Transferred to CHOA

Monday morning we got up and headed upstairs to check on Brody. He was stable...heart rate was good and oxygen saturation was normal...however the nurse said they did try to take him off of the ventilator but he struggled a good bit so they had to keep him on it...although they were giving him just room air and not Oxygen. The nurse asked if we wanted to hold him...Some people say there's no such thing as a stupid question...wrong. OF COURSE WE WANT TO HOLD HIM!! Since it seemed to be a complicated task to pick him up with all the wires and breathing tubes, I passed on my turn (since I held him the day before) and made sure Adam got to hold Brody (which he hadn't yet had the chance to do). So, here is Brody holding his daddy's hand...my heart melts...

 
The nurse told us Brody would be transferred to Children's Health Care of Atlanta sometime around lunch so Adam and I went back to my room to try and catch a few more zzz's ...neither one of us had had more than 2 straight hours of sleep since Friday night. ...Interrupted again (this time it was worth it), my doctor came in and I was again asked a very stupid question. "Would you like to be discharged today or tomorrow?"...um, TODAY THANKS! :)   Yay!! This meant I could go with Adam when Brody was transferred to CHOA.

The CHOA Transfer Team came to our room with Brody in an incubator...machines and wires everywhere making sure he was stable...and told us they were heading out. I never in a million years ever thought I would be in a situation like this and see my son being wheeled out of a hospital like that. And how weird and empty I felt being wheeled out of the hospital myself without a baby in my arms. I thank God it was not an even worse scenario, which I know it could have been. Apparently Northside is one huge baby factory so if you go outside at any time of day you can almost guarantee yourself that you'll see a new mom and her baby being loaded into the family car. ...Adam and I walked by ourselves (very quickly might I add) through the parking garage so we could quickly jet across the street to see Brody again. Here is the set up at CHOA NICU

They immediately started working with Brody. First they did an ultrasound and they believed that the mass they saw in his abdomen was not his kidney but instead they thought it was his bladder. Adam and I had a little hope that this was true. Then they could just fix whatever was blocking the urine from getting out of the bladder and his kidneys would be good and this nightmare would be over. Dr. Elmore, a Pediatric Urologist attempted to put a catheter in Brody but was unable to do so, so they decided they needed to go into the operating room. Brody went in for his very first surgery that same day. Dr. Elmore came to speak with us after the surgery and it was in fact his kidney, NOT his bladder, that was enlarged. Dr. Elmore drained 200cc's of fluid from Brody's left kidney (that's nearly 7oz) and left the drain tube in (it comes out of his abdomen) and he also put a catheter in his bladder to see if there was any fluid at all in the bladder...there wasn't and still hasn't been any. A chest x-ray showed that his lungs were able to expand a lot more...REALLY good news since all the doctors were saying there was a good chance he would have hypoplastic lungs.

Pre-Op

After surgery, a nurse explained to us that they were going to put a Picc Line in Brody's arm since the veins in his hands are so small and delicate. This is a more permanent line for his IVs (this is a really long line that travels from the entrance site to the heart). She told us if they couldn't get the line in his arm, they would try his leg, and if that was unsuccessful then it would be placed in his scalp. But they probably wouldn't attempt this until morning.

Post-Op

Adam and I left the hospital close to midnight that night. We picked Ryder up and the three of us snuggled in bed and said our prayers for Brody.