Taking off the Bandage

Two days after surgery Jas was ready to take off the bandage and see the damage!  We discovered there were actually 5 incisions, 2 tiny ones and 3 bigger ones.  

The next day he was able to get fully dressed with assistance and we all got out of the house for dinner at Mexican :)

The Day After Surgery

The day after surgery went better then we all thought it would.  Though Jason was miserable and in some pain, he really did rather well and was able to get up on his feet some.  It was a day full of naps, meds, and icing for Jason.  At least he was able to watch tv (after his PRK he was unable to watch tv, so it was just a lot of sleeping in the dark).  Starla took Gavin to the mall in the morning to find new tennis shoes - Gavin came back with a snazzy pair of Saucony's!  They even found Stella some little crib shoes.  

After Gavin's nap we all hung out in the yard playing for the afternoon.  Jason took a 5 minute walk outside to hang out, but quickly ended up back in his spot on the couch.  I'm sure he enjoyed the fresh air but being on his feet for too long was tough.  Gavin and Gammy played lots of baseball and then we did some walking in the stroller, bike riding, and tree climbing.  It was a beautiful day - so nice to be home and enjoy the day outdoors.

With a mouth full of lunch, showing off his sneakers.

Music @ Wild Wings

February 15th we met up with the Mangum's at Wild Wing Cafe in downtown Savannah.  We had dinner and listened to an awesome musician, Chuck Courtenay!  We were lucky enough to get a big table right in front of the stage so Max and Gavin enjoyed dancing to the music and even talked to the musician on his break!

Chuck Courtenay's Website:

www.chuckband.com

Rocking the same hair do!

Happy Valentine's Day

Aren't our little valentine's too cute in their outfits from Neena and Papaw!?

He wanted to take pictures on his camera too!

Love these little piggies

A Day Outdoors

Please excuse my lack of blogging the last month, we've been super busy with a newborn, recovering from a C-Section/PRK/Shoulder Surgery, moving, staying in hotels, being sick, meeting new neighbors, unpacking, and keeping a 2 1/2 year old busy in the process!  Whew, February was a crazy month for our family for sure.  I hope to slowly get this blog caught back up.

This post is from February 12th, our last Saturday together before Jason had shoulder surgery.  Jason got out and did lots of play with Gavin, knowing it'd be awhile before he could do all these things again.  We went to a nearby baseball field and then to a playground.  That evening we went to the Mangum's for dinner and a firepit outside.  Max and Gavin played WONDERFULLY together, allowing us adults to really have time to talk.  The firepit was a perfect ending to the beautiful day, unfortunately I have no pictures of it!!

Can you find Stella?!

Love this picture of them!

Help down from daddy

Jason's Shoulder Surgery

Jason had to be at Ft. Stewart yesterday at 9:30 am to check in for surgery.  We left the house at 8:15 and got checked in just before 9am.  They took us right back to a room so he could change into his proper attire, answer all the needed questions, get his bracelet, etc.  It was then a hurry up and wait game.  We were expecting that, as they couldn't really give a starting time for the surgery, since it totally depended on how long the surgery before his went.  We stayed busy loving on Stella and playing checkers.  There was a tv in the room, but the cable was out.  The last hour of our wait Jason got a roommate (I guess all privacy goes out the window when you become a soldier).  All we had separating us was a curtain so we could all fully hear one another conversations.  We did get some entertainment out of our red neck neighbors though, as they were talking about how the first place they were going after surgery was Hooters!  Ha!  I'm pretty sure they were serious too.  We laughed when the guy had a long discussion with his nurse about why he couldn't wear his underwear in surgery.

At 11:30am they came and got us, taking us to the surgery prep room.  I was shocked they let me come back with Stella but I was glad we could stay with Jason as long as possible.  In this room he got his IV put in and then the doctor came out to answer any questions we had and to sign his name on Jason's left shoulder, assuring they cut into the correct arm.  We had another good laugh about that!  They checked all Jason's vitals, put cuffs on his feet to keep his blood circulating, then gave him his first dose of anesthesia.  (Once they took him back he'd receive his 2nd dose to put him out and then they would be administering a block in his shoulder.  At that time I was told to say my good byes and was sent to the OR Waiting Room.  

