What A Month

It's been a long first month, but someone's happy tonight! While daddy is still out sick, we had a little birthday fun tonight (and yes, there were cupcakes). I caught this one while Ali talked to the nurse during a break in our "photo shoot." There are plenty more where this comes from...Ali will post later!



Happy "one month" Birthday angel baby! We love you!

Vesti

Todays Photo shoot!

Here's what me and Mommy did today while Daddy was a out sick!

All this posing makes me tired!

Mom, I said I was tired.

What can I do to make her stop?

Maybe if I don't look at her...

Nope...didn't work...

Even when I'm sleeping

So Dr. Roberts came in today and said we are having surgery on Monday to replace my shunt. Another day in the OR...hopefully the last for a very very long time, I am tired of that place. Then I'll get a couple more days of antibiotics before I get to go home. I'm almost there!!! YEA!!! I can't wait, I was just starting get used to being at home in my own bed. And I miss my big, four-legged brother Hank. I can't wait to see him.

I am looking forward to a weekend full of visitors, my Grandaddy & Granmomma and Pawpaw & Grammie are coming. What fun that will be!! Well, that's all for today. Mommy says to tell everyone thank you for all your prayers, and for loving me so much!!

Love you all too,

Cannon

One last sweet picture before we go to bed.

Just Hanging Out!

Here's us just hanging out! We are just waiting, day by day getting antibiotics. I'm not sure how many more days we get. But we will just hang out here until we know Cannon's infection is completely gone. So far all of his cultures have come back negative. So we are looking good!

Sunday

Cannon got to finally meet his friend Drew and his mommy, Kim.

I finally caught a smile, of course he was sleeping. But it's SOO cute!

Thanks again to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers! We love you all!

Trey, Ali, & Cannon

Praise God!!

Praise God!!

Everyday is better than the one before. Thank you so much for all your thoughts, prayers, and concerns. I appologize to anyone who has texted and I haven't returned them. My head isn't as clear as I'd like, and I'm napping as often as possible. Vesti and I have sent Trey to their house so that he can get a good nights sleep and Vesti is staying with Cannon and I tonight.

So I'll back up a little and give a few more details, I'm thankful for all of Vesti's updates. I am trying to keep everyone informed, especially for prayer requests.

So Sunday night Cannon as more fussy than usual and I couldn't find a reason. After noticing that his head looked different, I felt his soft spot and it was bulging. I asked my mom for reassurance and she agreed. Trey called the neurosurgeon, Dr. Honeycutt was on call. (He is the surgeon we originally met before Cannon was born, and he was out of town when it was time for surgery...so we got Dr. Roberts) Dr. Honeycutt told us to come to the ER at Cook, so we quickly loaded up and headed this way. Thank you Sarah for helping us get together quickly and on the road. We got here about midnight and into a room around 5am. After a maybe a couple hours of interupted sleep, we were up and preparing for surgery. Mandy, the neuro nurse practitioner came in and took a sample of spinal fluid from the valve of Cannon's shunt. They were thinking infection as opposed to blockage because of it being so soon. As Vesti said, early results showed increased cell counts, pointing towards infection. We later found out it is a staph infection. That afternoon (Monday) Cannon went in for surgery #3. And how cool is it that before surgery Dr. Honeycutt asked if he could pray with us, he put his hand on Cannon's head and prayed over him and for all of us. It was AWESOME!!! They made a small incision on his right chest, and pulled out all of the shunt tubing leading to his belly. It is now draining externally, into a bag. They surgery went well, it only took about 15 minutes. They plan was to let the fluid drain on the outside while we treat infection. While in surgery they collected more fluid and sent it and the tip of the tubing for culture (this is how they check for growth, or infection). Cannon did pretty well waking up from surgery and did well recovering.

This is after Mondays surgery. The white circle on his chest is where his shunt is now coming out and is draining to the bag to the right of him.

Tuesday morning Mandy came back in and said that they wanted to put in a central IV line to give the antibiotics. For Cannon's sake this is best, however where was this thought Monday when we were already under anesthesia and on a breathing tube!! So another hard day! Surgery #4 wasn't as easy. It went well, but Cannon had a hard time recoverying from it. He didn't want to wake up, and his little throat was tired and irritated from having a tube put down 2 days in a row. He seemed to be struggling some with his breathing. He had Aunt Vesti and I very worried. And the pedi "on-call" took his getting up here and when he made his appearance said, "I think he is just cold, sometimes babies do that when they are cold". Of course by the time he got here Cannon was doing better. Not before frightening us though. It was a restless night. He wasn't eating, wouldn't nurse, and I was heartbroken.

Wednesay morning came and Mandy came to see Cannon. (I think it was Tueday an infectious disease doctor consulted and he swabbed Cannon's back for culture, he is also the doctor who gives the final word on what we do with antibiotics.) So looking at his back, Mandy says "when was the last time he ate?". My heart sank into my stomach and I wanted to get sick. NOT ANOTHER DAY OF SURGERY AND ALL THE YUCKY STUFF THAT GOES WITH IT!! I was upset! She said that she could see Dr. Roberts and Honeycutt going one of 2 ways. 1) watch it a couple days and see how it does 2) go back to surgery clean out the incision site and close it back up.

