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...
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| 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. |
Kevin, Laura, Vince and family, Just read your blog and wanted you to know that we are praying for Vince and all of you. 27 years ago I had a friend who had just lost her husband at 42 yrs of age and 8 months later found out her 17 year old son had a brain tumor. I wasn't working at the time so I took her to Aurora Childrens hospital to have his brain tumor removed. It was 10 days at the hospital and we too stayed at the Ronald McDonald home. What a blessing that home is :) I have never been so impressed with a hospital and staff. They are a God send to all that have to be there. Many blessings and miracles for all of you. Will be thinking of you all week and will be anxious to hear that he is out of surgery. Love from all your family, we are all behind you in prayers and thoughts! Dalene, Vince and family
ReplyDeleteThank you for your support and prayers, Dalene.
DeleteHearing stories like the one you shared gives me a lot of hope. Thank you for sharing!
We will keep you updated...
Laura, you, your family and sweet little Vince are in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteY'all are still welcome here, btw. We're at Mississippi and 225.
ReplyDelete