They told me that best case scenario his surgery would take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get in there and fix the labrum tear they found on a previous MRI.  The MRI was 7 months old, so we knew there was potential for them to find more once they got in.  I spent the first hour downstairs in the hospital, eating lunch in the cafeteria and walking the little PX/Shoppette in there.  I headed back upstairs at 1pm to sit in the waiting room.  It wasn't until 4pm that the doctor came out to talk to me and let me know the surgery was done.  I couldn't believe it ended up talking 4 hours.


Before I start explaining what they did let me remind everyone that I am no doctor and that my explanation will in no way be perfect!

The first words Dr. Sedory said were that Jason's shoulder was pretty beat up.  In addition to the labral tear, they also found a chondral flap/lesion that they had to completely remove.  He did a "Glenoid Microfracture" to fix that, which is essentially drilling into his bone to cause it to bleed and fill in that empty space, hoping that it will create new, good cartilage in place of the defected cartilage they removed.  This chondral flap/lesion was not anything they were expecting to find.  It is a pre-curser to arthritis.  They also fixed the anterior/inferior/low posterior labral tear shown in the MRI he had done 7 months prior by inserting 3 screws in his shoulder to anchor the labrum back to the bone.    One was a posterior/inferior anchor and two were posterior anchors.  Four total incisions were done in Jason's shoulder to be able to do the needed repairs.  He'll be in a sling for 6 weeks and his recovery will take anywhere from 4-6 months.  Once we get moved to Benning at the middle of next week he should begin PT and OT and will have his sutures removed.

Jason came out of anesthia well, minus some pretty strong nausea when he got up to go to the bathroom. They gave him some meds for that and soon after his temperature dropped so they laid him down and covered him in blankets until it came back up.  I went down to the pharmacy to get his meds and then he had to drink some liquids and eat a little jello and crackers and he was discharged.  They wheeled him downstairs while I pulled up the Yukon.  He slept on the drive home.  I was glad he slept, as Stella was not a happy camper on the drive home!!  I'd carried her in a sling all day and I think she enjoyed being so close and cuddling with me all day having one on one attention, so she wasn't happy to be put back in a car seat!  It was a relief when we arrived home.  Gavin and Gammy were on the sidewalk waving, greeting us back home!  We got Jason moved inside on the couch so he could rest while I fed Stella and Starla finished dinner. We had meatloaf, potatoes, rolls, and beans - yumm.  Jason slept while we ate, but he got up a couple hours later and finally ate real food or the first time of the day.  After that he took his first dose of percocet, as we knew his block would wear off sometime in the middle of the night and we wanted to stay ahead of the pain, not allowing him to wake up hurting at all.  We all ended up sleeping in the living room, having an alarm set to bring him his meds every 4 hours and to re apply ice to his shoulder every 3-4 hours.  The first night actually went well!  His block did totally wear off around 4:30am so we were glad the percocet was already in his system.

He's doing well this morning, staying propped up on the couch and sleeping most of the time, except to eat and use the restroom.  We'll see how the rest of the day goes.

Hanging out with Stella before surgery... how cute is she !?!

In the surgery prep room, with his IV.  This was just before they sent me out and took him back.

After surgery, ready for discharge.

When we got home and Gavin saw Jason's arm he said "Thats a biiiiiiiig bandaid, Daddy!"  

Then, this morning when we were all talking about Jason's surgery, Gavin said "I have a hurt too, everybody."  He pointed to a blister on his foot.  He apparently wanted some of the sympathy that Jason was getting!  Kids are so funny...

February 16th

Whew, what a busy day!  Jason got up in the morning and made another trip to Ft. Stewart for his pre-op appointment with his surgeon.  They discussed the surgery he'd be getting the next day and the recovery process.

