Brayden's Journey

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Infection specialists

The infection specialist just came in and he said that Brayden will always carry this bacteria. 5 out of 100 people have it and may never know you have MSRA.  But it's when you have an open wound, or just had surgery your body either adjust or shuts down and Brayden's body this time couldn't handle it and he got the infection. 

He wants to call the lab today and have them research more into this and he wants to figure out why his body is responding to the antibiotic clindamycin which it shouldn't be.  He said it could be because he had strep, but he's not for sure. 

I asked if this is contagious and he said that is very complicated to answerer.  He said yes, it can be, he doesn't want Brayden out and about in the hospital with children that just had surgery because they have a open wound and they could get it.  But from the average healthy person, no they will not get this from Brayden. 

Thought I better update the blog, while I had all of this medical information in my head, ha! So much to learn and process from all of this. 

The doctor will come by tomorrow after talking to the lab some more and he then will talk to Dr. Bauer and go from there.  They will keep Brayden on an antibiotic for the rest of the time his expanders are in and they won't release him until all the redness on his expander is gone. 

Brayden just had his 1st sponge bath since he has been here and he now he is busy watching Finding Nemo and talking away

 


Say Cheese!!
 

MRSA Staph Infection

Brayden had a pretty good night last night and slept about 10 hours straight, other then the nurses waking him up from time to time.

This morning the peditricain doctor came in and she said that the expander looks much better and he is healing.  She said that got another read on Brayden's culture and he came back having MRSA Staph infection.  She said that this infection is caused by a strain of staph bacteria that's become resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary staph infections. And this one they are limited on what they can actually give him. A lot of antibiotics they give him, won't work for MRSA.  So what does this mean? Well they currently have him on clindamyoin antibotic and his body is responding to it, which it shouldn't be with this type of infection.

Today they are calling in a infection specialists to come in and look at Brayden and see what he has to say.  They have called Dr. Bauer this morning and he said this is not uncommon with expanders, and he agrees to have the specialist come in and look at Brayden.  The thing with Brayden, he's not a normal case because he has these expanders in.  If he was a normal case he would have been sent home already, but they want to make sure he is better and that we can save these expanders and finish this round.

They are also waiting on another fluid culture that they did on Friday to see what the reading on that is and once they get the results on that, they will decide what is next.  The doctor did say he is getting closer to getting home soon, which is GREAT news!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Staph infection for Brayden

Today was a better day for Brayden, he is talking more and more and becoming his happy self again.  This morning when Dr. Workman came in she looked at his expander and she said that his expander overall looks better then it did the day before.  So that is great news! The middle area and the left area and still purple/dark red.  We need to continue to watch it because that area has been stressed and should recover as things improve.

Some of the skin color is coming back and the red it less then it has been
 



View from Brayden's hospital room.....when airplanes fly by, Brayden points and says airplanes
 

 
After Dr. Workman came this afternoon, another doctor came in to talk about Brayden's results from the fluid they pulled 2 days ago.  It came back positive for staph infection.  a type of bacteria. These bacteria can live harmlessly on many skin surfaces. But when the skin is punctured or broken for any reason, staph bacteria can enter the wound and cause an infection. The doctor thinks he could have gotten this from our weekly fills, since every week we have been opening the port with the needle.  But then again, it is hard to tell how he got it.  Staph infection can be scary, so we are happy they caught it and now they can get Brayden on the right antibiotic to fight this out of his body. 
 
When are we breaking out of this place, hmmm not anytime soon.  The doctor now, knows what type of iv antibiotic to put Brayden on to treat this.  Then they have to make sure it's going the job.  Once they get that all worked out, they will put him on an oral antibiotic for the rest of the time these expanders are in.  They don't want to risk anything else happening to Brayden.  I do feel better now that they know what he has, so they can treat it and Brayden can start to get better. 
 
Today they had a children's play, Charlotte Web's.  The moment the nurse unhooked Brayden, his face lite up and he was so excited to leave this room.  He was laughing at the kids as he watched the play, made me feel so much better seeing him smile and laugh again.  After the play, I decided we would go outside for a bit to get some fresh air.  I put Brayden in a red wagon they have here and oh my, he loved it! He kept saying choo choo, choo choo! It was great to see him happy again! Melts my heart. 
 
Now I just need him to fight this staph infection, so we can go home.  Tomorrow the doctors will be around to see how he is doing and I guess we will just take it one day at a time right now.  Thank you everyone for all your support, means the world to us!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Benefits of staying at a great hospital

All I can say is wow....I am so impressed with this hospital.  First of all it's a 2 minute drive from my house and 2nd of all they have a children's unit.  He's at Banner Desert Hospital.  They have been nothing but nice to us and everyone loves learning about Brayden's nevus, since most of them have never heard of it before or seen in. 

Brayden is improving which is good.  Today he is talking more again, eating and playing again.  So why are we still here?  Well the expander is still red. The overall redness is going away but the middle and the left side are red still and kind of look like it is starting to bruise :(  boo!

This afternoon Dr. Workman came in and she said the expander looks a little worse then it did this morning, dang it :(  But she said they did run test on the fluid they pulled out of the port yesterday and it came back ok.  So that was good news.  She managed to pull 3 ml of fluid out around the port.  She is hoping that will help speed up the process to recovery.  I guess we have to take 1 day at a time and it looks like we better get comfortable here, because we are not leaving anytime soon. 

Here's some recent pictures of his expanders

 




 

 
After Dr. Workman pulled some fluid off the port.  They brought Brayden to a room filled with brand new toys and Brayden got to pick out anything he wanted! So of course he went with the 14 piece dinosaur set.  After that, they were so nice and opened up the playroom, just for Brayden! He played for 45 minutes and so excited to be free for awhile.  He was a little off balance, so Geoffrey kept 2 steps behind him in case he would fall.
 
Shortly after, a nurse came in and brought me so information about Southwest airlines and how they have a medical grant for flying.  She told me it wouldn't hurt to look into it and she gave me some prices for flying Allegiant air.  I thought wow, that is so nice of her to think of us.  And for Brayden they gave him a bag full of goodies and a mokey build-a-bear! And his favorite, stickers! He was so happy after that.
 
Brayden playing with cars in the playroom

Say Cheese Brayden!!

 


Loves cars!

He decided the monkey would love to wear some stickers
 
Tonight, Brayden got to face time his nevus buddy Joshua! How cool is that?! They have a good time talking to each other and Brayden was even laughing and waving bye bye! Josh and his sister Katie, even sang Brayden a few songs.  So fun to see Brayden interact with his friends and happy they live now a days with the technology that we have!
 
Now lets just hope and pray tonight is a better night and tomorrow, his expander shows more improvements
 


 

Wish this turtle speed of healing would speed up for my brave heart

Brayden is slowly doing better, but like I said slowly.  We have been in the hospital since Wednesday and we could be in here for a few more days. 

Dr. Workman, came in yesterday and she was able to get 5 ml of fluid out around the port.  Dr. Bauer was happy about this because that will help with the healing process. 

Yesterday he did eat 3 slices of pizza and some oreos.  Which is great! And he even wanted out of the bed.  He laid on daddy for awhile. 

 
Last night, Geoffrey went home to get some sleep, so I stayed with him.  He was wide awake till about 1 am and he got up 4 times last night, crying for awhile.  So needless to say, I didn't get much sleep, with his crying and the nurse coming in and out all night long. 
 
This morning I met Dr. Workman for the 1st time.  She was the doctor that seen Brayden in the ER.  I asked her if she has ever heard of nevus and she said yes, I was so surprised because most doctors have never seen or heard of this before.  And this is such a small world because she interviewed with Dr. Bauer and was going to work under him?! She said he is such an amazing talented doctor and he is so gifted in what he does.  She decided to go a different route and she does hand surgery and cleft pallet.  She has been phoning Dr. Bauer and they have been talking back and forth.  This makes me feel so much better that Brayden is in good hands here with a doctor that can relate to him and also one that knows Dr. Bauer!
 
When she checked Brayden this morning, she noticed more fluid around the port.  She said she will be in this afternoon to get some of that fluid out 
 
I emailed Dr. Bauer and I asked him, should we pack our bags for Chicago?! And he responded and said. you are in great hands with Dr. Workman and she is telling me that he looks better from Tuesday and he is improving each day.  He said it takes awhile for the body to get rid of this infection and he feels like Brayden will be just fine.  He wants to keep Brayden in the hospital until he is better and the redness in the expander is gone.  After he gets out, he will keep him on an antibiotic until our surgery date, Nov. 15th. 
 
So that is good to hear, that they think Brayden is improving and we just have to take each day at a time.  As of right now, we are hanging tight here and not going home anytime soon. 
 
