On August 15th 2011, at 5:15 pm, I gave birth via C-section to Cameron Joseph Elliott. He came into the world weighing 6lbs 6oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long. He had trouble breathing on his own so he was intubated and transfered to the NICU. During the next week in the NICU we discovered that while mild in the sense of the syndrome, Cameron had some internal issues that needed to be dealt with. At four days old he had his first surgery. His esophogus didn't attach to his stomach, something called esophogeal atresia, so he needed that repaired. He came out of the surgery still on the breathing tube, and on a heavy paralitic to keep him calm so that he could heal. One week later the breathing tube was out and Cameron was on the road to recovery doing very well!
Then on the day they did a test to make sure the site had healed correctly they also discovered that he had something called a malrotation of the intestine. This means that his small intestine was flipped the wrong way, and they needed to repair that as well. So off to his second surgery at only 2 weeks old. After this surgery there were some complications and he ended up staying on the breathing tube for longer than expected, but he once again came off and started to thrive.
We stayed another 3 weeks in the hospital and we were released September 26th to come home! Our first week at home was fantastic. We were terrified, but Cameron was a great baby. He slept well at night, and was eating like a champ, then on day 8 we woke up to a very sick baby. Cameron had stopped breathing. We called 911 and he was rushed to our local hospital where he was later transfered back down the Winston where we ended up spending another 2 weeks. It was determined that he was suffering from aspiration pneumonia. This was determined after various tests came back negative...like and EEG to check for seizures, a spinal tap to check for meningitis, and lots of other blood tests and scans to see if he had to much fluid in his head or a bacteria in his blood.
So when our time to go home came around again, we were very scared. But we packed up our now 8 week old and headed home yet again. Then two weeks later Cam needed his planned surgery to place a shunt. This shunt helps to drain the extra fluid that Cam had building up in one of his ventricles because of the premature closure of the sutures. The surgery went great, and three days after that we went home. We stayed home all the way to January of 2011...a whole 2 months.
On Christmas Cam contracted pnuemonia. So we spent about 5 days in our local hospital making sure he didn't get any worse and that his breathing was monitored very closely. Then when he started feeling better we headed back home.
Since then Cam has had his major head surgery which was on February 9th, 2011. He made it through that great, and was home after 6 days. He has had a rough time this cold and flu season with contracting a couple viruses...but other than that has been doing great!!
We have alot of love for our little warrior and know that God is going to do great things through Cam. We are excited about having this blog to share his journey with others that may be experiancing similar things and hope that we can bring inspiration to those that find out their child is going to be diffrent. It's the hardest most amazing journey i've ever been on and I'm so greatful that i've been given this most precious child, who has taught me more in the past 7 months than i've learned in the past 25 years.
Then on the day they did a test to make sure the site had healed correctly they also discovered that he had something called a malrotation of the intestine. This means that his small intestine was flipped the wrong way, and they needed to repair that as well. So off to his second surgery at only 2 weeks old. After this surgery there were some complications and he ended up staying on the breathing tube for longer than expected, but he once again came off and started to thrive.
We stayed another 3 weeks in the hospital and we were released September 26th to come home! Our first week at home was fantastic. We were terrified, but Cameron was a great baby. He slept well at night, and was eating like a champ, then on day 8 we woke up to a very sick baby. Cameron had stopped breathing. We called 911 and he was rushed to our local hospital where he was later transfered back down the Winston where we ended up spending another 2 weeks. It was determined that he was suffering from aspiration pneumonia. This was determined after various tests came back negative...like and EEG to check for seizures, a spinal tap to check for meningitis, and lots of other blood tests and scans to see if he had to much fluid in his head or a bacteria in his blood.
So when our time to go home came around again, we were very scared. But we packed up our now 8 week old and headed home yet again. Then two weeks later Cam needed his planned surgery to place a shunt. This shunt helps to drain the extra fluid that Cam had building up in one of his ventricles because of the premature closure of the sutures. The surgery went great, and three days after that we went home. We stayed home all the way to January of 2011...a whole 2 months.
On Christmas Cam contracted pnuemonia. So we spent about 5 days in our local hospital making sure he didn't get any worse and that his breathing was monitored very closely. Then when he started feeling better we headed back home.
Since then Cam has had his major head surgery which was on February 9th, 2011. He made it through that great, and was home after 6 days. He has had a rough time this cold and flu season with contracting a couple viruses...but other than that has been doing great!!
We have alot of love for our little warrior and know that God is going to do great things through Cam. We are excited about having this blog to share his journey with others that may be experiancing similar things and hope that we can bring inspiration to those that find out their child is going to be diffrent. It's the hardest most amazing journey i've ever been on and I'm so greatful that i've been given this most precious child, who has taught me more in the past 7 months than i've learned in the past 25 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment