Milo Has Surgery

Here we are. The reason for my trip away from the boat. Nineteen-month-old Milo has reflux of the bladder, which had done considerable damage to both his kidneys. Surgery gives a nearly 100 percent successful treatment of the reflux, but the kidneys are not expected to bounce back fully, especially the right one which was most severely affected. The surgery re-attaches the tubes from the kidneys to the bladder, embedding them in the bladder wall, so those muscles can prevent the backflow of urine.

This little family has already endured some big challenges. Casey and Richard are high school sweethearts who became Madalyn's parents shortly after graduation. Little Evan came too early and spent two weeks in NICU, and now has some small vision and speech issues. And happy-go-lucky Milo had what appeared to be repeated ear infections, which run in the family, but were masking the true problem of the reflux and kidney infections. The problem became evident when he was very sick but did NOT have an ear infection.

Legacy Emanuel opened a brand new children's hospital just last month.

Everything is shiny and beautiful.

There was a shift change during my visit, and the new nurse was Amy.

Milo had not been in his room very long. He would stir and fuss a bit, but when he saw me, he reached out for me. Melt my heart! This little guy who had only seen me once since his first birthday, but had spent the afternoon the day before his surgery with all his cousins, his auntie, and me, reached out to his Grammie through his anesthesia fog. Awww.

It hurt a bit to jostle him, so he stayed on his Mommy's lap. His oxygen meter lit up his little big toe...

Mommy had made him a new shark blanket for the hospital, but staying close to her was keeping him warm enough.

When he would stir he would look for Mommy, and reach for her hand.

Finding Nemo was playing on the monitor, and he woke when the credits played and asked for a movie, so Casey set up Cars 2 to play. The hospital had several kid movies loaded and available, along with hospital movies and other videos.

The next day, the catheter was removed. They had been told he may need to go home with it, for 3-4 days, but that was a worst-case scenario. He ate. He walked around. And he peed. Then he could go home.

After they got settle in, I brought the other kids home, and the family was complete again. They are having a quiet day today, and Richard goes back to work tomorrow.

Today, I am taking a break to visit former co-workers, and stop at my favorite Starbucks store. Steve is still the manager at the Cornelius store, and I also saw Debbie. When I took Madalyn and Evan to the Tanasbourne store the other day, I visited Michele and Sandra, formerly of the Cornelius store. Steve and the Cornelius store gave me one of the first Gold cards, which says 'since 2008' on it.

Al reports he is doing fine on the boat. He caught a mooring buoy in Eagle Harbor on Cypress Island and has been bouncing around there ever since. Night before last, he was tossed out of bed with high winds that kicked up some big waves. It actually was rougher after the winds let up, since they had been holding the boat steady into the waves. It is supposed to be a bit calmer for a few days now. He is also booking more-than-normal hours the past week or two -- YAY for pay!