After that, he went to work to completely finish his outprocessing and start leave.  He's officially all done at Hunter Army Air Field.  He's taking along some good memories from here, most notably his time with 3 Bravo.  He's ready to move on, but it's bittersweet for me.  I love Savannah, our first home, the amazing men and woman we've met here, and the fact that both our babies were born here, etc.  I love how child friendly this city is.  But, i'm also so excited to be moving on to a family friendly phase of our time in the military.  Knowing that Jason will be non deployable for the next 6 months is so exciting for me.  He'll get to see Stella's first 6 months of life (he was deployed when Gavin was 3 weeks old until 5 months old so he missed that), he'll get the needed time to recover from his shoulder surgery, and I LOVE that he'll get to come home for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on most days while he's in this course.  We have so many friends stationed at Benning as well, so there won't be any hard time adjusting for me.  Every time we move I have a hard time until I get settled and meet people and start to get busy.  I'm glad I won't go through that this time.  My brother and his wife will also be stationed there for a little while we are there, so it will be nice to hang out with them again too!  We've never really gotten the chance to really know his wife, Cara, since we didn't live there when they were dating, so we'll finally get to know her!

My biggest goal for our time at Benning is to get back in shape!  :)  We're thinking about taking a family vacation to Florida over the 4th of July weekend and I want to happily get back in a swimsuit for that.

While at Benning, we're also looking at maybe putting Gavin in a couple mornings a week pre school program if we can find one.  I want it to be on post or at a nearby church, so we're going to research what they have available.  We think him spending some time in a structured environment with other kids his age will be really good for him.  It'll also give me a chance to have some one on one time with Stella and to run errands with just one child!  What a treat that will be!

While Jason did all his morning tasks I worked on getting the kids fed, cleaned, and dressed and then worked on cleaning the house and unpacking from our trip to Ft. Benning and getting laundry caught up.  Not sure I'll ever be caught up on that or have a totally clean house again!  The weather was great, so Gavin got to play outside in the back yard while I worked on the living room and could see him playing out there.  He loves days that the weather is nice.  At 1pm I got Gavin put down for his nap and then fed Stella.  I'm not sure I really accomplished a lot in those morning hours, but I sure felt busy!

At 1:30pm Jason got back from post and I got to head to Lavendar Hill Salon and Spa for a 1 hour theraputic massage.  Lindsey and Gavin gave me that as a gift after I had Stella - how awesome is that?!?  The massage was awesome, I recommend it to any new mom!  An entire hour of silence and getting pampered, it was perfect after a c-section!  She said afterwards that my neck, upper back, and calves were really tight but she was able to work some of it out.  I knew my neck and upper back would be that way from nursing so it didn't surprise me much.    She said to go home and relax (ha!) - maybe she didn't realize I had a 2 1/2 year old and a newborn at home! Thanks so much for the treat, Lindsey, I enjoyed it so much.

I came home right after since we had our meeting with the lawyer to close on our home refinancing.  They were able to send a "mobile lawyer" to our home which was awesome so that we didn't have to take the kids out.  It took about an hour and I think we signed our names about 200 times each, but it's a relief to have the closing finished.  Our house payment will go down $251 dollars a month starting in April and we skip the March house payment.  Can't beat that!  Since we have a renter moving in and starting payment in March, we essentially have a renter paying our full mortgage for us, plus the monthly fee for the property manager.  I'm thrilled that we won't owe any money out of pocket each month (we actually make about $9 a month by having a renter).  As long as he takes care of our property, we'll be squared away.

After that was finished, another family in battalion (The Leclair's) brought dinner over for us.  They brought salad, a broccoli and cheese chicken casserole, bread, and a peach crisp for dessert.  They also brought a 6 pack of Stella.  The dinner was awesome!  They have 4 kids themselves, and each kid wrote Gavin a letter about being a big brother and they gave him a bag of army toy soldiers to play with.  So cute & creative...

