Resting Comfortably

Hello all, it's a little after 4pm our time. Hunter was out of surgery right on time at about 1230, and I was able to go and see him pretty soon after that. So far, the surgery appears to have been a success. Hunter, unable to bend his knee past 20 degrees prior to surgery, is currently casted at 90 degrees :o) The surgeon is very pleased with the result, and feels that having both legs able to achieve 90 degrees will do wonderful things for Hunter's mobility in the future.

Hunter is less than thrilled with his cast (he keeps saying it 'bothers' him), but that is to be expected. The pain meds from surgery wore off pretty quickly, so there was a bit of time this afternoon when Hunter was pretty miserable, but now that those meds have kicked in, he is watching a movie, and appears to be resting comfortably, waiting on his dinner. Justin is on the road, and should be joining us here within the next two hours.

Here is Hunter, happily drugged up. Notice the matching blue cast on Puppy's left leg :o)

90 degrees of flexion

Friday Morning Update

Hunter was wheeled into surgery at 10:30am (PST). The procedure is expected to last about two hours, I will update when we are settled in Hunter's room. For now, here are a few pictures of Hunter's smiling face this morning :o)

Happily playing with his leapster while waiting to check in at 7:30am -

10:00 am, still waiting, still playing with the leapster :o)

Batt Family Goings-On

After four years of hearing "we don't know what's causing the problem, and there's not much we can do", we have finally been given some answers regarding Hunter's condition. In mid-December, Hunter did a gait analysis, during which a team consisting of an engineer, a physical therapist, a neurologist, and several orthopedic surgeons determined Hunter's muscle and bone function. This team determined that Hunter's muscles function appropriately, and his muscle strength is that of a normal four year old, and therefore he is a good candidate for surgery.

On Friday, January 22, Hunter will undergo an endoscopic quadricepsplasty on his left leg. This is a lengthening/reconstruction of his left quadriceps muscle. The goal of this surgery is for Hunter to achieve greater flexion at the knee joint as currently, he can only bend his left knee to about a 20 degree angle. Lengthening the quadriceps muscle should help him achieve at least a 45 degree angle, although the ultimate goal is 60 degrees. (Hunter can bend his right knee to 45 degrees, so the surgeon does not want to mess with a good thing on that side :o) Signing the consent form for the surgery today was gut-wrenching. As a parent, it is heartbreaking to hand over your sweet, four year old little boy to be operated on, even though you know that the procedure has the potential to drastically change his quality of life in the future. I am not looking forward to that moment of separation tomorrow morning, but I am praying for the strength to keep a smile on my face until Hunter cannot see me anymore (being pregnant does not help with the emotional aspects of your child's surgery!).

The surgery will be done at the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, which is the children's hospital at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The hospital is up near San Francisco, which is almost a two hour drive from Monterey, so Hunter and I are spending the night in a hotel on the edge of the Stanford campus, as we have to be at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Justin was unable to get any time off of school (tests all week), so he will be driving up to Stanford to join us when he gets out of school tomorrow afternoon.

Hunter's surgery is scheduled for mid morning, and should take 1.5-2 hours. He will be casted with his leg at a 30 degree angle (assuming that angle is achievable), and the cast will need to stay on for three weeks. We are expected to stay in the hospital until midday on Sunday.

I will be using this blog to update you all on Hunters progress this week, and for the weeks to follow. Thank you so much for your prayers and support, they are very much appreciated :o)

Love,

Justin, Nickie, and Hunter

View From the Outside

Well, since I posted a picture of our little one on the inside, I thought I'd share a picture of what's happening on the outside, since most of you don't get to see me in person very often!

Here I am today, at 19 weeks:

Is this thing working??

I've been having a heck of a time updating this blog lately, and not because of my own procrastination this time! I have made a few changes on the computer, so hopefully that will be the end of the technical issues!

Baby Batt:
We had our second ultrasound done on Monday, January 11th. While the baby was shy and decided not to reveal his or her gender, we have another complete scan on February 8th. We have been inspired by friends of ours who just had their second baby this week - they knew the gender all along, but chose to keep their friends and family on pins and needles until the baby arrived... We were all ready to reveal the gender to the world on Monday, but now that we have a few more weeks to ponder it, we might keep you all in suspense until June, we'll just have to see ;o)

For now, here is the latest snapshot of the newest member of our family: