Gavin is home!

Had to open with this funny picture of G. Remember the first day of school picture? This is anxiety Gavin trying to pose for a pre-surgery picture for his crazy mother!

Wow! What a week. We got home yesterday afternoon and as soon as we walked through the door I just started bawling and couldn't stop! It seems the stress of the whole week all came tumbling out at once. The upside is I think I got it all out and this morning I feel great!

The week really started last Sunday. Gavin had to be up in Salt Lake to do some pre-surgery tests on Sunday and had to be at Primarys by 7:00a.m. Monday morning. We weren't real excited about taking back roads 2 days in a row, so we decided to stay up in Salt Lake and make it a good day since we would be out of commission for awhile. We took Gavin and Kesley to see Walking With Dinosaurs at the Delta Center (I know, I know! It was Sunday...but we did.) Anyway, it was AMAZING! Life size, very realistic, walking, roaring, fighting, dinosaurs. I think it was almost more amazing for me and Brent than the kids, but o well. Funny story. Brent and Kesley have this little game going about how dad "eats her chicken", which started when she learned that chicken actually is part of a chicken--very weird realization for her--thank you Bonnie and Jon...:) Anyway when he tickles her he bites her calves and she says he is "eating her chicken." Anyway, it was the climax of the show and the T-Rex makes his debut chasing these other dinosaurs--very loud and scary! Kesley literally jumped 3 inches off my lap when the T-Rex turned into our section of the seating and let out this HUGE, belly rumbling ROAR!! It was SO intense. She was so scared and snuggled into me and whispers in my ear, "Do they eat people?" I said, "No, people weren't around when T-Rex's lived on the earth." She looks at me kind of funny and says, "Didn't they know that we have chicken?" I had a good laugh.

Anyway, after the show Brent took Kesley to Shannon's house where she and Jenna were going to be staying for a few days (THANK YOU SHANNON!). Gavin and I took trax up to the hospital and did all the lab work, checked into our hotel and then decided to take trax back into town for the evening.

We had such a great night walking around Temple Square, eating dinner and just hanging out. Here we are in front of the Christos...I am thinking how happy I am that I have an Eternal Family going into this surgery and Gavin is...well...

I was happy he had this huge appetite because I knew he wouldn't be eating for a couple of days...that kid was a bottomless pit!

Poor G. He was EXHAUSTED from all the walking. It wasn't a ton of walking, but he is so breathless after just a block. I ended up carrying him towards the end. I just kept hoping this surgery would help him and that his life would change for ever!

Back at the hotel. Brent and G snuggling and watching T.V.....a favorite pass time of theirs. We sure lived every moment to the fullest that night. Funny how something like this just puts things into perspective and you become your best self. I wish I could be that kind of parent all the time....I think we all know that is IMPOSSIBLE! :)

Gavin had such traumatic experience when they were trying to give him the anesthesia before his MRI two weeks ago. He wouldn't put the mask on and they ended up having to hold him down and hold the mask over his nose. It only took a couple of seconds, but they were a very scary couple of seconds that he did not forget. I was really worried about him having another bad experience this time around, but Liz had a great idea to wrap a present and tell him he could open it when he woke up. He would not let go of it the night before or the morning of. Great idea Liz!

The hospital also had a solution for this. They gave him this oral medication to relax him before they took him back to be put under. It worked REALLY fast and we had to lay him down in a wagon so he wouldn't fall over. I tried to read him a Winnie the Pooh book and knew he was going to do just fine when he started trying to "pluck" the cabbages out of Rabbits garden. Brent and I could not stop laughing!

The surgery went well and only took about 2 hours. Our Dr. came out to talk to us when it was done. He said that he has done a lot of these decompression surgeries and Gavin was "about as tight as they come" meaning things were really congested in there. He said G should see some real improvements in the next couple of weeks! Hooray! He said they would be moving him to recovery and we could go see him in about 1/2 hour when they had the breathing tube out and he was waking up and breathing on his own. Well....2 HOURS later they had still not called us back and we were beginning to loose it. Someone finally told us they were having trouble waking him up, but we could go back and see him one at a time. That was the hardest thing ever. He was moaning and his breathing sounded really raspy and slow. We tried everything to wake him up, but he was OUT! They said that because of his sleep apnea, he went into a deeper state of sleep and he was really sensitive to the anesthesia so that was also causing trouble....I don't know. Anyway, they couldn't keep his temperature or his oxygen levels up. After 5 hours in recovery the decision was finally made to send him to the NICU until he completely stabilized.

Here is G in the NICU. He finally woke up completely at about 8:00 that night--8 hours after coming out of surgery! Not a fun 8 hours for a parent!

Here is a good shot of the scar. I was happy they didn't have to shave much of his head.He did really well after he finally woke up. By morning he was ready to be moved to a regular room and ready to open his present! He became known as "the kid with the car collection." Every nurse that came in had already heard about him and knew they would get the run down on all his cars! This hospital stay was more like Christmas than brain surgery! Here he is showing uncle "Joshy Boy" his cool new cars and then a picture with all his loot from all his visitors. Thank you EVERYONE for making things so fun for him!So, this venture is officially over! He is doing great and even trying to hop on one leg---which we stopped quickly and he really paid a price for....probably won't be trying that again soon! He can't go to school for another week and is not too happy about that, but I think he is going to feel better and better everyday. Thank you all for all the prayers and well wishes.