It's amazing what your mind does subconsciously. Last night Annette let me sleep on the couch so that I could get some rest because I've been working some late nights. Right now both boys are sleeping with us in our bed just because we're still nervous about them not being with us. I know, I know. We're going to have to eventually get passed this. Anyway, so she tells me to go to bed on the couch and I do. Odd thing is, I woke up in Jake's bed. In the middle of the night I must have woken up and slept walk to Jake's room and fell back asleep in his bed.
Sleep walking is a rare occurrence for me but I have done it. When Jake was first born and I had just started my business, I was wearing my body down by not getting enough sleep. I found myself sleep walking. Maybe this is God's way of saying, "Joel, take it easy. Get some rest. I'm taking care of this." So, tonight............going to bed by 9pm. Don't call us!! LOL.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
No More Mickey Mouse Band-aids
So Jake slept with me last night on the couch because Ayden had fallen asleep with Annette on the bed. Too many arms and legs flailing around to sleep comfortably. Anyway, I wake up this morning at 6am and instantly turn to inspect Jake's ear...........as I've done countless times. And my heart sunk. Panic. There appeared to be dried up blood all over his cotton ball. I refocus my eyes to assess the situation, and come to an instant relief when I realized that those blood stains were merely Mickey looking back at me from the white band-aid. Too late though, the damage was done and I had to rush to the restroom to deal with my instant diarrhea.
When Annette woke up I told her, "No more Mickey Mouse band-aids." We need bright, we need vivid, we need eye-popping colors.
Just a few photos to show you that Jake is doing great. The first one is of him and Ayden. Ayden wanted to wear a band-aid on his ear just like Jake. So he wore his band-aid all day that day. The second one is from last night. He was pumped about the chocolate cake that momma bought him.
When Annette woke up I told her, "No more Mickey Mouse band-aids." We need bright, we need vivid, we need eye-popping colors.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Today
So, as you can only imagine, we're exhausted. But Jakey is a trooper. He woke up two days ago and asked me, "Daddy, you gonna fix my ear?" Talk about crushing!! What do you say to that? Well of course I tell him yes. Then he says, "Is mommy gonna fix my ear?" And of course I tell him yes. So then I ask him, "Jake, do you want us to fix your ear?" He thinks for a minute, then says, "Uh, No."
Well we're still gonna try our best to fix his ear even if he doesn't want us to. LOL. So here we are 4 days into this nightmare and we try to ask ourselves, "what can we do to ease the pain that we have in our heart?" And it came to me. We need to continue to remind ourselves that this could have been sooooo much worse. When the ENT doctor was asking us if Jake had any milky discharge come out of his ear, or was he having problems with balance, had he seized? We were joyously answering, "No!" It had never occurred to us that the damage could have been that extensive or that severe. So, everyday we remind ourselves that we are very blessed and very fortunate that we didn't walk in and find Jakey lying on the floor seizing, or worse, brain damaged.
And another thing to be grateful for that I forgot to mention: They tested his hearing passed the middle ear to determine if there was any nerve damage and based on what they could tell so far, there appeared to be none!! So, we're back to the middle ear! Alot has been done to repair middle ear injuries. However, I refuse to read anything on the internet because all that does is create worries. LOL. I don't want to know statistics, procedures, odds, etc. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I've attached a link to a song that I've been listening to.............on repeat for about 2 days now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2sZuJbxi8Y
Well we're still gonna try our best to fix his ear even if he doesn't want us to. LOL. So here we are 4 days into this nightmare and we try to ask ourselves, "what can we do to ease the pain that we have in our heart?" And it came to me. We need to continue to remind ourselves that this could have been sooooo much worse. When the ENT doctor was asking us if Jake had any milky discharge come out of his ear, or was he having problems with balance, had he seized? We were joyously answering, "No!" It had never occurred to us that the damage could have been that extensive or that severe. So, everyday we remind ourselves that we are very blessed and very fortunate that we didn't walk in and find Jakey lying on the floor seizing, or worse, brain damaged.