I did notice the hospital has a play area and if Brayden is up for it, he will be playing later on today.  All night, he was asking for his shoes, he wants his shoes so he can go home.  Poor baby is ready to split this joint.
 
Brayden was a very spoiled little boy yesterday, so lucky to have sooooo many people support him. Means a lot to us!
 
Geoffrey's sweet co-workers Jessica & Karen sent this to him

 

 
Cars from Grandma & Grandpa Vauble

 


Dinosaur from his buddy Hannah!

 


Teddy Bear and balloon from Makenna, Holli & Brandon

 

 
Today Brayden also had 2 visitors, Destiny came buy and brought him a book and he loved it! He was pointing and talking to her about the book.  Also Stephanie, came by and brought him a smoothie from Jamaba Juice, what a nice surprise! He loves smoothies and this will feel good on his throat.  Oh not sure if I mentioned it or not, but he did test positive from strep. 
 
Here's an update of his expander, still red but slowly getting better


 



 

 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

My Brave Heart

Brayden sure loves his pain meds, but then again, who wouldn't love some morphine?! Last night after work I finally went to the hospital to see my "Brave Heart" this is a nickname he has gotten lately and funny enough, his name...Brayden means brave.  Never knew I would have such a brave boy, when I picked the name Brayden.  Guess this name, fits him perfect and when he gets older, I will tell him all these amazing stories how brave he was when he was little. 
 
Yesterday, when they couldn't get an IV in Brayden, found out it was a nurse who was training and the reason he struggled so much was because he didn't have too many IV training under his belt.  Great, they decided to experiment on my son :(  Then a head nurse came in and in 1 shot, got the IV in.  So why the heck didn't we get that nurse from the get go.  Not fair to Brayden. 

On a funny note, when the nurse came in to take out his catheter yesterday, Brayden decided to give them a surprise and pee on them ;) Ha...glad Brayden has a sense of humor even though, he's not feeling well.   

When I got to the hospital, my friend Wendy came with me to keep me company while Geoffrey went to grab something to eat and get a few things at home. So hard to have not have a lot of support out here and we can't even leave the hospital for a few minutes.  Really wish family didn't live so far away at times like this :( 

Brayden slept pretty good since he was on some good meds, but when he was up, he would just cry and cry. Breaks my heart to see him in pain.  His temperature is back to normal, which is good. And the doctors here have been in regular contact with Dr. Bauer to keep him posted on Brayden's progress. 

I went home late last night and since I have to work all day.  I brought Geoffrey a strong Starbucks to get him through the day this morning before work. Last night Brayden got up and this is what Geoffrey had to say, " It's 3:30am Brayden just woke up very unhappy,nurse gave him more pain meds,nothing was making him happy,didn't want toys,juice,iPad or anything just kept saying ow ow ow and no no,times like this I wish he could talk so I knew where he was hurting.Its really hard seeing him like this,feel like its eating away at me,pray that tomorrow will be a better day!!!!!"

So we are praying for a better day for Brayden.  He is up now and eating a banana and some gold fish and watching Dinosaur Train.  


Dr. Bauer would like the the staff here try and get any fluid around the port out.  The port is a size of a quater and the port is where we stick the needle when we do the fills and the port has a tube that goes to the expanders.  It will be extremly difficult to try and do this, so I pray it works and Brayden is ok when they do this today.  

Geoffrey said the expander does look a little less red today, so that's good, but we need the antibiotics to keep working and heal him before he can go home.  Looks like another long day for Brayden.  Please keep the prayers coming :) And thank you so much for everyone who is thinking of my Brave Heart! 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Everything happens for a reason....right?!

Well you know what they say, everything happens for a reason.  Well as I sit here, wondering what the reason is and why Brayden had to go to the hospital today.  The only thing I can think of,  if we didn't act fast on all of this, it could have been much worse and we could have had a repeat from round 1 and ended up in Chicago for an emergency surgery to get the expanders out.  So I guess I need to stay positive and know being in the hospital is a good thing right now.

After I emailed Dr. Bauer pictures this morning, he responded right away to take him to the hospital for IV antibiotics.  He said if the doctor as Banner Desert, has any questions to call him on his cell phone, he will be around all day.  Wow, how awesome of a doctor is he?! It makes me feel better knowing even though Dr. Bauer is far away in Chicago, he is only a phone call away when needed.

