in the hospital, so we decided to have my mom babysit and we'd teach her all about how to care for his line and how to hook up his meds, etc. This meant we wouldn't have to worry about all of that! So Friday morning came around and we pulled the line out and I almost felt lost. It was the same feeling as when he got his helmet off when he was a baby. It seemed like there should have been more to it. In any case, we were excited and we packed up to head to my mom's and SLC. I worried all day that blood was going to come gushing out, or something horrible because he was so free that it seemed weird. That night, Adam and I had a much needed break and went to see Superman, have dinner and shop a little with a few friends. It was Father's Day weekend, so we stayed down Saturday to celebrate and then came home Sunday morning (or maybe it was late Saturday night- it's all kind of a blur to me!). Sunday night Griff started complaining that his tummy hurt again and woke up in the middle of the night with a slight fever again. We talked with the dr. and headed back to Primary Children's to see what was going on. This time they had a bed waiting for us and a Cat Scan already scheduled. They decided to sedate him this time around because without sedation it was a NIGHTMARE the first time. It went really smoothly and when he woke up he saw SpongeBob painted on the ceiling and said "whooooooooah, Sssssppaahhnnnnge bahhhhb" (like in slow motion)! It was so funny to watch him. They took up back to his room and when the tall (5'11")  nurse came in to check his vitals he said "WHOOOOAAH Sheeeee'sssss BiiiiiiiiiiG!" :-) We all laughed a little more. They found only a teeny tiny pocket of infection, that they said should really just drain on it's own since he still had the drains in, but they couldn't explain why it was there to begin with since he had the drains. The doctors were all baffled. Dr. Skarda, our surgeon, admitted that he had no idea what was going on. We had the Infectious Disease team come and interview us and discuss possibilities then run tests and they found nothing abnormal. They debated about putting another PICC line in, or doing some exploratory surgery to see if there was something not showing up on the CT scan, but ultimately decided to send us home (after 2 more nights) with Amoxicillin for a couple of weeks. I  was sure he was fine, but people kept putting the idea that maybe he had cancer or some horrible immune deficiency in my head, so I asked him if those were a possibility. He told me that they had already looked for cancer cells and didn't find any in the tissue they removed, and that immune deficiency was unlikely but they can't rule it out until he's healthy. That was a little more comforting to know we weren't dealing with something much worse. A week after we got home again (Thursday night), Griffin started running a slight fever and was throwing up. All along we haven't had any vomiting, so I panicked! I texted Dr. Skarda at 3:30 am Friday and got a phone call back at about 5 that morning. He told me that he still was just baffled and that the only thing he could think of is that in the last surgery he had been a little conservative so as to avoid causing a leak in Griff's colon and maybe missed some of the infection. He told us that the best thing to do would be to do a more invasive deeper surgery to REALLY clean it out and be more sure we got everything. The downside was that there was a good possibility that he could knick the colon and cause leakage which would bring more problems. Feeling like we had no other options, he and I decided we'd do that. He got Griff on the schedule for that afternoon and I told Adam we were going to head down to PCMC yet again. After a few minutes of packing and worrying, Adam asked me if we could wait and see how he did for the day. I called back and asked if we could wait since Griffin had stopped throwing up, but that if he started again we'd head in to surgery. So that was the plan and Adam and I decided we'd rather be close if we did need to take him in again, so we went and stayed the night at his parent's house in Syracuse (about half way between our house and PCMC). That night Deegan and Ritter got sick and started vomiting uncontrollably. Adam followed a few hours later and it continued all night long. It was nuts and there's no way I could have handled it without the help of Adam's mom and dad. We stayed until Sunday when Adam was finally feeling a little better and the throwing up was mostly over. Ritter's ended up sticking around a few more days, but we were glad to know that Griffin didn't need another surgery, for now.  Over that 2 weeks, I was CRAZY paranoid and Griffin never really left the house.  We had a follow up appointment on his 14th day of Amoxicillin which was the 3rd of July to get the drains out. When we were deciding if he was ready to be off the meds, the dr. and I agreed that it would be best to continue through the weekend so that if something were to go wrong when he stops taking it, it wouldn't be the holiday or the weekend with limited staffing at the hospital. He finished out what we had left through Saturday and so far we have had no complications in 2 weeks. Of course, Adam and I still jump every time anything seems off. If Griffin gets extra irritable, we check his temperature. If he walks a little weird, we poke at his stomach to see if it hurts. It's a crazy life being so paranoid, but boy are we blessed that this hasn't become something much worse (knock on wood) or more long-term!

