Thursday, July 23

2 Surgeries in 1 week!

Last Friday after 5pm (conveniently after the doctor's office closed for the weekend) Austin's Hemangioma on his arm started to hemorrhage. (yes I use the word hemorrhage as that is what the ER said) We aren't sure if we caught the corner of it as Chris was burping him, and it's on the back of his left arm or if it just started on it's own. Nonetheless, a hemangioma is a collection of blood vessels that is usually found on infants commonly on their faces. Thank goodness his is on his arm. It's supposed to necrose or scab over and start to recede around a child's first birthday. They don't commonly bleed or cause trouble. However, Austin's was very big taking up most of his upper arm and close to the surface. So, we rushed to Richland ER with Chris applying pressure to it while holding Austin in the backseat. When we got there they treated us as a trauma as Austin had lost a good bit of blood and called in the surgeon. There were a lot of blessings with the way everything happened; God is so good! First of all, it could have started during the night and he could have bled out. The surgeon did tell us that children have died from ones like Austin's. Thankfully, Chris was with me and Bradley was taking his nap at my parent's house as we had just left a doctor's appointment. Another thing was that the surgeon on call had performed Austin's hernia surgery in January, so he was familiar with Austin, his medical history, and us. Then, a girl I grew up with was in the surgery and she was the one giving us updates throughout it. She was in Brayden's surgery in the NICU and was also familiar with Austin and our story. So, that is always very comforting to know someone. Austin was admitted Friday night and had surgery early Saturday morning to remove it. He did have more bleeding than they would have liked and his hemoglobin is low but it's already coming back up. He also experienced some difficulty with fast, heavy breathing after coming off the vent and had to stay in the PICU Saturday night. They circumcised him during the surgery too to avoid another sedation and time on the vent later this year. What another awesome blessing as sedation and being intubated can be scary with Austin's lung disease. So, Austin came home Sunday after a crazy weekend. He has done well this week. We're still treating his pain, and he is still a little pale from the blood loss. All of the nurses were so amazed at how well he is doing considering he is a 24-week triplet; he'll have that title for the rest of his life. All in all, he was a trooper in usual Austin fashion. He will probably have quite a scar on his arm, but it's just his arm and anther testimony for him to share! Tomorrow morning Bradley is having surgery. He has developed Meatal Stenosis, which is a band that develops and narrows at the tip of the penis. He also has some adhesions around his circumcision area that they will remove. It's just a quick outpatient surgery, but I'm sure he is going to freak out when they take him from us. He hasn't had surgery since he was a baby. Bradley had hernia repair surgery at 5 weeks old and then tubes at 10 months. So, at least we know he handles surgery well, but he is much older now and will definitely realize something is going on. Bradley has always been quite clingy with us as he is saying he doesn't want to even go to school this fall. I've been trying to "talk it up" for him. I'm praying that there will be an awesome nurse that will be specially trained to walk him right back without any issues. His surgery is at 9:15, and then he'll have a few days of recovery over the weekend at home. I was told it would take a couple of weeks for him to fully recover. I got him some special prizes for after his surgery, just some tractors and work cars complete with cones and other neat things that Bradley loves. I've kind of spoiled him this week too allowing some special treats here and there. I just can't help myself. Bradley is the healthy one that isn't supposed to have any problems. He has always been our one consistent child that doesn't have issues. I'm praying for peace and comfort as we go to sleep tonight and take him tomorrow morning. God is good, and His will is awesome- we just have to trust!

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