Here's some pictures of his red expander, as you can see, much worse then last night



Once Dr. Bauer said to head to the hospital, Geoffrey and Brayden were off.  The moment Brayden stepped foot in the hospital the poor boy was crying non stop.  He knew something was up.  It took the nurse over 6 times to get a good vein to put the IV, Brayden was not happy about this and screaming bloody murder.  They also put a catheter on him, which he hated.  Once the IV was finally in, they gave him some pain meds and he started to feel a little better and stop crying as much.  

The nurse took his blood and guess what?! She dropped the test tube on the way to the lab, so they had to come come and draw more blood.  I swear, can we ever have any good luck come our way? 

After the pain meds kicked in, they called Dr. Bauer and he said to start giving him some antibiotics by IV.  They said they wanted to keep Brayden overnight for a day or 2 and see how he's doing.  They want to make sure his body fights off this virus in his body before sending him home. 

Thank you everyone for your support today, means a lot to us, especially since our family is so far away.  Nice knowing so many people are praying for our little guy! 

And on a funny note, Brayden pointed to his diaper bag today and Geoffrey asked him, "Brayden what do you want?" And he pointed to the bag again and then pointed to the door, poor baby wants to get the heck out of the hospital and go home!

Despite everything this little guy has been through today, look at how brave he is! He melts my heart with his smile....proud to be his momma!


Another bump in the road

Yesterday Brayden got up at 7, which is early for him and he felt a little warm, I took his temp and he was at 101,not good! Great what is wrong now with him?! We have really been keeping him in a bubble and trying to keep him away from a lot of things right now.  I really thought we would have a good round and he wouldn't get sick, especially since he got tubes in his ears this past surgery.  Guess that was wishful thinking.

I then decided I better look at his expanders to see if they look alright and as soon as I looked, my heart dropped and I got tears in my eyes.  The left expander has a tent of red.  This is something I am so afraid of happening again.  If you all remember, the 1st round Brayden got an infection and the stitches came apart and we had to go an emergency surgery 8 weeks before the expanders were suppose to come out.  I really pray this doesn't happen to him again.  But it's really hard not to assume the worst when something happens like this. 

Here's a picture and you can see the redness in the left expander

I acted fast and emailed Dr. Bauer right away.  They responded quickly, which sometimes this isn't good news if they respond so fast...that usually means they are concerned.  They agreed with me that the best thing was to take him to his pediatrician right away.  So at 2:30 off the the doctor Brayden went.  They gave him an injection on his thigh, Rocephin antibiotic.  Which he screamed bloody murder for and all night he kept saying owie, guess this injection hurts pretty bad because they have to go in so deep and put in a lot of liquid.  They also put him on an oral antibiotic. When Brayden was at the doctor his temp was back down, thank goodness!

The rest of the day and night, Brayden laid on the couch and cried off and on and he did eat a few bites of daddy's fish for dinner and I even got his favorite candy out, Dots and he was all excited to have them and only ate 1.  Poor baby must be sick if he doesn't want Dots.

I emailed Dr. Bauer and asked him why his expander is red and this is what he said, "The redness of the expander is a direct effect of the sore throat, and should, because you got on it so quickly respond fairly quickly.  We can do everything to avoid an infection to a point, but then the expander is still a foreign body and both bacteria and viruses at work elsewhere (throat, ears, etc) just stir things up.  Give him Tylenol or Motrin regularly both for fever and to keep him comfortable. And also hold off with any expansion until this clears up." 

I am happy even though we are so far away from our doctor, I trust him and his judgement and Brayden is in the best of hands.  I just need to continue to be strong for Brayden, even though yesterday was such an emotional day for me.  Guess some days, even strong mommy's have a hard day. 

Brayden slept pretty good last night, cried off and on and when he woke up this morning at 6 am, his temp was back up to 100.  We are going to email pictures to Dr. Bauer this morning and see what the next step is.  He might have to do back to the doctor for another injection or they could put him in the hospital for an IV to help speed things up.  Please pray for my little boy, he could sure use them right now.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Sunday funday...fill #3 done ...easy does it

Wednesday morning, Geoffrey woke up Brayden to take him to get his stitches out.  When Geoffrey got him up, Brayden threw the biggest tantrum once Geoffrey took off Brayden pj's.  So needless to say, Brayden won this battle and he wore his pj bottoms with his t-shirt and shoes. When they arrive at  Dr. Price's office, his amazing dermatologist. Brayden had to get out of his pj bottoms, so of course that led to another melt down.  Geoffrey took his bottoms and put his arms throw the leg holes to make him happy.  Oh the little things in life that makes toddlers happy.

