Changed rooms, udated information...

10/26/2007
Hello All!!
If you wrote down the information before... check it out again- Gabe's room changed. We're doing really well, Gabe spent an hour today in a mobile stander and is really excited about starting to get up in the walker/gait-trainer and maybe even into the pool!! We went #2 on the potty for the first time since surgery today and we got to take a shower in his new room!! YEAH!! Very exciting stuff!
I'll try to update again soon!!
Love ya!! xoxo!-Kari


10/28/2007
Gabe is doing really well in therapy and is tolerating his new surroundings like a champ. He got up into the Gait-trainer, and while it is very slow going he is able to move it on his own! They are changing around his goals and we may get out sooner than expected. I'll keep you up to date- as soon as I learn anything new.

10/31/2007
Gabe had a great day today- he really liked all the weird stuff they had going on at the hospital today due to Halloween- he didn't want anything to do with the party however. After a long day of therapies- I walked him over there just to see what all they were giving away and Gabe said 'NO" as we walked up. The music was a little loud and all the "spooky" stuff wasn't exactly winning him over. But he really did like seeing the way they had the hospital all decorated and seeing some of the staff in silly costumes.

They are talking about a week from Friday as Gabe's discharge date. So we'll be getting out sooner than expected! I'll update again when I know for sure.

11/5/2007
Doing well, He won't be getting into the pool- they are doing their yearly maintenance this week- so it's drained and stripped. We're going to talk to them this week about what goals are left for Gabe as we approach his discharge this Friday- We're trying to figure out what else they want him to accomplish this week. His team meeting is today so we'll get more information later today or tomorrow.

11/6/2007
Well, they came after team meeting and said they'll let Gabe go home on Wednesday!! We're really excited!! I'll write more after we get home!

Day two and getting things rolling...

We had evaluations all day today. He's doing really well and is raring to go!! Gabe did some weight bearing for the first time since surgery and tolerated it really well. He still has a long way to go to get all of his stregnth back and could deffinately use to put on a few pounds... but that's why we're here!
Keep us in your thoughts!

Getting settled in...

We are getting settled into Gabriel's room this evening and all is going well. I will know a lot more about what his program will be tomorrow after all the evaluations. We are most likely looking at 3 1/2 to 4 weeks. They are very happy with how he is healing and excited to get him going in therapy!

CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)
34th Street & Civic Center BLVD
3 West Room 310-1
Philadelphia, PA 19104

The phones are on from 7am until 9pm
His room phone number is 215-590-0310
It's probably best though to call my cell, that way if we're at therapy or otherwise unavailable you can leave a voicemail. You can always call the home voicemail also. Jeremy will most likely be home evenings during the week and I will be home weekends- but we will check the messages frequently.

Keep us in your thoughts- he's got a lot of work ahead of him!!

xoxo!-kda

at home until the 23rd

Gabe is doing great - the doctor said he couldn't have asked for it to look any better in the x-ray. The pins/screws are all placed perfectly, and the bone is beginning to grow/fuse very well.
We decided however due to the pain that Gabriel is still experiencing we are going to wait until the 23rd to start Physical Therapy. The most important thing is that he has a successful run of therapy and with him still experiencing some pain- he most likely won't respond to therapy in the beginning and may not be able to participate all together for up to a week and a half... at which time they would send him home to finish getting his strength and wait for the pain to subside a bit. We decided it would be smarter to just take him home and let him have the additional time to heal and for the pain to fade. That way we won't have the possibility of being sent home or him not getting the full benefit of his Physical Therapy.
Anyway, I'll post more updates later. Just wanted to post a quick one with the information about if he was being admitted today or not and it is NOT.
Love you!!

Tomorrow is the big day

Things are going well- tomorrow is Gabe's second follow up and if all goes well- he will end up being admitted to inpatient rehab after our appointment. We'll be there for about 4 weeks is what they think. I'll post an update after the appointment- probably late afternoon.
Love ya!

Some hanging at home pic's

He's got his smile back!!

Check out my HUGE pillow!!

Yeah MOM- I KNOW, I KNOW... I AM SO CUTE!!

Another picture of my HUGE pillow!

He's such a good boy and puts up with my annoying picture taking like a champ!

Just in case you were wondering- YES! he does still have legs under all that stuff!!

Good News from Doc-

Dr. Flynn says Gabriel is healing very well, the wounds look good and so do the bone positions-etc. Now we go back on October 9th for another x-ray to see if the bone is fused/grown in completely. If it is he'll be admitted to inpatient rehab that day (for four weeks) if not- then they will send him home for two weeks to let the bone completely finish growing/fusing- then come back for inpatient rehab.
Gabe is still in some discomfort and I think very tired of not being able to get into his walker. I know he definitely is being a trooper about not being able to go anywhere. (we have not received clearance to travel yet) So- we've been apartment bound for quite a while. I'll update again closer to the weekend and let you know how everything else is going- we've gotten a lot of good news lately and just had a visit from family so I have some stuff to share- but I need to get back to Gabriel for now.
Miss & Love you ALL!!

Gearing up for Friday

Well, Gabe is doing well. (HA!) He's off the Oxicodone now and is just on Muscle relaxers and Tylenol. He's such a trooper. I still haven't tried to move him on my own yet. Jeremy comes home for lunch to help me get Gabe out of bed and into his wheelchair. He's still up about 2-3 times a night crying but I think now it's more about forgetting that he's hurt and he tries to move and hurts himself. He does still get a muscle spasm here and there but they are getting to be rare. Friday is our follow up and I hope to find out what comes next and when we'll be going in for intensive rehab. Anyway just wanted to check in. He's actually doing really well- laughing and singing, counting along with Sesame street again and getting back to our sweet little man!
Thanks for all your cards, well wishes, and prayers!!
Kari

Doing well!

