This week was a rollercoaster of epic proportions. To be honest, I have been dreading this week for about a month. I knew it was going to be a busy and stressful week, with Elsie's birthday, Merrick's surgery, and Jury Duty. It turned out to be much more stressful than that. To paint the full picture, we have to go back to last Sunday, shortly after my last blog post.
Sunday afternoon, Merrick had a basketball game. It was going fine, other than that they were losing. With just a few minutes left in the game, Merrick went up for a rebound and came down wrong on his ankle. Likely he would have been able to walk that off, but while it was rolled, a very large kid from the other team fell on it. Merrick couldn't get up from that. Instead he would have to be carried off the court and to the car following the car and we would head straight to the ER.
In the ER, they didn't see any obvious signs of a break but they were surprised at that based on the amount of swelling he had. Ultimately, they sent him home in a boot and with instructions to be completely non-weight bearing until we could follow up with an orthopedist. By the time we left, we had 57 hours until we have to be back for the next thing.
This situation complicated everything else that followed, in an already completely stressful week. Tuesday, the only day he went to school last week, he had to be driven to school. He needed help with things he would normally do independently, like taking a shower. Things that he would normally help with around the house were, and continue to be, off the table.
We made it through Tuesday, and somehow, at the kids insistence, even found time celebrate our dog, Millie's 4th birthday that day.
Wednesday was Merrick's second heart surgery. We had to be at the hospital at 6:00am for a scheduled 8:00 am surgery. Again, everything was complicated by his foot. He was in a wheelchair right off the bat. Getting into the hospital gown, getting into the bed, and getting up to go to the bathroom were all more difficult. We had to discuss his ankle with every doctor and nurse and went back and forth about whether he should wear his boot during surgery about a million times. In the end, we decided against it, and had to just pray that no one would accidently bump it during surgery.
The surgery itself went just about as well as it could have possibly gone. It was scheduled to be a 2-4 hour surgery, but I think it ended up being just under 2. They were very quickly able to determine that the SVTs were being caused by a problem on AV Node. They were able to diagnose it as atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) and ablated the site that was causing the issue. Everyone was extremely pleased with the results and there is only about a 5% chance of the problem returning. We are praying that we are in the 95% group. We will follow up with the cardiologist in about two months.
Thursday was both Elsie's birthday and my jury duty. We started the day with birthday cinnamon rolls and one present and then it was off to jury duty for me and school for her. Unfortunately, I didn't get called off from jury duty the night before as I was hoping, but fortunately they ended up having a bench trial that took priority and all jurors got to go home.
After school we were in full birthday mode. I picked the girls up from school and we were able to stay and play on the playground with friends. This is something the girls have really missed since I started my new job, so it was a great birthday treat for Elsie.
That evening, we had homemade cheese pizza per the birthday girl's request. She then opened the rest of her presents from us. She got Barbies and other toys, but one present was a little wild. She really wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday, but after lots of research for a place that would pierce both ears at the same time, I gave up and decided to buy the things to do it ourselves. My sister pierced her daughter's ears and I knew I could recruit her help. The jury is still out as to whether we will actually do them ourselves. So far she hasn't had the courage, but we will see.
After our family time, the extended family came over for cake and ice cream and more presents.
Friday was supposed to be a recoup day from the week of crazy, but it end up being the day we had to follow up with orthopedist and that brought a whole new batch of stress and bad news. It turns out that Merrick did facture his fibula, but the doctor was more concerned about the amount of swelling he still had. That was not consistent with a fibula fracture. She is much more concerned about potential ligament tearing. He were sent home with strict instructions about icing and elevating. He is to remain non-weight bearing and we will decide next Wednesday on the next steps. She also dashed his hopes of playing in the first stated tournament next weekend and said the Bend state tournament in two weeks is highly unlikely. This kid just can't catch a break.
Yesterday was Elsie's birthday party with her friends. We had a Barbie themed party at our house. We had 14 kindergarten girls here to celebrate. They played Barbies, colored Barbie coloring sheets, had a Barbie fashion show, and played "Pin the Bow on Barbie". Everyone had a great time and that's what's important, not the fact that for me it was the stress icing on top of a stress cupcake.
Today is the Sabbath, the day of rest, and I could sure use it. To say that this was a stressful week for our family would be a gross understatement. I am just so thankful for the outpouring of support and encouragement we got from family and friends. Otherwise, we never would have made it.
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