COLTON
You’re welcome. I am attaching what I have written
about our first months, its probably way to long. Would you please look at
it and help me with anything that may need changed? I know what I was trying
to say, but it is hard to do on paper, (especially through tears) If I had
to say one thing to anyone about all this, it would be to “hang in there,
it gets much easier!” Talk to you soon......Vicky
It was Nov. 11, Veteran's day, and I had great news!
I had to hurry home and tell my husband that we were pregnant with our second
child! I was so excited! I had a perfect pregnancy, the months flew by. Finally
the day was here, the Dr. said we would have to induce as our little angel
was already 10 days late. I didn't mind a bit.
We made all the calls and Grandma and Grandpa were on
their way. It was Friday, July 24, my Nana's birthday (what a great present
this would be) I was in the hospital all ready to go. We just couldn't wait
any longer! Our angel felt we could wait another whole day. After a very
long night, morning came and the Dr. said it was time. It was July 25, 1998
our baby was here.
Everything went fine. The Dr. said, "It's a boy!" and
set Colton on my stomach, no one was saying much of anything and everyone
was crying.
I looked down at my new baby and all I could see was
a hand with no fingers. My emotions went out of whack at that point. The
Dr. said, "There are some problems, I need to check on the baby". I didn't
know what to think, all I could do was cry.
Later that day, my OB Dr. came in to my room
and told me that he thought he new what was going on with Colton. He said
he had recently done a paper on something called Moebius syndrome and another
on Poland syndrome. He wanted to send us to the big hospital where all the
specialist were.
The first week of Colton's life was a whirlwind of Doctors.
I think we saw every specialist that there is! They started at the top of
his head and worked down. Neurologist said, "I don't think he will ever function
at a normal level, this baby doesn't react to anything!" Opthamologist said,
"He is probably blind in the left eye!" Audiologist said, "Definitely deaf
in the left ear!" Speech and Feeding specialist said, "He needs to be tube
fed, and probably won't be able to form words." The list goes on and on,
we had many of the Drs. tell us to bring Colton home just wait, because he
wasn't strong and he wouldn't last very long.
We did bring Colton home and he was drinking from a bottle
with a habermann feeder! A very exciting step for us! No tubes or treatments
or anything! We felt pretty good about everything and Colton seemed to be
doing great! Then the really scary stuff started.
Colton had a cold, and was very weak, the Dr. at the
ER didn't think it was to serious, he gave us some tylenol and sent us home.
The next night, my husband was holding Colton and dozed off. Something startled
him and he looked down and Colton was blue. His heart had stopped and Keith
started CPR. We got Colton to the hospital and were introduced to life with
monitors! He was put on a pulse/ox monitor and an apnea monitor. The Drs.
decided that he had reflux, and was then put on cisipride and zantac. We
were just getting used to the idea that he was getting better and it was
ok to sleep again, and Colton got sick. His pulse was in the 180's and O2
level was in the low 80's. I we headed back to the hospital and found out
he had RSV. This started our fun with Oxygen 24 hrs a day, and Nebulizer
treatments every 2 hours. We would spend about a week in the hospital, come
home for 2 or 3 days and go back in for another week.
That was how we spent the first eight months of Colton's
life. In January the Army finally decided we could use a nurse for 12 hrs
a day. Boy, did I fight that. I was a mom, and mom's aren't supposed to need
help! Finally I gave in. It was the best thing I could have ever done. (for
me and my family) Ms. Pat was great! She loved our family and was able to
do the things for Colton that took up so much time. Colton showed a very
quick turn around. He was getting healthier every day.
In June the Army said "You don't need Ms. Pat anymore".
This was a very hard thing for me to face. I felt like I had to go through
the new baby thing all over again. I didn't think I could do it, I was scared!
I was used to being able to leave the house and not have to worry if he was
ok. I didn't like this idea at all. I called my Nana, and she told me that
things were ok now. Colton was stronger and so was I. Nana was right!
In January, it will be a whole year since he has had
a hospital stay. We got rid of the oxygen in August and the monitors in
September. We still do the inhaler treatments everyday, and are down to just
taking Zantac. I would say we have made some real progress. Colton is now
17 months old and is a real pistol! He is taking physical therapy, speech
and feeding therapy, and occupational therapy. He has is pulling himself
up in front of the furniture and standing. His therapist is working with
him with a walker. He is also starting to talk and he is learning some sign
language. We had a surgery in August to tack his eyelid closed a little.
(to prevent it from drying out) and had tubes put in his ears. Since the
surgery, they have found he does have some hearing in the left ear and can
see from the left eye.
webmaster note: Click here to see
pictures of Colton then and now.
What an incredible change !
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