Surgery is done

We just talked to Jacob's Neurosurgeon, and he is out and doing well.  It will be a bit before we can see him, but everything went smooth.  He had a little bit of blood loss, but it was less than average he said.  He will be out of it for a bit, and probably won't recognize the use of his right side right away, but that should not last long though.  That will also be a big part of his therapy.  They will send things off for a biopsy and should have some kind of results in a week or so, but that does not mean it will give a reason on why his malformation, it will just give us a name for it.  He also said it appeared that the 2 sides of the brain were not talking to each other, and he thinks that is a good thing, but it is hard to say for sure.  It could also mean it will be a bit more work for rehab. There definitely was an abnormality on the left side, but that the right side appears to be normal, so It appears the surgery was definitely a good thing.  The next week will probably be the hardest, with emphasis on the last part of the week (the next couple of days he will be a bit out of it with pain meds and then after that everything will start "waking up" so to speak).    

Waiting

Well, we got a pretty good nights sleep last night (as good as you can get in a situation like this).  Jacob went to sleep right away, and slept until 5 am before he woke up and then went right back to sleep until about 6 am.  We got to the hospital and he was in a pretty good mood considering his lack of food.  We had to wait a while at the surgery check in and were beginning to wonder if they were going to start the surgery without him.  Finally they came and got us and said they had a delay because they waiting for a room for him in ICU and one finally opened up.  So needless to say surgery did not start until about 1 pm.   He was in a pretty good mood while we were waiting, at least until about noon, and then his mood started to turn.  They then were ready to give him a medicine that made him all smiley and goofy, and then he got very sleepy and I had to say good bye.  That is when it got a bit hard.  I know it was not for good, but it was still hard.  They said they would update us every hour or hour and a half, but the first update didn't come until after it had been 2 1/2 hours.  Boy was I starting to stress.  Finally they called and said all is good and that they were just taking their time and he was doing very well.  At this time we are still waiting for it to be done, or the next update. But I will try to be patient.

One day to go

Jacob had another night last night of having trouble getting to sleep, so finally after midnight, I decided to do something I usually would not do, I let him sleep with me in bed.  It went pretty well, but then Josh woke me up at 5 am saying he couldn't breath.  Luckily, he did not wake Jacob up, but my luck did not last.  Jacob decided he was ready to get up at 5:30 am.  So needless to say I had another night of lack of sleep.  Oh Well, just getting prepared I guess.  I did get Jacob to finally go back to sleep at about 7:30, only to have to wake him up before 8 so he could get his medicine before the cut off time.  He was not too happy that I wouldn't let him eat anything, but did pretty good when we got to the hospital.  Got him checked in and in his gown for the FMRI, and he was quickly out with anesthesia. 

When he came out he did not want to wake up, so they made us wake him up, which did not make him happy.  It took 2 apple juice and some animal crackers and to get him away from the people who put him into that situation to get him to calm down.  All in all the screaming lasted about 10 minutes or so.  We then got him some lunch (grilled cheese) and he was much happier to finish the rest of the appointments.  By the time everyone had seen him though, he was one tired dude and fell asleep in the car on the way back to our home base. 

We are set for surgery at 11 am tomorrow, so hopefully we will get rested tonight for the big day.

Made it to Seattle

Hi all, after a long day we finally made it to Seattle.  It started out by waking up and then seeing snow coming down, never a good start to a road trip day.  We were ready (I loaded the car the night before so we could leave by 8am), but we had to wait for my Mom and Sister to get out to us so we could leave.  Unfortunately they had tire issues, so they did not make it out to us until 11am.  I guess it was a good test to my new motto that I have learned "be flexible".  Luckily our weather was only snow until we got out of Caldwell, and then it turned to just wet.  It was a pretty uneventful drive and we made it over the blues with some snow, but none on the road and we even stopped in Richland to have a quick visit with my Uncle Roger, Aunt Carol and cousin Scott.  We had a nice dinner with them and enjoyed seeing them, even though it was quick, and then headed on our way for the rest of our trip.  We made it into Seattle at about 10 pm (pst) and got settled for bed at about 12 am.  It was kind of a long night.  Jacob did not sleep all that well and woke up at about 3:45 am and did not let me get back to sleep until about 5 am.  I guess we are both going to try to take a nap today.  Our only appointment today is a neurophysc appointment, and then the fun begins tomorrow.   It is just to put a baseline on his development for them, so they know were he stands before surgery.  We will let you know what they find.

Thankful!

As we get ready to make the trek to Seattle for what I am know will be a life changing event (for all of us), I can not help but stop and think of all the friends and family that I am so grateful to have.  I don't think this is a journey I could undertake without everyone around me and all of the support you have all provided (and continue to provide).  I know that Jacob is a strong little guy, and with our help will come out of this with flying colors, but I am sure my/our strength will be tested just as much (if not maybe a bit more). 

I have to thank everyone for so much help and support.  There are so many of you, and I don't know the best way to do it, but we really appreciate everyone!  No matter what the outcome for little Jacob is I am so thankful to have him and Joshua and Rick, and even this squirmy little guy who weighed in yesterday at a whopping 15oz on his ultrasound.  We have also been blessed with so many family and friends and I am ever so thankful for all of you.