To finish the night off, we got to head back to the Savannah airport to pick up Gammy again!  (She is going to be so relieved when our crazy February is over and she can return back home to peace and quiet!)  She came back to keep Gavin for us while we spend the 17th at the hospital for Jason's surgery,  to drive Jason's truck to Ft. Benning (he can't drive for up to 6 weeks after the surgery), to help us unpack and set up our Ft. Benning house, and to love on her two grandkids some more!!!  When we got home from the airport she let Gavin open up a bag she brought and inside was a "Life is Good" baseball hat for Gavin and a pink hat for Stella too!  He put Stella's on her right away and declared that she was now the catcher.  So funny!

Fort Benning Housing

Monday, Feb 14th, we took a trip to Ft. Benning to sign for housing.  We knew they had a house available and we didn't want to miss out on it, so it was worth the trip.  We also were able to get our DITY move taken care of and got that out of the way.  We loaded up all our Christmas stuff (tree and a tote of decoration, books, etc), a desk, our kitchen table and 4 chairs, some storage totes, and some of Jason's army stuff on a trailor and attached it to the Yukon.  When we got to Benning we put all our stuff in a storage unit since we wont need any of that stuff while we are stationed there.   We didn't arrive until 4pm so we set up our meeting with housing for 9am the next morning.  Traveling with two kids and pulling a trailor made for a long trip!  We stopped half way and let Gavin play at a big playground while I fed Stella and then we all had lunch at Burger King.  

When we arrived we went straight to the storage unit to unload everything.  We then drove out to Buffalo Wild Wings to meet Joe and Cara for dinner.  This was the first time they had met Stella!  After dinner we drove to post to check out the house and visit with our friends, Jessica and Austin Miller.  They live two doors down from our new house so we were able to see how they had their downstairs set up.  It got us really excited about the new house.  Next we went to another neighborhood over to see Joe and Cara a little more before calling it a night!  We found out that the lodging on Ft. Benning was full so we had to drive off post to find a hotel.  It was really nice and had a continental breakfast.  Gavin has enjoyed lately getting to do things "boys vs. girls" - we race getting in carseats, etc. and he loves it.  We told him there was a bed for boys and one for girls so he liked getting to sleep with daddy.  We tried to race to see who could fall asleep first, but he wasn't motivated to win that one!

In the morning we had breakfast downstairs and then went on to post to sign for our housing.  We got all the paperwork taken care of and then went over to do a walk thru of the house.  We made note of anything that needed to be fixed before we arrive and asked them to have the house sprayed for any bugs/spiders once more before we get there, as we found a spider in the basement.  We paid our pro-rated rent for the remainder of February and got the keys!

It's such a relief to have a house, and a decent one at that!  It's a 3 bedroom house with a basement.  The house has wood flooring throughout and the kitchen , dining rooms, and bathrooms are fully remodeled. We have a huge screened in front porch and will probably rent a fence for the back yard while we are there.  It'll be much easier to have a fence for LT and for Gavin to be able to go outside and play without worry about him running in the street.  (Our house sits on a pretty busy street.)  It's a very old house and is a dulpex, but we just love it!

Front of our Ft. Benning house

View of the side

Back

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Dining Room
(It comes off the kitchen and goes out to the back yard)

Downstairs 1/2 bath
(comes off kitchen)

Downstairs 1/2 bath

Living Room, view 1
(If you walk through that door way it takes you to the kitchen and 1/2 bath)

Living Room, view 2
(That doorway will take you to the basement or the dining room)

Upstairs full bathroom

Linen closet across the hall from the bathroom

Left side of master bedroom

Right side of master bedroom
(the door on the right goes to Gavin's room)

Outside view of Gavin's room
(it's bigger then it looks)

Inside view of Gavin's room
(left doorway goes to hallway, middle door way goes straight into the master)

Stell'a room - left view
(it's SUPER tiny)
We will only be able to fit her dresser and crib in there.
The dresser will go in the cove to the left)

Stella's Room - right view
(Her crib will go here)

The basement has a "mud room" and full bath
(Toilet and shower are in the doorway ahead and to the right is a big closet)

Basement
 (There is also a laundry room off the basement but I didn't get a picture of that)