Dr. Price took his stitches out where he had his advancement done.  Now we are hoping that it starts to heal, so he can sit again.  He still hasn't sat on his butt since surgery.  Each week, he is healing and I know soon he will be able to sit again. 

Taking out the stitches was not fun, for Brayden or daddy.  Brayden couldn't be put under because he had his expanders in.  So he was hanging on to daddy and screaming in his ears.  But luckily Dr. Price and her assistant Kelly, worked quickly and Brayden was done and happy as can be. 

Recent picture of Brayden's butt
 

Tonight, Geoffrey's co-worker Victoria offered to come over to help us with the fill.  She has been very supportive of Brayden and even ran in the PF Chang marathon with me last year, in honor of him.  We are happy Brayden has so many people that support him, especially since we have no family here during these stressful times. 

Can't believe we are already 3 weeks into the fills, seems like once you get the 1st fill under your belt, it becomes a Sunday routine. Normally once we put the lidocine cream on we have him sit in his high chair for a hour.  Well since he won't sit, that makes it harder.  Now he plays and we put on Curious George to help pass the time. 

This week, Geoffrey didn't get in as much as we would have liked.  But you never want to over fill, then that could lead to complications later on down the road.  We got 45 cc's in the right, now at 315 cc's and 45 cc's in the left, not at 320 cc's.  Luckily they are both feeling up the same, this way Brayden won't have such uneven bubbles like last round. 

One problem I am having, what should he be for Halloween this year?! It's hard to pick something because I don't know how big his expanders will be then and also, will he actually wear something on his head.  I also have to keep him on lock down a few week before surgery because we don't want him getting sick.  I know we can't wait for the day, when I don't have to worry about keeping Brayden away from germs and he can be a "normal" kid a get sick and we won't freak out when it happens. 

This bubbles are slowly getting bigger
 


Left expander at 320 cc's
 

 
 Right expander at 315 cc's
 






Sunday, September 16, 2012

Fill # 2 for round 3 done!

Another week went by and it was time for another fill tonight.  Brayden had a hard week and his butt is still bothering him and his stitches are opening up more.  He still won't sit on his butt.  When he eats he stands or on his knees.  He loves bath time but when he goes in the tub, he tries to sit, then he realizes his butt still hurts so he stands the whole time. 

Wednesday Brayden goes to Dr. Price to get his stitches taken out with daddy.  Only bad part they can't put him under, so we will give him some Tylenol to see if that helps. Which I don't see that happening since he cries every time we change his diaper. But these stitches on his butt have to come out and hopefully once they do, that area will start to heal. Wish him luck on Wednesday!

You can see the area on the right side on the bottom of his butt that is red.  This is where it's starting to tear and why it hurts him to sit
 


This week, Brayden did have fun with his bubble nevus buddy Joshua! He came over 2 times for play dates.  They have so much fun together and they are so lucky they live so close for play dates.

Cheese boys!
 


One day, they will hate us for this picture but we had to get a picture of the bubble buddies!
 

 
Tonight it was fill #2.  Back in to the routine of our weekly Sunday fill.  Erin and Brent came over tonight to help us with the fill.  We are happy they could come over to help us.  Brayden did pretty good, cried off and on and one time he screamed a high pitch noise right in to my ear.  He kept wanting to look down at Geoffrey as he was doing the fill and he would see the syringe and needle and start crying.  I told Brayden to stop looking, then he did and the tears would stop.  He does amazes me because right after the fill, he forgets about what happened and he's off to playing again.  We had a good fill tonight.  We got 65 cc's in each side! We are now at 270 cc's on the right and 275 cc's on the left.  We have 8 fills left, so our goal is to get to 750 cc's in each expander. 
 
Here's his growing bubbles after 2 fills

 


Right expander at 270 cc's



 


Left expander at 275 cc's

 


Sunday, September 9, 2012

Fill #1 for round 3 done!

Last night we pulled Brayden's last tube out.  So today I started the bath water and I told him bath time and he came running to the bath all excited and thew all his bath toys in.  Brayden loves his bath and this would be his 1st bath since surgery.  As soon as I put him in the bath, he started crying and wanted out.  He still doesn't want to sit on his butt.  So I had to get him out right away and sponge bath him while he was standing.  I am hoping he will start to heal soon so he can sit down.