We had a care conference yesterday that my Mom set up with various therapists, doctors, home care nurses and such that have been/might be involved in Jacob's rehab and as it turns out we may need to be in Seattle for a little more time than originally anticipated to get all of the therapy Jacob may need in the beginning.  I guess we will figure it out as it comes along.  I am going to miss everyone that we will not see for a while, but hopefully when we get back, Jacob will be almost as good as new and on his way to a fresh start at being a kid with NO seizures!  I want to send all of my love out to everyone and know that I will be thinking of you all, even while being ever consumed with Jacob's situation.  I promise to keep updating constantly, as it will be helpful for me to tell all of you how he is doing.

All my love and Thanks! 
Meghan

Lending a helping hand

Hello Wilkison friends & family:  With Rick and Meghan's permission, we are hijacking their blog for a little while.  We know that many of you are probably wondering how to help the family during the upcoming  surgery and recovery.  We've consulted with Rick and Meghan and talked to the Ronald McDonald house in Seattle and we have some suggestions for any of you who want to help. 

1.  Alaska Airlines gift cards:  Rick will be traveling back and forth during the four weeks that Meghan and Jacob will be in Seattle.  There will also be future travel needed for check-ups and other doctor appointments.  You can purchase gift cards online at http://www.alaskaair.com/certificates/.

2.  Gift cards for incidentals:  The family will have some food and other miscellaneous expenses while in Seattle and we know that there is a Safeway grocery store near the Ronald McDonald House.  We also suggest Target or other gift cards for incidentals and maybe some toys for both boys to provide some cheerfulness and keep them distracted during this hectic time.  According to our sources, Josh likes Legos and Jacob likes books.

3.  Help in Boise:  Rick and Josh will be on their own for several weeks and after the surgery there will be numerous trips for therapy visits so we'd encourage folks to arrange for cleaning services to help the family out.  It looks like there are a few options in Boise (Merry Maids, Happy Homes Maids) but if any of you Boise-ites have suggestions, please let us know.  We'd also suggest some gift cards for restaurants in their area including Smoky Mountain Pizza, Great Wall, Chili's, Applebee's, Whitewater Pizza & Pasta, Cucina diPaolo, and Dinner Thyme Solutions.

4.  Gas cards:  The family will be driving out to Seattle so if you'd like to purchase gas cards they often use Chevron and Shell. 

5.  Starbucks!  Meghan will be spending long hours and late nights in the hospital.  'Nuff said. 

Other ideas:  The family will hopefully be staying at the Ronald McDonald house, but if there isn't room at that time, they will probably have some lodging expenses.  We'll keep you posted.  Also, the Children's Hospital in Seattle does not accept flower deliveries and the Ronald McDonald House discourages it, along with fruit baskets.  They said that most people aren't in the house for long enough periods to eat the fruit and enjoy the flowers. 

If you have any questions or other ideas on how to help, please feel free to contact us (Glenn and Lucy Pauley) at (307) 637-6034 or email at lhpauley1@hotmail.com.   If you'd like to let us know what you want to contribute, we can keep track so that they don't end up with 200 Starbucks giftcards, but maybe that's what Meghan wants... Feel free to email us or leave a note in the comments section.  Also, please send this information along to anyone who might be interested in helping. 

Thank you in advance for your help!!  We hope that we can make the next few months a little easier on Rick, Meghan, Josh, Jacob and Baby Jingleheimerschmidt.

Skunked Again?

I had decided that since Jacob's hair was likely to get shaved in a month anyway, that I would just not pay to get it cut, so I have been trimming it up here and there to keep it out of his eyes and off his ears.  It is starting to prove to be a bit wild and hard to keep under control though, I may have to break down and take the electric trimmer to it, so I don't have to wet it down and gel it everyday. 

Jacob started doing some tumble time classes to increase his strength and stability in his walking about a month ago and just loves to bounce on the trampoline.  I do think it has helped get him more stable and I figure the stronger we can get before surgery the better.

Well, we spent another Saturday on the ice doing some ice, but this time we decided to try Magic Reservoir over by Fairfield. We had got reports that the fishing was good, so what the heck we went to give it a try. We met friends Kevin, Angie, & Laney over there and got poles on the water, but talking to others around us it sounded like things were a bit slow.  I had my pole in the water for about 5 minutes when I got a phone call from my sister, so I answered it, wouldn't you know it, that is when I got a fish on.  Unfortunately, because I was on the phone though, I lost the fish.  I took a lot of flack over that one, because as it turns out, that was the only bite any of us had all day.  Josh decided he would rather amuse himself sledding down the hill next to the reservoir with a new Friend, and Jacob went from laying on the ice and rolling around to occasionally being content to just sit and watch.  All in all he didn't complain quite as much as he did the week before. By the time we left though, he gave up and just passed out riding back to the truck in the sled.

 

The rest of our plans for Seattle are still coming along, with a few minor changes here and there.  We decided that Joshua was going to have to stay in Seattle with Jacob and I (and my mom), because as it turns out with spring break falling at the end of March he would only be in school for about a week, so we would end up paying for a month of school and he would only get a weeks worth of time out of it. Rick would also have had more trouble trying to find places for Josh to go after school was over in order to be able to get his work done, so it seems to make more sense to leave Josh with my mom and I. Any way, other than that Jacob's seizure have seemed to be increasing a bit, so his doctor raised the medication a bit.  So between the medicine and his increase in seizures, he has been a bit cranky and hard to deal with.  I have had a few more "moments" lately that I was not sure I could keep things together, but hopefully when he gets used to the increase and maybe it will start working and the seizures will decrease he will become a sweet boy again (please pray that I can hold it togeter till then).