On February 11th 1997 @6:00am,I went into Hospital for a C-section,I was
37 weeks pregnant,I was all ready for the big arrival of my baby,I was
wheeled down to the OR,and waited while Tommy got on his hospital
scrubs,and while waiting on him they went ahead and started my
Spinal,which went good,so @8:00 they started the big incision and
everything was going wonderful,Tommy watched the whole thing taking
place,Then they hollered a BOY,i was so glad i have a girl and wanted a
boy,So i got my wish,so i laid there and waited to hear the little cry
and finally did,Tommy walked over to watch them clean him up,
then Ped,came over and i got to check him out for a few seconds and
kissed his little head and off they went upto nursery with Tommy
following and BIG sister(Keisha) waiting outside to see if she had a sister or
brother,,she was excited.After my Dr,was through with me he came upto my
head and kneeled down and told me something was not normal between the
belly button and penis,I shouted WHAT???He said he did not know for sure
but he would go up to nursery and be back down to tell me so i was
asking everybody that was in there WHAT??No one knew,so finally a nurse
said well she did not know but to give me some answer she said maybe a
hernia,so i thought OK just a knot,,so my blood pressure dropped back
down some,so they put me in recovery room and i waited and finally my
Dr.came in there and told me it was his bladder,,,And that they had to
call and find out exactly what it was and what to do,,The whole hospital
had never saw the bladder on the outside before so no one knew what it was forsure,Then he went
on to tell me that they were on their way to pick him up he was being
taken to Egleston's In Atlanta,Ga.3 hours away,by then i was in shock,so
my hour and a half was up so i got to go up to my room on the way we
stopped by the nursery,I glanced in the window and saw Tommy and
Derek's big sister Keisha leaning over him playing away with him,so they
finally saw me and brought Derek out to me,they ask if i wanted to hold
him a second,he was the cutest baby,they had his bladder wrapped in
saran wrap to keep it moist,so i only got to hold him for maybe a
minute,I kissed him and was wheeled off to my room,still in shock.The
Ped,and my Dr,came in to explain some of this to me,and to tell me that
when the ambulance got there the drivers would bring him into my room
for me to see him before they left with him.So after 3 hours
the ambulance women came in with Derek in the little incubator,and i got
to stick my arm through the small hole and rub his foot and say good bye
to him the hardest thing to do,and they gave Tommy directions to the
Eglestons Hospital and told me once he got there they would do lots of
test and his Dr.would call me and let me know what they were planning to
do and when,before he left the hospital the Ped,came in and said Derek
had turned blue while taking his temperture and putting the little cap on
his head,he had done it twice,so they wanted his lungs and all checked
out first,but the Ped,seemed to think it was temper cause when they
finally removed his little cap he hushed,,So i waited and waited and at
7:pm that night the Dr,called and talked to Tommy and said his
lungs,heart,everything was fine it was temper he said they got to see it
also,which was a very good sign showed he was a fighter...And explained
that he was going to do his first surgery at 1pm the next day,which was
bladder closure,Tommy went down at 8am to be with Derek before he went
in for the 6 hour surgery,the surgery started at 1,and i laid at
hospital waiting for them to call me and i finally made my nurses call
them,and i got his recovery nurse and she said he had just woke up and
looked fine he had already yanked his breathing tubes out,so they were
putting them back in..He done really well they also said what helped
a lot was with him being a big baby,he was 8lbs. 21 1/2 inches.He done
real well,I got to get out and go and see him when he was 4 days old he
was still in NICU,broke my heart to see all those tubes and wires coming
out of him,but i got to hold him for the first time,besides my minute
after i had him,,I was scared to hold him afraid i would pull something
a loose,So after that we traveled everyday the 3 hours to
and from the hospital,The thing that really bothered me was he was 7 days
old before he got his first bottle,but he was fine they told me,he was
getting plenty through the veins,so the first bottle he done so good he
got to start eating every 2 hours,so then he got to move to the floor
and stayed there 6 days,We got to bring him home when he was 13 days
old,it was hard cause of me being so scared i would do something wrong.