Tonight we did his first fill for round #3.  Hard to believe we are already on round 3, but what a good feeling it is to have 2 rounds already behind us.  Tonight Erin came over to help us with the fill.  It is always so nice to have a extra set of hands when were doing the fill and we are lucky she could come over. 

We decided the best way to the do the fill would be me holding him.  That way he can't move when were doing the fill.  We got the ipad out and a sucker and we were ready to go.  But as soon as Geoffrey took his diaper off, Brayden knew something was up and he started crying and wanted his diaper back on. The older Brayden gets, the harder this is on him, he's so more aware of everything and he knows were about to do the fill. 

Luckily he didn't feel the needle, he just cried off and on while he watched Lion King.  We had a good fill this week. We started this round off with great numbers, Dr. Bauer put in 130 cc's in each expander and the expanders are 750 cc's.  Our goal is to get around 750 cc's in each expander. We got 75 cc's on the right now at 205 cc's and 80 cc's on the left now at 210 cc's. 

Now we just need Brayden's butt to heal and that we have a good round with no complications.

Brayden reading his get well card from Syliva & Tineke, that are so thoughtful to always think of him all the way from Holland

Loves reading cards

Expanders after the 1st fill
 


Right expander at 205 cc's
 


Left expander at 210 cc's
 

Friday, September 7, 2012

The bumpy road is starting to smooth out again

Brayden slept great last night, I think the Benadryl also helped him.  He slept for 12 hours and when he woke up this morning he was in a good mood! I was home alone, so that meant I had to do the dressing change all by myself and change the tubes.  Brayden was so good and just stood still for me, he did cry some when I was putting some aquaphor on his butt. I was afraid to look at his stitches, since last night he had the discharge.  But when I looked this morning, it looked much better then it did last night. Thank goodness! 

Brayden's nurse, Mim emailed me after she looked at his pictures and she said this is a normal reaction to the sutures. Once that last drain is out (4-6 hours after), just stick him in the bathtub. Hopefully, that will feel good and it will help it clean up. And don’t hesitate to use the Tylenol with codeine alternating with motrin. 

So happy to hear this is normal and part of the healing process.  Now we just have to keep him healthy so we can do our 1st fill on Sunday! 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Another bump in the road

Brayden hasn't been happy all day, he won't sit on his butt and he keeps scratching his butt because the stiches are red and now he even has a white discharge coming out.  I just pray this isn't an infection and we don't have any huge problems with that healing. 

When we did the dressing change tonight he was not happy, screaming the whole time.  Dr. Bauer did tell me today, that I could give him some Benadryl, but it might make him sleepy.  So I gave him some tonight and 30 minutes later he was out.  Just hope he sleeps good today and tomorrow we don't hear to bad of news from Dr. Bauer once he see's the pictures I sent him. 

My little boy goes through so much, just hope this round of expanders is uneventful and a sucessful round, need to keep positive and pray it doesn't get any worst.

Uncle Brandon taking 2 of Brayden's tubes out




The red area on Brayden's butt


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Made it back home safely

Brayden has had a busy few days in Iowa with family and friends.  He has been doing better each day except he still cries off and on during the night.  He just doesn't seem to get comfortable and he is not happy when he has to sit on his butt.  Since he has stitches on his butt, it bothers him. Hoping we can figure out something to help him.  The stitches will come out in another week or 2.  Once they are out, I am sure he will feel better.

Last night Brayden's uncle Brandon, pulled out 2 of his tubes.  He had 3 tubes this time and 2 of them were ready to come out because they stopped draining.  The 3rd tube will come out on Sunday and we will also be able to give him a bath again.  Also Sunday will be our 1st fill for round #3!  Can't wait to get the 1st fill behind us and start this round. 

Brayden is doing good with his tubes in his ears, really doesn't seem to bother him, he just hated the ear drops we had to give him.  One thing that Brayden was awesome about this time around, he took all his medicine like a pro.  I think he has been in so much pain he knew it would help him if he took them. 

Brayden before surgery waiting for Dr. Bauer to come in
 Cuddling with my super hero after surgery

Kisses for my brave boy!



 
Even ate some pizza and had chocolate milk the night of surgery

Before surgery #5 on the right side




Before surgery #5


After surgery #5.....Dr. Bauer did an advancement and just pulled up the skin and gave Brayden a butt lift





All that's left after the advancement, so happy the right side it about done

 




 






 
Day after surgery, Driving to Iowa, luckily it was a 7 hr car drive so he could sleep