March Seventh

I wanted to throw a quick update on here...

The surgery is March Seventh.  The surgery is at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Colorado.  That's in Suburban Denver at 13123 East 16th Avenue, Aurora, CO 80045, basically Interstate 225 & Colfax if you're familiar with the area.  Surgery starts at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Standard Time.  That's when the surgery itself starts.  We'll be there at 5 a.m.  We'll be in a pre-surgery room before the surgery. Surgery is six hours.

On Wednesday, March Fifth, we have a day full of appointments at Children's Hospital.  Vince will be getting bloodwork and a pre-op examination.  Kevin and I will consult with the neurosurgeon.  Vince will have a planning MRI Wednesday, too.  It's a more detailed MRI which will show the doctor exactly what he needs to do.  My daughter's also getting an x-ray of her toe, since she has something up with it that we want to check out.

Our plan is to come home Wednesday evening.  We'll go back up on Thursday evening, after dropping the children off at their respective babysitters.  We hope to stay at Ronald McDonald House, that they'll have room for us.

After surgery, Vince will be in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit, "pick-you") for at least overnight.  He'll be transferred into the "regular" hospital for at least four more days.  It could be as much as a month.  Healing-wise, he'll should be ready to go home in a week, but he may require intensive physical, occupational and/or speech therapy.  That's why he might need to stay so long. 

Kevin and I will stay in the room right with him.  They have a couch, a shower (except in the PICU) and we have an air mattress.  Vince will have his own room, so we can have a little privacy with him.  We'll have our cell phones.  The hospital's number is 1-800-624-6553 and don't forget that Vince's name is actually Kevin Vincenzo (and our last name).  Tina will be the "secretary" during the most critical times. 

There are two things that could cancel these plans:
1. a miracle
2. a cold or something, as they won't operate on him when he's sick.

So that's the plan.

Please pray for a miracle.  That would be better than all this...

The child life specialist took this picture for us of an unused PICU room.  When we toured
the hospital, I was not allowed to go into the PICU.  I
wanted to see what it looked like.  The child life specialist was kind
enough to email me this picture.  Having a mental picture
helps me plan psychologically and logistically.

 

You Are So Clear, United Healthcare

Dear United Healthcare,
Thank you for the letter that you sent to Vince today.  You are so clear!
I must remind you that you have Vince's date of birth.  Since you know he is 2.5, did it not occur to you that addressing a letter to a 2.5 year old toddler was a bad idea?
I'm glad that you received notification that Vince has or will be admitted to a heath care facility. That you for letting us know that payment is actually based on all these other factors and that you can't guarantee payment.  I mean really, why do we bother sending you notification and why did you even bother sending this letter?
I also really appreciate your section called "Information to help make an informed decision".  Did you really think we'd have the doctor cut off a piece of Vince's skull and dig into his brain if we really thought it wasn't an informed decision? 
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Vince's Mommy

So What Are You Doing Now?

So what are you doing now?  is a question that many people have asked me. 

I will answer that here, in case you wanted to ask us the same question.

There is really nothing I can do.  I'm kind of hopeless.  I'm not a neurosurgeon or a doctor so I really can't do anything about it myself.  Vince is still asymptomatic. 

I'm trying to gear up for everything.  I have made arrangements for the other children for the time Vince will be in the hospital.  I have cooked a few homemade pizzas and put them in the freezer for the time I come home.  I have bought some additional groceries so that I can continue to cook extra freezer friendly meals for easy cooking when we come home.  I am trying to keep up with my normal duties: cleaning, cooking, homeschooling, taking care of the goats, etc.  I am thinking about other positive things, like my garden this summer, the goats, making curtains for the boys' bedroom, etc. Of course I cry, too.

We have spent much time thinking about the logistics of it all.  During last week's trip to Suburban Denver, we toured the hospital.  I'll be posting pictures and more details about that one of these days, but I just want to make the point here that the tour really helped me picture in my head what needs to happen logistically for Vince's hospital stay.  I'm glad that the Children's Hospital is a bright clean facility where the patients all have single rooms.  We'll be able to stay right with him. 

So there is nothing left to do but wait... and plan for logistics... and pray.

Please pray! (Surgery is 3/7, 3 weeks from today!)

St. Vincent de Paul, please pray for Vince.