A Round For Robbie

Wanted to send a quick thank you out to Mick Koch and his family for organizing year three of A Round For Robbie. We also want to thank all the people that sponsored a hole and played in the tournament. The money raised from this event helps us out so much and I don't know what we would do if the Koch's didn't step up and get this event going for us, we are eternally grateful.

June 25, 2012

We are now just in wait-mode, as we are waiting for our appointment with Dr. Gearhart tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Dr. G came by the house yesterday to check on Robbie and said that things looked good. We hope that they still look this way tomorrow at our appointment so we can move on to the next step, which is removing the stint and getting out of Baltimore.

We had a good weekend with Mimi again, just going around and trying to kill time. We made a stop at Ikea and then road tripped down to Annapolis. Of course, the day we are in Annapolis there is a big music festival going on so the area is swamped with people and very chaotic. We thought we would just go see some boats and maybe take a look at the US Naval Academy. Instead, we spent 30 minutes trying to find a place to park, had no idea where the heck we were at and just walked around aimlessly for a few hours. We did get to see a bunch of sailboats though and on our way out of down drove by the Academy.

We let Robbie start walking a little bit today and he is just trying to get his legs back, he's a little wobbly yet. He is still in great spirits and we are spoiling the heck out of him, doctor's orders. We will keep everyone updated on how his appointment goes tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.

June 21, 2012

I again apologize for the lack of updates on the blog, things were a little hectic the last few days here in Baltimore. We got discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and are now currently at the Ronald McDonald House. We will be here for about a week or so while things heal up and get fully recovered. Dr. Gearhart will either stop by the house on Saturday or Monday to check in on Robbie, saving us a trip to his office. Robbie is doing really well, he just has to try limit his activity and remain as still as a 2 year old can when they are cooped up all day long. Needless to say, there is a lot of movie watching going on in our room. There is also a play area on the main floor of the house and they have some tables with trains on them, so we are able to post him up in a chair by the table and he just has a ball.

When we left KC both Saree and I looked at our stroller in the garage and both forgot to throw it in the trunk, MISTAKE. Lugging a 30 pound kid around all day is starting to take its toll on us. Thankfully, Mimi is coming down tomorrow for the weekend and is bringing one down for us. Once we have a stroller we can get out of the house a little bit more and take Robbie to see some ships, trains, planes, etc...

We originally thought we would be in the hospital until at least today after we had to go back and put a new suture in, but Dr. G liked how things were looking and thought it was time for us to go. Now we are just waiting for him to take out the stint and tell us to be on our way. Our guess is that we will be here in Baltimore until Wednesday, with the outside chance we could leave sooner. Everything still needs to progress the way they are right now, but we are thinking positively about it. Thanks for all the love and support and I promise to do a better job of updating this blog. If you want other updates Saree and I are both using our Facebook pages too for short, quick updates.

June 18, 2012

Sorry about not updating everyone yesterday, not much was going on but always seemed to be doing something. Robbie is doing great still and the doctors love how good of a patient he is being. He is still on bed rest and they want him to stay that way as long as possible so everything heals up properly. There is a chance we could get out of the hospital tomorrow but if he is still being a trooper then they may keep us until Wednesday. Robbie is sleeping in about 2 hour stretches if we are lucky and it is really doing a number on us. We have about three movies on constant rotation and you know you have seen Cars about a million times when you start dreaming about Lightning and Mater. Robbie is loving Cars, Cars 2 and Toy Story 3. Didn't get to watch the second half of the NBA Finals because it was time for Buzz and Woody. Thank you for all the love and support, it really helps get through the grind of the day here. Updates will continue as we get new information.

June16,2012

Today was exactly what we hoped it would be, very boring and lots of Cars and Toy Story on the TV. Robbie has been perfect so far in his recovery and we just need a few more days so he can heal properly and help speed up the process. He still has an epidural in to help keep him pain free and still, it should come out Monday or so. He started eating today and has done well with that so far too. We had a little surprise in the sky today as The Blue Angels were performing over the Inner Harbor and with our new digs here at the hospital we had a pretty good view of everything from the 9th floor. A few times they buzzed the building and Robbie was asking, "What was that?". There is a big Naval celebration this weekend here in the Baltimore area so there are air shows, ship displays and fireworks shows. Too bad it wasn't next weekend so Robbie could see it all, but at least we aren't battling the million people here in the area because of this event. Hopefully the next post tomorrow is more boring information for everyone, that's the way everyone here likes it.

June 15, 2012

Robbie's surgery went well and he did a great job for Dr. Gearhart. We got a bit of good news before the surgery began when Dr. G came out and told us his bladder capacity was larger than he even thought it would be. This is good news for Robbie down the road. Robbie was in the OR for about seven hours and then we spent two hours in the recovery room. We got to our room about 4:00 pm and boy is it an upgrade from our stay here last year. They opened the brand new Childrens Center in April and was it worth the wait. Robbie is doing a good job of resting now, with the help of pain meds and sedatives. It is very important for him to be very still, on his back for the next few days so everything heals properly. We aren't sure how long we will stay in the hospital but having Robbie in a calm, relaxed state should speed up the process. Once we get discharged we will stay in Baltimore for another week or so as Robbie will be continually monitored by Dr. G. We dong know how mobile and active Robbie can be when we do leave the hospital but we will be at the Ronald McDonald House for the remainder of our stay and they have plenty of things for him to do there. We just want to thank everyone for their support and prayers during another surgery. Now we have to hope the healing and recovery process go smoothly.

