The Graduate...Tommy's Story

Ok I know I have not updated in awhile what the family has been up to so I thought I would start with our soon to be graduate!! Wait didn't I do this last year..oh yes we did! :) So in order to catch you up I must share a little bit of back ground about our youngest child...(so far ;) )

Tommy was born July 4th 1994 a beautiful healthy baby boy 9lbs 12 oz! Or so we thought. Delivery went well the day following went well, then the doctor came in with bad news. Tommy had not had his first movement. (Sorry not trying to be graphic but this is a huge part of his story, there is more of this to follow so bear with me please?) Being a mom for the 3rd time I was not to awful concerned until the Dr explained that this was not normal and that they needed to rush him to our nearest children's hospital 45 minutes away. I panicked! My hubby had went home to pick up our other 2 kiddo's so we could take pictures and then take Tommy home. That was not in the plan. As soon as he arrived with the kids and two other family members. I had to tell them they had sent Tommy by ambulance to the children's hospital (Thank You Lord for one being so close!) We were heartbroken.

When we arrived at C*H they quickly took us up to the NICU to see our son. He was all hooked up with wires and we had to scrub up to see him. This would not be the last time that happened. We spoke with the Dr's to see what the plan would be. They said they would do a procedure and he should be fine, nothing to bad but it would cause him to be able to get the meconium out and he would be great! We were so relieved! So everything was going good after that. We took him home and he did fine for a few days then it all happened again. We went back and forth to the dr but they couldn't figure it out. So we took him back to C*H to see what they thought. They ran some tests. One for CF the other for Hirschsprungs Disease. We waited for days to get results back but no one knew anything. Meanwhile my baby boy was suffering tremendously.

After Dr regiments for moving his bowels that didn't really seem to work we were just worried. Finally through a friend and we know by God's hand we found a pediatric surgeon. We went in to the office distraught and tired and confused and explained to him the situation. He immediately got on the phone and got the test results which were inconclusive. So he scheduled the 1st surgery for Tommy. A simple same day surgery to do a more invasive test. Keep in mind he is about 6 weeks old by this time. You don't really wanna hear the word invasive when it comes to a 1 1/2 month old. It took a week to get those results back. The Dr called in the middle of the day in the middle of the week and said words I will never forget, "You need to bring him in right now for surgery! If we wait any longer he may not make it."  Not to be graphic but by this time Tommy could not have a movement at all and when he did eat he would regurgitate it from his upper intestines. That day we found out Tommy indeed has Hirschsprungs Disease. It is a hereditary disorder of the intestines. I called my hubby who was at work 1 1/2 hrs away and he met us at the hospital. The surgery lasted 4 hours. Numbers I remember 4 hr surgery 7 week old, 3rd child. I did not understand why we were all going through this. IT was heart breaking sitting there waiting. They took out 8 inches of his Large Intestines and made a colostomy on the left side of his tummy, so tiny but so lifesaving! God was in the details let me tell you!!

 He would require an additional surgery that lasted 5 hours to reconnect his intestines  later on when he got bigger! That happened when he was 7 months old. God truly saved our sons life. There have been side effects to all this. Potty training was very hard and he has some other issues that can sometimes be funny or embarrassing. But if you know Tommy at all you know he makes those "issues" funny and just lets them roll off of him like they don't matter!

Next Post: Growing up with our Boy...now the graduate