wow that's alot of typing....

Wow, how busy have we been! Update and Cleveland info....Brendens hospital visit went great. He went in on last Monday to get the radiation plaque that I mentioned a few updates ago. They put it in an he was groggy for the rest of the night after he woke up. If you saw the pictures of our room, it was a VIP room - well used to be. The chidlrens Oncology Floor had been relocated to here after the new building at the clinic had been built. Famous people had stayed there and it was so huge! Anyways, he was a little restless that night and we have him Motrin to relax him and take the edge off b/c i'm sure that his eye hurt a little bit. They kept his IV in which i worried quite a bit about only because, if you know my children, you know that when they wake up from anesthesia, the Pulse Ox must come off as well as the IV and any other thing on them related to the surgery, before they eat or drink anything. Oddly enough, most nurses will only take that stuff off after they've eaten or had somethign to drink. So...i was worried. Last time that Brenden wanted the IV out and they didnt take it out, he went ahead and removed it on his own by way of ripping it out. All that worrying though and by the next day when he woke up, he told me "mommy, they can keep my IV in, I dont want them to take it out". Interesting.
The second day, Tuesday, we spent playing the Wii (Mario Wii and Hotwheels racing...), scrapbooking and arguing with the residents. Ya know, that really got me. That I know more than the residents? That they're going to plan to use my son for some informative "thing"? Ha! You have me the wrong mother. If there's anything i've learned through all of this RB situation, it's that you have to be your childs advocate. He doesnt know but he sure as heck doesnt want tape stuck on and ripped back off over and over again. Here's how it went down:

9:00am the resident doctors walked in....and stand behind some imaginary line that apparently exists because my child has a radioactive plaque in his eye. Like apparently if you get too close to him, you'll self combust or something. First off....really? Really? If my child - almost 4 - has not self combusted himself then I'm pretty sure you're fine! Ugh.

Res 1: Hi, we're here to take a look at his eye.
Res 2: We're going to peel the patch off and go ahead and take a look. Has he had any problem keeping the plaque in? Has he had it fall out? We need to see if it could fall out.
Me: I'm sorry I dont understand what you're talking about.
Res 2: The plaque, has it fallen out?
Me: Uhm...it's sewn in. I dont think it could fall out...what are you talking about?
Res 1: What do you mean?
Res 2: The plaque...it could fall out?
Res 1: No, it's sewn in.
Res 2: So, we're just going to pull the patch back and look at it.
Me: Great! The drops and ointment are over there... (point to stand beside bed).
Res 1: Uhm, well we're not going to put the ointment in, we just want to see what it looks like....
Res 2: We'd just like to take a look. The doctor didn't say anything about ointment or drops.
Me: Well, I dont think that you need to take the patch off until you put drops and ointment in becasue I know from experience that this tape rips the skin. I'd rather not keep ripping his skin up just so you can LOOK at it.
Res 1: Well...i'll just go get the nurse because we're not supposed to put the drops in until tomorrow.
Me: Great go get the nurse, she said to have her come in prior to you doing the drops anyways, that way, when you decide that the drops and ointment need to go in then you already have her in here. Besides, you cant do the drops and ointment tomorrow because he's getting the patch out tomorrow, that wouldnt make much sense now would it.

(Mind you i said this because the nurse and I had already talked and she had called the doctor to make sure the dosage on drops and such.)
They stomped out. Two minutes later they came in followed by the nurse.

Res 2: Okay, so we're goign to put the ointment in and the drops. I called the doctor. He said to go ahead and put the ointment and drops in. (Really?!)

Then they proceeded to argue about who was going to put them in. So i did it. I pulled the patch back and put them in and then put it right back. Work my nerves. Then, afterwards, they said "okay we'll be back tomorrow to check it as well...". Are you kidding me? Do you realize that he's supposed to have the surgery to get it out? I sighned the papers! I know it's 3 days that he's keeping it in! Really? Do I really have to keep this close of tabs on doctors? Honestly! Anyways...after this fiasco was over, we had a pretty calm day. Like I said, we played the Wii and when Brenden fell asleep, I busted out the cricut and all my scrapbook stuff. I LOVE my cricut. Such a relaxing thing to do. Anyways, after Brenden woke up, he wanted to scrapbook with mom. He was much more conscious of things going on around him by now and grabbed his scrapbook box (yes my kids scrapbook). We did that until dinner time and after this, he was so tired that he wanted to go to bed - but....we decided to make use of that great shower that was in our room. We put a bag over his IV and I put my shorts on and into the shower we headed. Brenden got a kick out of the whole shower thing...there was no bathtub about it.
After our "shower", we spent some time looking out the window trying to get people from the windows across the way. The way they've built up around each building in the hospital makes it so that you can see other buildings and the people in the waiting rooms.
After that, Brenden talked to his brothers for about half an hour, telling them to have "Maw Maw bring you up to see me...i miss you". It was too cute. As much as they argue, they actually do love each other. After that, we all went to bed. What a long day it was. In the morning, Grandma and Pap brought Landon and Peyton up around 7n because we thought that his surgery was going to be early to get the plaque removed. Notsomuch. They didnt call us down until 12. Landon gave him a great big hug and said "I love you bubby and it'll be okay. They will take your IB out." Brenden kinda was a little kranky and pushed him away making Landon almost cry. Landon was concerned. Surgery didnt take long to remove the plaque and he was out and on the road to home.
When he woke up, it took him awhile. They actually took him back up to the room sleeping and he was able to finish his "nap" up in his room while his brothers slept in the hospital beds for their naps. Once they woke up, we tried to get Brenden up and moving but it wsnt working out too well. While we waited, one of my favorite nurses of all times came up to visit us. Now, this nurse has a story. When Landon first had his radiation plaque, the first one...she was his nurse. Everyone else steered clear or our room because we were radioactive. They told her "you shouldnt go in there because you may want to have a baby sometime...it could mess that up..." but no matter what, she came in. Every time she came in, Landon lit up. He was only 3 months but he knew her and we've always said that she was his first girlfriend. She's such a great nurse and couldn't have done a better job. She's got a picture of the boys and her from that visit on her desk and we see her every chance we get - not very often :-(. Anyways, she came up to see the boys while we were there. She waited until the plaque was out however because she's pregnant! With her second baby!!! She even said that she liked the name Landon so much that she almost named their first baby Landon... (I hope you dont mine if you're reading this but I had to post this picture!!! It's such a good one!)
So......things are going great with Brendens eyes. We all went up to Cleveland on Tuesday. Brenden, Landon and Myself all had our checkouts. They all went very well and Dr. Singh wants to see Brenden in 4 weeks! We'll know then how the radiation went. Keep your fingers crossed.
All of this, thanks to the most wonderful doctor in the world, the one that I really owe my childrens lives to...the one who sees what we dont want to see and makes "all the bad things" in their eyes go away. Dr. Arun Singh at the Cleveland Clinic. He's kinda special to me. So are my kiddos.