Update On Robbie

Well today wasn't exactly what we wanted to hear because his bladder is not big enough for him to be closed up any time soon. We were also under the impression that it would be a quick procedure and we would be on our way after he came out of anesthesia. Well, since his only 6 weeks old it is policy that we stay the night for observation. If he was 8 weeks old we would have been on the road back to New Jersey about an hour ago.

We are going to have to come back out in about 4 months and do the same thing we did today, have Dr. Gearhart re-evaluate him and see if the bladder is growing. While Robbie was sedated Dr. Gearhart was showing me that the part that is outside of his body, which we thought was bladder, is actually all polyps. When we come back in 4 months he might just remove the polyps and get them out of the way, as they serve no purpose at all.

Right now he is resting very well in his Mom's arms and just hanging out. Other than this overnight trip costing an arm and a leg, it is good to have nurses here to keep an eye on the back of his head. Dr. Ahn also came into the Operating Room and checked out his head again. He found that one of the sutures that is under the skin hadn't disolved all the way and was the culprit of the swelling and pain. He removed that suture and has Robbie on antibiotics and we can already see the improvement. We are able to lay him on his back again and feed him without him being in pain from the swelling.

The crazy thing about staying here tonight is that our nurse until 7:00 p.m. has been at Johns Hopkins for 28 years and works with the Bladder Exstrophy patients. She has already answered some questions and is prepared to be peppered with questions until she leaves tonight. Not that we want to stay a night in the hospital, but there is obviously a reason we are here and it might be to just have this nurse, Sandy, be here to answer all of our questions.

Robbie is doing great and just can't wait to get out of here and back to Mimi's house to enjoy his vacation now that his head doesn't hurt so bad. We will send more updates as they come. Keep the prayers coming, we now have 4 months to work on his bladder growing to be big enough to close up.