And another thing to be grateful for that I forgot to mention: They tested his hearing passed the middle ear to determine if there was any nerve damage and based on what they could tell so far, there appeared to be none!! So, we're back to the middle ear! Alot has been done to repair middle ear injuries. However, I refuse to read anything on the internet because all that does is create worries. LOL. I don't want to know statistics, procedures, odds, etc. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I've attached a link to a song that I've been listening to.............on repeat for about 2 days now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2sZuJbxi8Y
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
A parent's worst nightmare
A lot of folks have caught wind of what has happened to our Jakey. And instead of having to retell the story 30 different times, I thought it best that I just update our blog site............the site that hasn't been touched in months.
A CliffsNote Version. I'm not going to go into all the gory details of what happened because that's neither here nor there. The point of the matter is that another child at the home pushed an antenna into Jake's ear and ruptured his eardrum. We rushed him to the ER and they basically told us to wait until Monday to see the ENT. We went to the ENT on Monday and they confirmed our worst fears. Our child is deaf in his left ear. The doctor's exact words were, "It's a ratted mess in there. I can't really tell if the bone structures are where they need to be." Not what a parent wants to hear coming from a doctor.
And so our nightmare begins. We have our plan of action: We wait two weeks to see if the ear starts to repair itself. If there is improvement in his hearing, we will continue to assess the progress. If there is no improvement, then we go in for exploratory surgery. The hope then is to try and assess if any of the bones have shifted, cracked, etc. If it has to be replaced or adjusted it will be done at that time.
Now this blog may come across as cold and matter-of-fact, but I really just wanted to get the details of Jake's situation out to the folks that are concerned. I don't want to waste anyone's time talking to you about the emotional roller coaster that Annette and I have been forced to ride.............not to mention that the responsible parties have opted to wash their hands of their responsibility. My only goal right now is to keep everyone posted on what Jake is going through and what the doctor's are recommending.
So, that being said, Jake is doing great. I can't begin to explain to you how proud I am of him. The kid shows more strength in his little finger than most men do in their entire bodies. He's bouncing around, running around, playing around as if nothing has happened. So I'm glad to know that this other deviant child has not broken his spirit. Jakey will prevail.
Keep him in your prayers. More later as things progress.
A CliffsNote Version. I'm not going to go into all the gory details of what happened because that's neither here nor there. The point of the matter is that another child at the home pushed an antenna into Jake's ear and ruptured his eardrum. We rushed him to the ER and they basically told us to wait until Monday to see the ENT. We went to the ENT on Monday and they confirmed our worst fears. Our child is deaf in his left ear. The doctor's exact words were, "It's a ratted mess in there. I can't really tell if the bone structures are where they need to be." Not what a parent wants to hear coming from a doctor.
And so our nightmare begins. We have our plan of action: We wait two weeks to see if the ear starts to repair itself. If there is improvement in his hearing, we will continue to assess the progress. If there is no improvement, then we go in for exploratory surgery. The hope then is to try and assess if any of the bones have shifted, cracked, etc. If it has to be replaced or adjusted it will be done at that time.
Now this blog may come across as cold and matter-of-fact, but I really just wanted to get the details of Jake's situation out to the folks that are concerned. I don't want to waste anyone's time talking to you about the emotional roller coaster that Annette and I have been forced to ride.............not to mention that the responsible parties have opted to wash their hands of their responsibility. My only goal right now is to keep everyone posted on what Jake is going through and what the doctor's are recommending.
So, that being said, Jake is doing great. I can't begin to explain to you how proud I am of him. The kid shows more strength in his little finger than most men do in their entire bodies. He's bouncing around, running around, playing around as if nothing has happened. So I'm glad to know that this other deviant child has not broken his spirit. Jakey will prevail.
Keep him in your prayers. More later as things progress.
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