Cannon's incision has slowly opened up more and more. Starting with the carseat ride up here, then in the OR Tuesday they had put gauze over it and when it came off it pulled off the scab. Now it's wide open. But when Dr. Honeycutt came in he said it looked good and later Dr. Roberts came in and said the same thing. Dr. Mazade, ID (infectious disease) said the culture came back with infection, but it was a bacteria that is normal for an area so close to stool. And they aren't worried about it. After discussing it they didn't think we needed another antibiotic. So we are good to just watch his back, they felt like the tissue is healing and that it looks good! And today was a day of REST. Cannon slept a lot, as did Mommy and Daddy.

Thursday was another good day. We rested and tried to "relearn" to eat. And I got to nurse him, and he did well. (Restore my broken heart. Only a mom can understand the rejection you feel when they are not interested, esp. when they have been doing so well with it.) We are doing well with our antibiotic therapy, and Cannon is becoming more and more like himself. What a blessing! It's great to see him this way again.

Today was another GREAT day. He's eating very well. Can you believe that while Mommy was napping Aunt Vesti got Cannon to eat 4 1/2 ounces of my milk. He ate the first 2 1/2 in 11 minutes, then she gave a while to "feel" full, then he ate the next 2 ounces. WOW, Mommy is impressed!!! What a BIG boy!!

We also found out today that there has been no more growth on any of the cultures other than the original one that came from the valve. So Cannon's spinal fluid has so far shown no infection. I'm still a little confused how that works, but I'll take it.

Tonight the nurse came in and said that we get to unhook from IV fluids. One less tube!! Yea!

Can you believe he already picks up his head! 3 weeks old!

Mercies New Every Morning

Thank you all for your prayers! Today was a much better day! Cannon was much more alert and it was wonderful to be able to see his eyes, talk to him, and FEED him! He was able to eat for all of his feedings today and did quite well. Still room for improvement, but we'll take the small victories. He was more awake and content. His vital signs were all stable throughout the day, and Ali was able to begin nursing him today. Which meant: she got to hold him! She was beyond excited. She fed him around 3:30 this afternoon, and didn't move until almost 9:30...then it was Trey's turn and he was equally excited. We know that sweet Cannon still has a long road ahead of him in the next few weeks (to include at least one more surgery), but just for tonight we're praising God for each little blessing, and focusing on those! Please continue to pray! We are all eternally greatful!

I also caught this next picture tonight. Think he's trying to tell me something?
"Ok Aunt Vesti...enough pictures already!"



Sweet, sweet baby! Thank you all for your continued prayers! I'll be taking my computer to the hospital tomorrow. Hopefully Ali will be able to do the update. If not, I'll post when I get home!


"Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23


Vesti

A better day

Today was a better day. Cannon still slept all day, but was able to take 2 ounces of pedia*lite and nurse for about 5 minutes late this afternoon...his first in approximately 36 hours. His breathing is better since a breathing treatment this afternoon. The doctors were all (neurology, urology, etc.) in today, and said everything was ok, and we'll just keep watching and "doing what we're doing." We're kind-of in a "wait and see" pattern now. 4 surgeries in 3 weeks is definitely taking its toll on his little body (not to mention 2 of those being the last 2 days). We're hopeful that tomorrow will be much better, especially with regards to his feedings. When I talked to Ali around 9:45 tonight, he was trying to eat again, but was falling asleep. In case we havn't posted this in the past, some of the medications they are currently giving him (pain, nausea, etc.) do make him sleepy, but he is requiring less now. Please continue to pray for Trey, Ali, and Cannon!! I will post again tomorrow night!

Vesti

A long night...looking up

I am going to be brief, as it's 1:24am and we are just getting home from the hospital. Cannon had another surgery this afternoon to have a central line put in since he will be receiving IV antibiotics for the next 2ish weeks, due to his infection. The surgery went well, but it took a little longer for him to wake up this time. After we got back to the room, Trey and Brandon ran to Clyde to collect more "stuff" since they will be staying here longer. Ali and I stayed with Cannon. He has not yet eaten (since before 8am tuesday), but also has not yet woken up enough to do so. He is also having some trouble breathing, but they are watching it. When we left, Ali was finally sleeping, and Cannon was beginning to act as though he wanted to wake up.

Specific prayers for Cannon:
1. The shunt - that it does it's job, but doesn't drain too much.
2. His breathing to improve
3. His back to continue to heal (it's looking good)
4. His feeding/eating - that he'll start waking up enough to eat more consistently
5. Infection

Also, Please continue to pray for Trey and Ali...they are tired in every sense of the word.
As always, I will update tomorrow as soon as I can!

Vesti