Post-Op Roller Coaster

Thank you a million times over for all your love and support during our hospital time. It was grueling and intense. We pray we'll never have to go through that again. You made it so much better.

Last night went well considering Oliver had his first night free of the hospital in 8 days. He slept with us which was wild and sweet. Bless his heart, he was SO tired.

Lets Start with the good news

This morning Oliver kept taking his diaper off. We didn't think too much of it until the squatted down in that position (you know the one, right?) Thankfully Gran noticed and said “I think you better take him to the potty.” I did and do you know what he did? He peed in the potty, then got a tissue, wiped and then flushed. WHAT IN THE WORLD?

We were all ASTOUNDED! We have talked about the potty a few times, but haven't even began to “go there.” We are thrilled. We aren't going to do potty training full force here in Boston but, we are SO encouraged. It means so much for his cognition and development :)

Also, Oliver has been saying words today that we have never heard. “Lock”, “Grandaddy”, “Park”.

In addition to these very exciting events we had a few downers too.

The first is we've seen three seizures today. I don't even know how to feel about that...

Second, Oliver has been having aggressive outbursts. Previously if he was anger he would have a tantrum but he would never hurt me. In the hospital we began to nice he was pinching us and biting. We thought this was because he was so frustrated.

Today on the way down (very steep) steps he went crazy. He was screaming, biting down on my shoulder (I have a nice bruise) and pulling on my hair. I felt like I was being attacked. It took two people to get him off of me. He repeated the same thing one hour ago. He has been screaming at the top of his lungs when he doesn't get what he wants. It is so piercing that you cover your ears.

We were warned to expect unusual behavior but, it is very hard to experience. I would say this has been the hardest part of the entire experience. I spoke with Dr. Duhaime and after talking for a while she did not feel like there were any neurosurgical issues. I am waiting to speak to Dr. Thiele.

So there it is...the roller coaster of post-op.

Your prayers are appreciated as we navigate this challenging time.

We continue to be thankful for grandparents and friends who are here to help us. Oliver continues to same some new words as we are slowly seeing the changes from the surgery.

We do have cable, telephone back up. The internet works but only via a cord...can you believe that...I actually have to plug in for the internet? Anyway as you can imagine that limits our online time so updates may continue to be less frequent as we work on getting that repaired.