Number 3!!

We got Russell's 3rd cast on this past Thursday.  Russell and I drove to UT on Wednesday, and Scott stayed home with the other three.  We came back on Friday, so it was a pretty quick trip.  The roads there and back were dry, which was great.  The only bad weather we encountered was on the cast day. 
Our anesthesiologist there at Shriner's hospital is amazing.  I talked to here that morning about the hard time Russell has coming out of anesthesiology, and she called it "emergence delirium", saying that some kids get that, and she said she could change the drugs given to him.  They used a Total IV Anesthetic technique, so he never had a gas mask.  He came out of surgery soooo much better.  I could look in his eyes, and he was there.  Still a normal two year old coming out of surgery, so still not fun, but no wild tantrums either.  It was wonderful.  We got to choose the color again, and I chose orange, for Halloween.  He's sooo cute!

It made it ok for me to be there without Scott.  I was so grateful my mom was with me.  She was a huge help, for both Russell and myself.  It's nice to have support there.  And she's my mom-always knowing what to do to help and make everything better.  We also got some not-so-good news, and I was glad she was with me to hear that.

I'll tell you the not-so-good news, but I have to start back at Wednesday last week. The same day we drove to UT, we had an occupational therapist come to watch Russell eat breakfast.  He's been having some trouble swallowing and eating some things, like chicken, ground beef, apples, etc.  So they watched him, and we learned that he has low muscle tone in his throat, his jaw, and his lips.  He doesn't make a good seal with his lips when he drinks.  So when we got to the hospital on Thursday, I had to tell them about that, and about the rest of the low muscle tone (basically everywhere), and due to other questions they asked me, I also told them about his delayed motor and speech development too.  They did some testing of his reflexes also, and apparently there's a problem with some of those too.  Anyway, this all boils down to the fact that it's looking like he has a myopathy (a muscle disorder).  The fact that he gets "emergence delirium" is another indicator for this.  The doctor who explained all of this has been one of Russell's doctors all along, and I really like him and feel a lot of confidence in his opinion.  Which made it both easier, and harder, to hear.  He's a really optimistic doctor, who is always upbeat and joking.  When he explained to me about his suspicions about a myopathy, he was very serious.  He recommended we see a neurologist to have Russell looked at.  Luckily, there is a neurologist there at Shriner's.  So we have an appt Nov 21. 

The fact that he was so serious, kind of stressed me out for a bit, but I feel so much peace that the stress doesn't feel bad.  Not like it has before in similar situations.  I feel peace that Russell is getting the care that he needs, in a good time frame, and that he will be ok.  That he'll grow up and be able to run and play with all the other kids.