Poop

So this last week was pretty eventful... On top of EVERYTHING else that has been going on, Ryan picked up a flu bug during one of his doctor appointments at the hospital. Yeah... Usually throwing up is enough for me to handle- but Ryan also got a case of the trots that was rather... explosive (I'm not trying to be gross... I just want to describe the situation). Wednesday night, we had poop up the back of his cast, out the sides of it and down the legs. It didn't really even get on his sheets or his pajamas. The cast pretty well contained it. I tried my darndest to reach up, in and around the cast to get everything out- but I wasn't even close. I could still see it and smell it- but there was absolutely NO way to get it all cleaned out. I called his orthopedic surgeon the next morning and she told me that there was a chance that once it dried out that he would be fine. The clean freak inside me wanted to scream at her- but since I don't have any initials behind my name (like M.D.), i decided to give it a try. Unfortunately- I don't think it ever really dried out- Ryan is such a sweaty little kid- that I think it just continued to be all moist inside the cast. As a result- anytime you walked past him- it was like walking next to an open sewer drain. I got to a point I could barely even hold him- if I got too much of a whiff- I had to make a run for the bathroom. It was awful. Props to my dad- he would still take Ryan for walks even though he smelled so bad.

This weekend was also Easter weekend- something that my boys really weren't ready for. Ty understands why we have Easter, and when asked about it- he promptly replied that Easter was about "Jesus being Resurrected," so I feel like we got the important message across- but neither of the boys even knew what an Easter Bunny was. Ty was totally confused as to why there was a bucket full of candy and eggs all over the place- but he was more than excited to find a new baseball mitt hidden in the basket. In fact- he immediately put it on and demanded that someone go out and play catch with him. He was not good- but improved upon practice- he and Grandpa even rallied to a total of 7 catches at one point! The Easter Bunny was also smart enough to make sure that Ty got a softer version of a baseball so that when it inevitably hit him in the face- it wouldn't hurt too bad...

Grandma Jacki and Papa Orllo also made the trip to Salt Lake to come and visit us while we were staying with my parents. Ryan thrives on visitors and lit up when he saw familiar faces. I think Ty was excited to see them too- they took him out for ice cream- and I think that the break was more than welcome to our little four year old.

Shaun was able to stay until Monday afternoon, since this was his Spring Break (yeah... we were supposed to be in St. George this weekend). We were all sad to see him go, but knew it wouldn't be too much longer before we were home for good. Shaun is such a huge help and comfort to me- I always hate it when he has to go.

Tuesday we had an appointment with Ryan's Orthapedic surgeon, Dr. Hennessey. She is actually from Shriner's Hospital in Salt Lake- which I have never really heard a whole lot about or had a lot to do with. We actually had to MapQwest it in order to find the right place. My mom came with me, and so did Ty, not thinking that it would be an overlong appointment. We checked in and talked to the Orthapedic Resident about Ryan and the pooping incident (we had him all but covered by a blanket in order to keep the smell contained and at a minimum). We also got to have new X-Rays taken, and the Resident took a minute to sit down with us and explain the pictures. When Ryan's right side was crushed- it broke his pelvis in three places on the right side- but at the same time- it also moved the left side- almost twisting it, and kinking the spine at the same time. This totally made sense- but no one had taken the time to explain all of this to us before. It was nuts seeing how much progress Ryan's body had already made in correcting the problem- but it was also a little sobering to see how far it still had to go in order to be back to normal.

It took Dr. Hennessey all of two seconds to decide to re-cast Ryan. I told them to make sure they take in their gas masks when they took the old one off. We were actually taken right upstairs and checked into the hospital. They couldn't get Ryan into surgery until 3:00 that afternoon, and it was only 9:00 in the morning- so we had some time to kill. But Shriners was absolutely AMAZING! They had a HUGE play/rec room for kids to play in- and we took Ryan for wagon rides to and from the gigantic space and Ty was in heaven! He got to see a magician, a banjo player, he made a butterfly and played basketball. Ryan was a trooper- he couldn't eat until he was out of the operating room- so we had to come up with some ways to keep his mind off food. The Dr was actually going to have him put out under general anesthesia again before she would even think about re-casting him- so the prep for that seemed to take forever too. Once he was finally in the OR- it only took about 45 minutes before he was wheeled back into his room- and he totally flipped out. Ryan apparently has a hard time coming out of anesthesia- and couldn't stop crying. A carton of chocolate milk helped a little bit- but it took some time before he finally settled down.

The nurses had to make sure that Ryan could eat and pee before they would let him be discharged- and we didn't get back to my mom's house until about 9:00 pm... We were ALL so tired. I still can't believe how good Ty was the entire time. He is so amazing- and I think that he may have a future in medicine- he is soo nosy!! He has to know what every machine and wire is for and doesn't rest until ALL of his questions are answered.

We spent the rest of the week gathering up our things and on Friday, we loaded up in my mom's car and drove to Logan where we met Shaun. We had a quick lunch and then our family headed on up to Montpelier. Home has NEVER looked so good. We all slept so well Friday night. We spent Saturday cleaning up and trying to figure out the best way to situate Ryan for the next three weeks. We ended up putting half of a mattress pad on the loveseat and covering it in blankets and pillows- trying to pad him enough to make him comfortable. He seems okay when he goes back and forth between his loveseat and the recliner- in fact- we even took him out to Sacrament Meeting this morning. He actually did really well (granted it was only an hour- but it was the longest he's been out for any period of time that he wasn't just laying down), and everyone was so happy to see him- we have had a wonderful support group up here and I am more than grateful for all of the love and concern that we have had from the people here.

It looks like things will be pretty quiet for the next couple of weeks- I don't think we really have plans to go anywhere, and I'm assuming that care-taking for Ryan and Ty will take most of my energies anyway.

I'll keep you updated and hopefully we'll get some pictures up from the last week. Sorry it was just text this time, but I'm on Shaun's computer and don't have access to my pictures.