The only pictures of this time frame I have are pictures of Griff's incision which we were sending daily to the surgeon and are too gross to post and  pictures of  the boys' 4th of July shirts, so Happy 4th of July!

I {heart} Foto Fly

 

They did SUCH a good job of getting my kids to be comfortable and happy! These were taken in May, after Griff's first 2 surgeries and we were nervous about how he'd be since he had been SO clingy ever since. We scheduled these pictures a couple months in advance though, so I didn't want to keep putting them off. We drove 2 hours from home to get them taken, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Chapter Three

Apparently I'm writing a novel, so here's chapter 3... Three seems to be a very common number in patterns and other predictable things. Three's company, 3rd time's the charm, bad things come in 3's.  To be honest, after Griffin's second surgery I was sure there had to be a #3 bad thing, but also sure it wasn't going to be him again! I have felt uneasy about Griffin's health since the 2nd hospital stay, but was just starting to move past that a couple of weeks ago as his incision finally closed up and he was looking really healthy. Two weeks ago tonight, we were getting everyone ready for bed and Griffin started complaining that his tummy hurt. I got him dressed and was a little nervous, but sure it was nothing because it would make no sense to have another issue this long after the last time. I watched him get up after saying prayers as he whispered "ohhh" in an agonizing but trying to be tough kind of way. Then I watched him walk to his bed like a little old man walking with a cane- bent over to one side and kind of limping.  I looked at Adam with that look of "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" and he just shook his head and gave me a half smile. We both knew what was coming even though we didn't want to admit that's what we were thinking.  That night he woke up crying and had a temperature of just 100. I wondered if maybe he was just really hot from being bundled in his blankets, but still gave him some Ibuprophen just in case. The next morning his fever was gone, but he was in pain. I had talked with a friend the night before and asked if she could watch my kids if I needed to take him in again and she of course said sure, but also reminded me that surgery scars can hurt long after surgery and maybe it's just a little irritated. I needed that to help me sleep because I was a little paranoid before! So, knowing I had a babysitter on call, I called the surgeon's office the minute they opened at 8:00 and talked to the nurse.  The Dr. was out of town for a week, but she said it sounded like he was probably fine, but to call back if his fever spikes. She also suggested maybe calling our pediatrician if I became concerned. I thought about it for a minute and decided to call the pediatrician's office. Griff had a well child appointment scheduled for the next day anyway, so the nurse suggested just bringing him in to be checked in case and maybe they could get the well child check in if he was otherwise fine. Our pediatrician is an hour south of us because we just love her so much we haven't been able to find anyone local to replace her. It usually works out ok because when we need to go to her office, I can have my mom or Adam's watch the other kids since they live close. They got us scheduled in for 10:30, and I figured worst case scenario, we'd need to stay the night for whatever treatments needed, best case, we'd stay the night so he could have his well child check the next day. So, I hurried super fast and packed one night's worth of stuff for everyone, including Adam, and headed to Ogden. I called my Mother-in-law on the way and asked if she'd meet me and pick up the other boys. We got there right at 10:30 and by then Griffin was hurting pretty bad. He wouldn't let anyone near his belly, and based on his symptoms and history, the Dr. suggested getting a CAT scan done to look for infection. This being the 3rd time around, she suggested we skip the local hospital and go straight to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake to get any testing needed and take care of whatever the problem may be. Adam was unreachable and I needed moral support if Griffin was going to be getting poked and prodded more, so I asked my mom to come with me. I picked her up, dropped a couple things off for the other boys and headed off to the hospital.  Luckily, I got a hold of Adam just in time for him to get there at about the same time as I did. We went into the ER and got check in right away and by then Griffin's fever was up to 102 and he was pretty miserable again. We spent the next 11 hours in the ER running tests and waiting, waiting, waiting.

Every medical person to come in our room suggested that this had to be some other thing causing his problems since he's felt good for 4-5 weeks. They checked for a bladder infection, they checked for a regular virus, they check all kinds of things and then decided to do a CAT scan. It was miserable trying to get him to be still for the CT. I told them they'd need to sedate him, but they really wanted to try "other calming techniques" first. It took an hour and a ton of different medications pumped through his IV to finally calm him down enough to be distractible.
At PCMC they have "Child Life Specialists" that come and visit with the patients and explain what is happening and play a little bit to help comfort them. One of the specialists brought in an iPad with games to keep him busy. They'd work for a minute, then he'd remember he was strapped up in the air to a moving machine and freak out. We finally found one that he liked called "Talking Tom". It's a cat that repeats what you say in a funny voice and you can punch him and knock him over. G thought it was hilarious to punch him, so about 4 of us stood around the  machine cheering "get him! punch him! Harder!" to keep him occupied. After the CT scan the surgeon came in and showed us the image of his belly. There was a huge pocket of infection right behind his incision that apparently had been "brewing" in there for over a month! From the reports he read, the surgeon concluded that his appendix actually HAD ruptured initially and was never fully taken care of.

 We were given 3 treatment options, which the surgeon considered to all be pretty good options. 1. Treat with just antibiotics for as long as needed- possibly a few months. 2. have a radiologist stick a needle in and "suck" the infection out, which could possibly result in needing surgery to finish cleaning it out. 3. Open the incision back up and clean it out and place a couple of drains in there to help it keep draining for a while. To me, the one that sounded most likely to work the best was surgery, and we wanted this to be our last hospital visit for this, so whatever's going to work best is what we wanted! They decided to wait until morning to decide what to do, so they admitted us to the surgical unit.  In the morning we told them that we wanted to do the surgery, so off he went, again, to surgery. My brother had mentioned stopping in for a visit since he worked right by us, so I asked if he'd come and help Adam give Griffin a blessing before the surgery. He got there just in time and I was so grateful for the Priesthood at that moment. The surgeon said he was originally leaning to option #2, but that he really felt like surgery was the answer. It never gets easier sending your baby off to an unknown place with strangers. Before the surgery, the anesthesiologist was telling us the risks and how they have such a low occurrence rate and I just rolled my eyes because so far just about everything we've been through with this has had a low occurrence rate! I told him thanks for the comforting words, but I was still skeptical. It was a long long long hour waiting, but the surgeon came out and showed us pictures of the incision and said it went really well. We were supposed to stay that night and head home on Saturday. They placed a PICC line (internal IV basically that goes up his arm and ends right next to his heart) while he was in surgery so that he can have IV antibiotics at home and any blood draws would come from there as well. On Saturday, we were told that they needed to keep up another day while they run a test on the bacteria to find out if it was the same bacteria and which antibiotics were best. So we stayed another day.

Saturday night they were filming their annual telethon, so they had a big party for everyone at the hospital. Griffin was doing much better and had been up running the halls and talking everyone's ears off, so they came and asked if he'd talk on the TV about being at the hospital. Being that I had only packed 1 day's worth of things for Adam and I and we were kind of grungy looking, we weren't exactly in the mood to be on TV, so we said no thanks! The party was fun, there was tons of food, people dressed as SpongeBob, a mermaid and pirates, there was a fishing game, crafts and face painting. While Griffin was decorating a "wish fish" to put on the wishing wall, they asked if he'd put it on the wall while they did a live shot of the hosts in front of him. It was fun for Deegan to get to see him on TV. Griff got to eat all the treats he wanted- cupcakes, candy, soda! He was in heaven for a little bit! Sunday morning the nurses told us that the bacteria needed another 24 hours to finish the test, so we had to wait until Monday to go home. We were SO ready to go home by Monday! Monday morning they told us that they had set the bacteria up with the "normal set up" of antibiotics to test and they didn't get the results they'd expected so they were going to do it again with a customized set up. Luckily, they sent us home and were going to maybe change his antibiotics after a couple days. They set up a home health nurse to come to our house and show us how to administer his IV meds and help with dressing changes, etc. We've been home a week and 2 days and are starting to adjust. He gets his antibiotics 3 times a day for an hour through a little "water balloon" type thing (and one 5 minute one through a syringe). It's kind of weird playing "nurse", but it's going well. We're still not sure when this will all end, but hoping for sooner rather than later, and really hoping this is the end of the complications- although my optimism is a little damaged this time around. Whatever, as they say, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I think Griffin will be a tough kid growing up!