Sorry I haven't posted since last week! Gabe is doing much better and is sleeping less so it keeps me more busy. He's still up in the night quite a bit, but not sleeping as much during the day. He's got his appetite back as well as his sense of humor! We'll know more Friday about what his recovery is going to look like up until we go to inpatient rehab. Anyway, just wanted to drop a quick update.
Love & Miss you all!!
Kari

getting his rest and working on recovery

Gabe is doing well, he is watching a lot of cartoons, playing and snuggling with mommy- and being an all around adorable little man. We have our follow-up appointment at the Ortho clinic on September 28th down at CHOP. We'll have more information for everyone then.
Love you- until tomorrow!!
Kari

Good Morning

The evening went pretty well, Gabe is getting better and better each day- I'm sure this is too much information for most, but if grandparents read these they always like this kind of info... Gabe finally pooped last night! LOL With fasting for surgery, then anesthesia, then being on all these narcotics... It wasn't looking good for a while there- but he did it!! Enough about THAT!

Gabe is now tolerating laying on his side which makes it much easier on him and on me. I am able to do more of the changing, cleaning, etc by myself that way- it also takes the pressure off of his little back and butt!

Anyway, I need to get back in there- I just took a break to go potty and decided to post an update.

Thank you to those who check in with our blog!!

As time is going by and we get Gabe home, the worry is LESS the work is MORE. Thank you so much to those of you who have checked with the blog for updates and especially for those of you who occasionally leave us comments of encouragement and well wishes.
Now that Gabe is home- I will continue to update on his progress at least daily, and will also add posts when something important or interesting comes up. This blog has become an invaluable tool for me since I can communicate with everyone with one message. I can't imagine what I would do if I had to contact each person individually- well, I'd be on the phone all day and unable to take care of Gabe!!
So it is with the most sincere thanks that I leave this post.
I'll try to post an update about Gabe as soon as I get him settled in after dinner. If not, I'll post sometime in the morning tomorrow.
Love ya!
Kari

such violence from muppets I never did see...

Gabe (a little drugged up on pain medicine) has decided Bert deserves a butt whoppin' ala Ernie!

This was the first time Gabe expressed any interest in playing since his surgery- we were so excited to see him being silly- and I think it's hilarious how the medicine seems to have brought out a bit of a violent streak! : ) I appologize for laughing so much in the video- I couldn't help it, it was the perfect combination for me- it was so funny and I was so happy to see him having fun.

Enjoy!!

Happy to be home...

Here's a couple of quick pictures of our little guy shortly after getting HOME!!

He's loving getting the recliner all to himself!

His eye is really looking good now too!

I love this silly boy face! Sticking out his tounge when he giggles- just like his Mom!

More CHOP pictures...

Gabe's room (Gabe is sleeping)

ok, here's the other direction, this was a very big and comfortable room.

He had his own TV and playstation

The floor he was on was decorated with colors and shapes

and tons of thank you "cards" from other patients


They had all kinds of ammenities:

Laundry room

Living room

Toy "parking lot"

Play room for smaller ones

Play room for bigger ones:

I'll post more later- I need to get some rest, I am so tired. Anyway, I'll leave you with one of the first smiles we saw...

He's just so cute!!

Pictures from CHOP

Here's some pictures from our stay at CHOP

Gabe getting a puppet show from Daddy...

In case you were wondering: abductor pillow and multi-podus boots

Daddy keeping an eye on his little guy...

Discharged and headed to the top of Paperwork Mountian!!

Well, the process has started- we'll be doing final medications, discharge instructions, transportation paperwork, etc.- the next time I post....WE WILL BE AT HOME!!!
Until then- Kari

Going home today!!

As I write that I hope I haven't jinxed us (sad that I sometimes believe in that kind of stuff!) But, with that said..it looks like we'll get discharged sometime today. When the Ortho guys did rounds this morning they were very happy with how everything looked. Gabe is getting much better about letting people look at all his wounds and the only time he even fussed or cried is when they removed the tape- which I am sure had to hurt.
I will post more info as I get it- and I have some really cute video and pictures to post of our stay when we get home. Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers- again I can not express how much they truly meant to us.
xoxo!
Kari

tonight or tomorrow...

He's doing really well- he's handling transitions much better. It still hurts of course- he had major surgery, but he is handling it very well and is really beginning to understand that it will hurt a bit during the move but it will be all better when we're done.
The medicine is completely under control now. He's on a good rotation, one that allows him some lucid time as well as plenty of rest. We are going to talk to his Physical Rehab doctor however about increasing his muscle relaxer as the spasms have returned but not with nearly the frequency or severity.
So, it really depends on how busy the Ortho team is with surgeries. They may release him tonight, or sometime early tomorrow.
I'll post another update later if I find out anything new- If they are releasing us tonight, I'll just update after we get home and settled in.
Love, Kari

bit by bit...

Doing good- transitions are still a little rough (bed to chair, changing the dressings, rolling over, etc) but as long as we time them with when the medicine is really working they are manageable. He's doing good over all- now we just need to incorporate the routine stuff like really eating good, going to the bathroom (between the epidural and anesthesia- well, enough of that talk- I'm sure for most of you that is TMI... (too much information) :)
Anyway, as I was saying- it's time to incorporate back in the normal daily things with all the regular med's and pain med's then they might actually let us leave this joint some day!!
Thanks for all your messages and well wishes- it does really mean a lot to us & really goes a long way to brighten our days in this place. (while very lovely and kid friendly-it is not home)
Until tomorrow!
Our Love- Jeremy, Kari & Gabe :)