Surgery update

Well, we finally made the BIG decision to have the bladder surgery. On Friday we went in and saw Dr. Julius Teague and had our surgery for the vesicostomy. We stayed over one night and came home about 3pm on Saturday. The surgery went well, things are definitely flowing. We will probably have to change diapers more often, but Daniel should be much more comfortable after the surgery pain is gone. We were told that Daniel being able to urinate for 10 years on his own was pretty good. Many kids like him that are born with a neural tube defect (encephalocele) have problems with their bladders.

Botox : Not just for Faces!!

We are getting settled back into the school everyday, soccer 3 times a week and keeping up with work. The weather has been hot this summer. We only camped 1 time this summer. My husband and I had a discussion about this not to long ago. We sure miss camping but don't seem to find the time to go. We discovered the main reason is that we would miss church on Sunday. We decided that going to church is more important than a camping trip. The messages we get from God will be useful to us for spending an eternity with our Lord and Savior, but the camping trip will be fun for the moment. We are okay with missing camping, although we are hoping to go camping one more time during the week before winter comes and it's too cold.

Jeff and I are having a hard time making a big decision lately. Daniel is getting really, really close to needing a pretty major surgery on his bladder. Daniel has been diagnosed with a neurogenic bladder(due to the encephalocele). This means his brain is not telling his bladder to work properly. He is able to void, but not completely. This builds up sediment in the bladder and causes stones to produce.
Daniel can pass these stones, but they are very painful. If they become multiplied without passing he has urine retention, which also makes his bladder spasm and painful to urinate. We have been doing botox on the bladder every 8 weeks to relax the bladder and hopefully make things easier to pass. Some of these have been effective. Although lately the botox doesn't seem to be giving enough relief to Daniel. We are praying we pick the right surgery for Daniel to give him comfort and relief. He is at the point of hurting almost every time he voids. He is not sleeping well and that = us not sleeping well either. We are thankful that Daniel has been able to urinate on his own for 10 years even with the diagnosis of an encephalocele. I know this surgery is inevitable it's just finding the right time to decide when enough botox is enough. The risk of putting him under to do this procedure every 8 weeks is not a good solid answer in my book if we are keeping Daniel's comfort in our decision making. Dear Lord, please help us to make the right decision. Amen