Being silly, killing time while he was hooked up for antibiotics

Walking the halls- too anxious to wait for mom and dad!

I think they hand picked this room just for Griffin to be able to watch tower cranes and construction workers all day!

Ready to go HOME!!

 

 

We've been watching WAY more movies than we should be, but when he has to sit with tubes hanging out his arm at 1 in the afternoon, what better way to do it than in front of the TV? Plus, he has a dose at 9 pm and 5 am which means not a lot of sleep for me, so I need a little down time in the middle of the day!

"Take a picture of my band aid mom"

 

Chillin'

Double Jinxed

" While it's not over yet, so I shouldn't probably jinx myself again, things have worked out just fine and we are still loving life!"- Me, in my last blog post...

I've decided to keep my mouth shut about how great or not great my life is and just stick to the facts because apparently the Lord has a good sense of humor (and knows I do too I guess) about my "bragging" about my good life. The Thursday after Griffin's surgery (4 days later), he woke up with a fever of 102. I gave him his pain meds and that brought it down to around 99 where it stayed the rest of the morning and afternoon. He was different though. It almost like he had the same pain as before his surgery again. He had been up and running around on Wednesday, but Thursday he could hardly move. He cried a lot. I thought he may have been in more pain because Adam and I removed his original bandage Wednesday night for the first time since the surgery. I waited until afternoon and he was just acting miserable, so at the last minute I called Kelly Stack (Amanda's mom) and asked if she could go with me to the dr. if they could see him today. I knew he wouldn't be able to sit in his car seat, so I couldn't drive him there without someone to hold him. She agreed, so I called the dr. and they said to bring him in. We got there and by the time we were there he was pretty much lethargic and sweating pretty bad. His temp was up a little but not much- I think around 100. The dr. looked at his belly and said it looked a little inflamed, but not that bad so he may need some oral antibiotics. He decided to check Griff's white blood cell count just in case, but like has been the constant in all of this, he was skeptical that anything was that wrong.  After a torturous blood draw, the dr. came back to tell me that his white cell count was back up to where it was pre-surgery. He sent us straight to the hospital to be admitted directly to the pediatric unit again and prepare for surgery #2. He said it was probably just some infection in the incision site and it would be simple to wash it out. Luckily at this point, Adam was almost home from work, so I made arrangements for Deegan to stay a little longer with my sweet neighbor Briana until Kelly could pick him up and take him and Ritter to her house for the night. Kelly and I headed to the hospital with Griff and Ritter and got checked back in and hooked up to all the monitors and IV. That was about where my emotions from the whole week broke through the barrier! One surgery I could deal with, but that much pain and trauma for an almost 3 yr old in one week is too much! Adam and Amanda's dad (Harold) met us at the hospital just in time to give him a blessing and send him back to surgery. It was a LONG LONG hour waiting. Much longer this time! When they brought him back to his room he was still sleeping. The nurses said everything went well and they took out about a tablespoon of pus just inside his incision and he should be good by the next day to go home. The next morning (at 4 am!) the lab guy came and drew more blood to check his white cell count. It had only dropped from 27000 to 26000, which was not a good sign. My mom came and picked up Deegan and Ritter and took them to her house for the day before sending Deeg to Adam's parents for the night and Ritter to my sister's for the night. Deegan had a dress rehearsal for his play Saturday morning, so the Powell's were going to bring him back up here for that. My sister's kids were at their dads, so she volunteered to be the one staying up all night with a baby who wants his mom! (From what I hear, it was a rough night!)