Another Surgery - June 15, 2012

We are back in Baltimore and going through another surgery. This will be Robbie's sixth surgery and is finishing off the last surgery we had a summer ago. The actual surgery today should be around four hours. As Robbie gets older, it gets harder to go through this because he is remembering and somewhat understanding what is going on. When I took him back to the OR you could see his mood change and the anxiety increase. He did a great job with the anesthesia and is in good hands here with Dr. Gearhart and his team. We will be here in the hospital for 4-7 days and then have to stay in Baltimore for another 4-7 days once we get discharged. We were lucky again and are staying in the Ronald McDonald House for this trip. We will keep everyone updated during our stay and apologize for the lack of updates.

Great Spring Break

We had a great spring break last week out in New Jersey with the family. We had a full week of fun and activities. The week started out with a family trip to the Big Apple for Bryce's birthday celebration. We had a great tour of the USS Intrepid, a retired aircraft carrier. Then we walked through Times Square and headed to Nintendo World so Bryce could pick out any Wii game of his choice. We ate some lunch in Rockafeller Center and watched people ice skate.

On Monday we had to head to Baltimore to meet with Dr. Gearhart because Robbie had a bump in the area that was surgically repaired and Saree was concerned that it was a stitch that didn't dissolve. Just like every other time, Saree was right and it was a stitch but this stitch was supposed to be there. It will be removed during the next surgery. Once we found out that this was really nothing we could relax and enjoy the week.

Back in New Jersey we did the following activities: Terhune Farms (apple orchard & petting zoo), Sahara Sam's (indoor water park), a dairy farm in Lawrenceville to see the cows and calves and the Atlantic Ocean. It was a great time and the kids had a blast together.

Surgery Scheduled: June 15th

Robbie will be going into another surgery this summer on June 15th in Baltimore under the care of Dr. Gearhart. We are hoping this will be one of the final surgeries that Robbie will have to go through for a few years.

The surgery itself is about 4 hours and then requires a 4-7 day hospital stay and then an additional week in Baltimore because a catheter will be in place. We were hoping that this surgery would have been included with the bladder closure but Robbie needed more time for things to develop.

Headed East

Our Spring Break plans have been made and we are going to head out east to New Jersey for the week. We have an appointment to see Dr. Gearhart on Monday, March 19th because Robbie has a bump down in the area where he had surgery last and we are concerned about a possible stitch not dissolving. We have had trouble with this a couple times in previous surgeries, so just want to double-check.

We will fly into NYC on Friday night this week and then fly back home the following Saturday. Robbie can't wait to hang out with his cousins all week and just play, play, play.

We got a surprise visit yesterday from Grandpa (or Grandpo as Robbie calls him) after he coached a game in Gower. Robbie just loves playing with Grandpo and building blocks and playing trucks.

Saturday we made a trip down Columbia to watch the Liberty North boys basketball team win 3rd place in the state tournament. Robbie slept on the way down and the way back and then just loved running through the seats and around the top of Mizzou Arena.

Story On Robbie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwdvSGYftt0&list=PLFE4CB78B417C4CD1&index=3&feature=plpp_video

While we were at Johns Hopkins this past summer, the fund raising group for the hospital came and did a story on Robbie for the annual fund raiser that is aired on the local ABC station in Baltimore. They used to do a telethon in the past, but recently have changed to just showing a few stories on different parts of the hospital and airing that on a Friday night. Our story was selected to be aired during the fund raiser and they did a great job with it.

After watching this it really stirred up some memories of our time there and makes us so thankful that we ended up doing the surgery in the hands of the experts in this field. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Feb. 28, 2012

Robbie is still doing great and feeling much better after a solid ear infection slowed him down for a few days. Not a lot going on in our little world. Saree's basketball team almost won the district championship on Saturday, losing by 2 points. Not too bad for only the second year of the school.

We are now just trying to figure out if we are going to take any trips over Spring Break, since it will be one of the last times that Robbie can fly for free before he turns 2. Other than that we are just enjoying our time together as a family, without basketball, and actually getting some things done around the house now.

Robbie Update: 2/6/12

Sorry that the updates are so few and far between, basketball season is in full swing and there just isn't much time in our household. Robbie couldn't be doing better, he is all over the place and talking up a storm. A lot of the words don't make much sense to anyone but myself and Saree, but he just loves to talk. He seems to really be stretching out because he is now in all the kitchen drawers and grabbing stuff off the counters. Last week was a little rough for him though, he had croupe and pink eye, and was not himself for a few days, but once the medicine kicked in he was back to his full of energy self.

Other than basketball, not much is going on for us. We have been very lucky this year that Grammy can come down on nights when both Saree and I play to watch him for us. He loves having Grammy at the house and not having to go to every basketball game. He doesn't quite sit around at the games like last season and makes it a little more difficult to keep happy in the bleachers.

We are trying to schedule another surgery for him this spring or early summer. This should be the last surgery for awhile and hopefully keep him out of the hospital for a few years anyway. The surgery will be back in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins and will repair his epispadius.

I will try to do a better job of keeping the blog updated, should be easier in the next few weeks or so as basketball winds down.