We had to keep his legs wrapped together for 6 weeks with an ace
bandage,plus 1 cath in,so i ask doc if we had to keep the bag on cath
and he said no i could do the double diaper and told me to ask nurse to
show me how,,So she did,put small diaper on first and cut a small hole
in it to run the cath tube through into other medium diaper,,That worked
really well for me!!He did have an awful diaper rash,took forever to get
it cleared up,used everything thought of to get it well,After we went
home we had to take him back every 2 weeks for check ups and all,he was
doing good and got cath tube removed when he was 4 weeks,,boy was I
happy,and on 6 weeks check up got to unwrap his legs and boy was he
happy!!He done really well and one day while changing his diaper i
thought i saw a knot down around groins so when we took him back i ask
his Dr,and he felt and said yes he does have a small Hernia and we
need to remove it so we left from his office and went straight to
Eglestons for pre-op and had the surgery on a Friday he was 2 months
old,that was the
neatest incision i had ever saw,,you couldn't even tell it was there,.
Here is my button made for me after this surgery at 1 day old
When he was 4 months old,i noticed he was getting
sick,and had runny nose and fever i thought it was from his teeth,he got
his first 2 teeth when he was 4 months,so the day went on and he started
vomiting and slight fever so then he started acting fine and in the evening
around bed time he was eating and started vomiting bad so i called
ped,and he ask what his fever was and at that time it was 102,so he said
to bring him on in and its an hour away by the time we got there his
fever was 104.6,they done all the test and it came back UTI,Bladder
infection,plus a cold,so he was admitted and stayed 4 days,.then we just
had normal test from then on,all his Ultra Sounds,Kidney Scans and all
look good everytime he has one.He takes
Septra 1/2 teaspoon every night at bed time,.He is spoilt rotten by his Big Sister
Keisha...He still has his temper and can throw some pretty good fits!!
Derek's appointments and surgeries are at Egleston..His Doctor is Dr.Bruce Broecker.
He had a cystoscopy done Oct,23rd,to remove some scar tissue on his bladder.
Mom's Picture after cystoscopy was done
*****Derek just had surgery on March 30th,1999 he had 4 done at this time.Surgery started at 7:30am and lasted until 5:30pm 10 hour surgery,They went in and cut his pelvis bones and then rotated them and placed some pins in,reimplantation of ureters,bladder neck reconstruction,epispadius repair,then went back and put him in a full body cast from chest to ankles,he done real well,they left his epidural in for 5 days,and once they took that out he did fine..He came home with 4 cath's in and hopefully each week we will get to remove them..He will go back in 6 weeks and be put back to sleep to remove the cast and unscrew the pins out..
Moms picture before surgery
UPDATE~!~!~!~! Derek got his cast off and pins out on May11th,and a cystoscopy after that,,all looked well..
June 9th--Derek had renal ultra sound and all showed that everything looks great,,he does not have to go back for any check -ups until December......
Moms picture after pins were removed and Cystoscopy
~~UPDATE~~Derek went to Dr. in December and had Ultra Sound and everything looked Great,He will go back in June for a check-up.He is doing real well just celebrated his 3rd birthday..
~~~~UPDATE~~~ (8-3-00 thru 8-9-00) Derek spent 7 days in Egleston(Childrens health care of Atlanta)for his 1st infection of Pseudomonas..
Done Cystoscopy on 8-8-00.Here he is winking 5 minutes after cystoscopy
New picture of Derek at 3 yrs old
~~~~UPDATE~~~(12-25-00--1-04-01)Derek spent 11 days in hospital,He had a stricture in the uretha,So they went in and removed the stricture and put some more tissue there.Hopefully this will work,We go back On Jan 24th for a renal Ultra sound and check up, Hopefully get the supra pubic tube and foley removed..
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More pictures of Derek And Keisha
Derek in Body Cast
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