They kept us through that day and monitored his fever which spiked once or twice, but not too high and not for long. He was pretty miserable that day. He hated seeing any medical personnel come near his room, he hated all of the poking and prodding and the IV and oxygen monitor. I think he was more aware of what was happening this time around and so he knew to be scared and sad. By Friday night, things still weren't looking any better, so the dr. said that we'd stay through the night and check his white cell count again in the morning. If it hadn't improved enough then we'd do a CT scan to see what else was going on inside his tiny little body. They next morning (4am again) the lab guy came and drew his blood again. When the surgeon came through later in the morning, he told us that the white cell count had dropped to about 17000 which is right at the high end of normal. They sent us home with oral antibiotics and hopes to never see them again! At his follow up appointment the next Tuesday, the surgeon said everything was looking good and we could just go on with our normal lives now! His incision is still closing, and it's still painful for him, but so far, we've stayed on the "steady improvement" path, so hopefully we are almost done with this ordeal!

He's been extra tired since all of this, and a few days ago I was cleaning up the kitchen before lunch and he was playing in the kitchen. He hid under his blanket and within seconds was asleep! The next day he fell asleep at the front door waiting for me to find Ritter's shoes before Deegan's play practice.

Jinxed

Last Saturday morning I posted this on Facebook:
"Sometimes when my life is as happy as it is, I worry that something big is going to happen to throw off our balance, but for now I'm just loving my life!"

Life has been so good! We occasionally have a bump or 2 but things work out so well that I can't possibly think the Lord hasn't had his hands in everything all along!

Last October Adam left the company he'd been with for 5 years (company A) for another job that we knew was probably only temporary but also had a lot of potential if it ended up not being temporary (company B). He was supposed to be laid off by the end of December and wasn't until the first week of March. It was fine since we knew to expect it and he made arrangements to go back to company A and got a raise to do so. After just a few days at company A, company B wanted him back. They had had to lay off basically everyone (with the exception of a few key staff to keep things going), but really wanted to work something out for him to come back. It took 3 weeks for them to work it out, but now he is back and happy as can be to be staying with company B! Small bump in the road, but no biggy! That is about the extent of the drama in our lives until Saturday. Life just sails on so smoothly that I worry when the big storm will hit!

