We're Home!

Frenchie came home yesterday! Tuesday we had a conversation with one of the docs and he said that Frenchie could go home that day after Frenchie had the "#2 plumbing" working. We waited, waited, waited, and waited some more. Finally at 8 that evening the plumbing finally started flowing properly so we agreed with the doc to wait till morning to leave. However the nurses disagreed with how much fluid Frenchie should be retaining in his bladder so Frenchie got his 9th catheter put in. So Wednesday morning we were graced with the presence of BOTH docs. They both proceeded to tell us and the nurses that we were to go home no matter what! So after breakfast we headed home! Frenchie is doing fantastic! He wears a pedometer to make sure he is walking more and more each day. I got Frenchie one of those extend able reachers so if he drops something he doesn't have to bend over and pick it up. He has had a lot of fun playing with the reacher and even putting laundry into the washer! Frenchie is already in better spirits now that he is at home!

Frenchie says "I need to go!"

Happy Memorial day to everyone! Today has gone well...not fantastic but well. Fenchie's walking gets stronger and stronger. He walked longer today and has gone up and down two flights of stairs. Physical therapy and occupational therapy was in yesterday and gave Fenchie a seal of approval. However we are starting to believe that they put the seal over Frenchie's plumbing! Frenchie's bodily functions are starting to slowly work again but they are still taking their sweet time!
Patience is definitely the name of the game and we have been trying to do what ever we can to keep ourselves from stressing over the issue. Right now we are watching a mini Marathon of Family Guy. We were also reviewing the book, the Dog Whisperer. While we were reviewing the book and the criteria for determining if your pet is trying to be the "Pack Leader" in the household they all pointed to Blanche (our female) and not Petit (our male) as we first thought that Petit was trying to claim the Top Dog position. Blanche has been sneaking under the radar and letting us think that our Petit was trying to be the "Pack Leader" in our house! We're on to you Blanche! Just wait until we get home! :) So we are trying to stay positive and not add any extra stress to the issue.
Just as am finishing up the blog, Frenchie went to the "plumbing house" and perhaps the seal has been removed!
Wow, I never thought I would be posting this sort of information on our blog...I'm reminiscing about the days when I thought remodeling a chair and posting the pics on the blog would be interesting!

The stairs are mastered!

Frenchie just got back from physical therapy and he walked down and climbed a flight of stairs! Wooohooo! We all told him that today we are going to push him more and more today since that is the key to getting everything functioning again! I also threatened to call DW and DH (a friend of ours that has been through a surgery like this) if Frenchie did not want to get up and walk! Frenchie had the nervous smile on his face after that! :)

Beware - bodily functions discussed below!

Saturday started out great. Frenchie got up and walked with the physical therapist down the hall with no walker or help from anyone! The catheter came out at 11 am Saturday so the rest of the day was trying to get everything moving and operating again. However Frenchie's body had a different idea of how the day was going to go. At about 2:30 in the afternoon Frenchie thought that a trip to the bathroom would be a highly good idea :) After sitting there for about 20 -30 minutes with no results he went back to bed. This routine of going to the bathroom occurred over and over again until about 7 at night when Frenchie's stomach couldn't handle it any more. The nurses had to put a catheter in mid afternoon to help Frenchie's body move things along and that came out right away (a temporary catheter). At 11 that night the nurses said that Frenchie needed to #1 or the catheter would have to go back in on a more "permanent" basis. They nurses did tell him however that the more he walked the better the chances of something happening. Needless to say he was practically sprinting down the hallways :) unfortunately that did not work so we said we would walk more on Sunday and get things going!To help further things along in the "other department", the nurses kept coming in with these concoctions that they "swear" will get him to do his thing with in 30 minutes - this was 10 at night... Again Frenchie started his bathroom routine with no luck and finally at 2:30 in the morning that part of Frenchie's body decided to start working! Now we just need to continue to keep it working. The good news out of the whole thing was that he was getting plenty of exercises!

Now its Sunday morning and Frenchie is doing well. The doctor came in to see how Frenchie was doing and told Frenchie that he need to have a good day today and then a good recovery day tomorrow and he could go home on Tuesday. Frenchie was pretty perky this morning and telling all the new nurses of his trials and tribulations of the night before. The physical therapist just came in so I will write more later!

Last night went much better than the night before. We actaully had a nurse who could help, was prompt and excellent at helping Frenchie shift positions during the night! Fenchie was actually able to get some sleep - something he has not been able to do since Wednesday! He did have some substantial pain yesterday but he took deep breathes and what ever medication they could give him and he relaxed and no has little to no pain this morning. Breakfast was brought in but Frenchie was so exausted thta he managed a few bites and went back to sleep. It is comforting to see him sleep so soundly! The doctor also came in this morning to check on Fenchie and said everything looked great and that as long as Frenchie keeps on this healing track he will be out either Monday or Tuesday. Today Frenchie needs to get up a couple more times during the day and then again in the evening. The even better news....the cathider comes out sometime this morning -Dan's (a friend of ours) most favorita part of surgery...note the sarcasim! :)

Not only does he stand but he WALKS!

We just got back from Frenchie taking his first walk and he walks like the champ he truly is! He walked out of his room It is so much fun to see him progressing so much in such a little time!

He's Up!

Frenchie walks! Frenchie got up for the first time after surgery! YEA!! Congrats Honey!!!!! It took a lot of deep breathing and slow moving but he did it! I am so proud of Frenchie! It brought tears to my eyes to see him get up but they were tears of joy! As much hard work as it was it was a huge accomplishment for Frenchie!

Frenchie's back surgery went fantastic!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to keep you up to date on how Frenchie is doing. The surgery went fantastic and the doctors are very pleased.

We stayed over at a friends house wednesday night since we had to be at the hosptial at 5:50 in the morning to prep Frenchie for his 7:30 surgery. Frenchie went through prep and very little nervousness. He came out of his surgery at 1:43 and as you will read below did not get to his room until 5:30. The doctor came and explained that everything went fantastic.

everything went very smooth with the exception that his room was not ready after surgery so he had to stay in the recovery room for 4 hours and listen to about 20 different heart monitors going from all the other patients! Frenchie's dad stayed with him last night and helped to keep the nurses on track. Needless to say the overnight nurses were very weak on their performance in regards to helping Frenchie. They did not have him switch positions every few hours like he was supposed to so he was on his back since he had gotten out of surgery at 1:30 Thursday. We have let the staff know the issue and we will make sure those issues do not happen again for the rest of his stay.

Today however is going better. One of the doctors from the surgery came in and checked Frenchie out and said everything looked great! Frenchie is also managing the pain and getting ready to get up and walk so I will let you know how that goes! As for me, I am glad that yesterday is over. It was very emotional to sit in the waiting room and not be able to physically be next to the person you love to comfort him but spititually We were next to each other the entire time!

I am so proud of him! I could have never gone through what he did as calmly and patient as he has! He is one tough cookie! He is going to put his brace on for the first time so I will write later!