Friday night Griffin woke up in the middle of the night HYSTERICAL, looking for his sticker that he had gotten from the library the day before. Since he was not real excited about the sticker when he got it, I knew he was probably not feeling well when he was so upset about it. He woke up 3 times that night looking for that dang sticker, and one of the times he mentioned that his tummy hurt. He's never really told me that his tummy hurts before, so I didn't think much of it other than it was a little odd.  Saturday he woke up and was happy as a clam and played for the morning until something upset him just before lunch time. He wanted his blanket (as he always does when he gets upset), and I was just pulling it out of the washer to dry it. He was NOT happy. I held him for a minute while we let it half dry- enough to get it out and let it air dry while he cuddled. He told me again that his tummy hurt, and kept crying. Nothing I did made him feel better, so I started feeling his belly to see what the problem was. Since I'm not a doctor, I had no idea what I was feeling for, so I assumed he just ate something that wasn't sitting right. After an hour or 2 of him crying on and off and it seeming to be worse as time went on, I called the on call nurse. He had no fever, no vomiting, etc., so she said it was probably just a gas bubble that was causing him pain and to call back if he started getting a fever. I worried, but common sense said he was fine and just needed to wait it out. After poking around more I found that it only hurt him on the right side, which I always immediately associate with Appendicitis, but still no fever. He ended up falling asleep around 5 and woke up just as we were putting Deegan to bed, so we let him stay up with us watching movies in our bed. It was a LONG night of wrestling him wanting to be held and Ritter wanting to nurse and 4 in a bed. His temp did get up to about 100 that night, but I figured maybe he was just really hot  from being snuggled in blankets when I took his temperature, so I didn't trust it too much. Sunday morning, Adam was getting ready to go to the store to get some Sprite and I was just cuddling with Griff. I had a really nervous feeling about him leaving, but couldn't pin point it. I kept trying to figure out why I didn't want him to leave for the couple minutes he was going to be gone and it finally occurred to me that we probably need to take Griff to be checked just in case. He had no other symptoms. His fever was gone- he was just tired and hurting. I told Adam I should probably take him and he agreed. He was going to stay with the other boys, but then I thought "if they have to draw blood or anything like that, I may need moral support". I felt kind of silly calling a babysitter because I was sure they were going to send us home and say he just had a cramp or something that needed to work itself out. My darling Amanda, who has been our go to babysitter for almost 5 years now, came over and took such good care of Deeg and Ritter and even got them ready for church and took them to Sacrament meeting! (We kinda love her!). Adam and I headed to the ER and drove past Instacare and decided to just stop there instead. After the Dr. came in and examined for a minute (Griff was pretty un-cooperative), she said "Well, I've never seen Appendicitis this young, but it's possible and it sounds an aweful lot like that's what it is or maybe a twisted intestine." She sent us to the ER to get an ultrasound and maybe some blood work to be sure, but we were all still skeptical. Griffin kept saying all this time that Deegan bumped into him. I was pretty sure that wasn't the case, but thought maybe it was a small possibility. At the ER, the nurses and Dr. were also skeptical. The Dr. even promised Griff a popsicle when he finished looking at his tummy. They sent us to radiology for the US and he just wouldn't stop crying because it hurt so bad to touch his belly or even to move. We ended up going back to the ER to hook him up to an IV and get some narcotics in him to calm him down and ease his pain. It was really difficult getting the IV in and Adam and I were almost in tears watching him fight and cry so hard. He's not even 3! Anyway, 30 minutes later, back to the US we went, then back to our ER to wait. Shortly after, the Dr. came in and said "well, guys, I really didn't expect this, but it looks like he needs to have his appendix out. It looks pretty nasty and probably will rupture soon if it hasn't already". Apparently the US can't tell if it's ruptured or not, so we had to wait until he was opened up to know for sure. An hour later the OR was prepped and they were ready to get him back. We made arrangements for Adam's parents to come get the other boys and our home-teacher, Orrin, came up to help Adam give Griff a blessing to get him through. They wheeled Griff and I back to a hallway in the OR (Adam came too-just walked) and we waited for the rest of the team to assemble. When they were ready, they had me stand up and I thought we were going to just get Griff situated so they could put him on a bed or something to take him back, but the surgical nurse grabbed Griff and turned to walk away as another nurse told us where to wait. I was a little caught off guard, and it  really sucked watching and listening to my baby be carried off to an unknown place and not being able to go with! Adam and I waited and watched the clock anxiously. It took a little over an hour from when they took him to when we met him in his recovery room. When he got up there he wanted 2 things- me and his wheelchair. Everything went great, the appendix hadn't ruptured yet, but was very close they said- within 24 hours or less. He and I sat in the wheelchair for a few hours until I finally convinced him to sit with me in the bed instead.

We spent Sunday night and half of Monday at the hospital. They said he had to be able to walk before we could leave, so we took lots of walks outside his room, but most of them he sat in my lap in a wheelchair. He's up and moving a little bit today, but still struggles to climb on beds, sit up from laying down and bend over. We've watched WAY too much TV and he has loved eating anything his little heart desires- Apple juice, unlimited popsicles, suckers, cookies and brownies and pudding.

We had an overwhelming amount of love sent our way from friends, family and ward members. I even had to "break up" a fight over who was bringing us dinner! We have an amazing neighborhood and ward at church. Life is good, as long as I keep up with Griffin's pain medications! He is still telling me that it's Deegan's fault because he bumped into him though!

 While it's not over yet, so I shouldn't probably jinx myself again, things have worked out just fine and we are still loving life!