This is a long one....

I know that we normally talk about Charlotte first in the blog but today she is going to be playing second fiddle to her brother. As we said in a previous post, Artu was having some health issues that we were trying to figure out. On Sunday he took a turn for the worst. When he woke up in the morning everything seemed pretty normal but he didn't eat and for those of you that have been around Artu, this is not at all the norm and we knew something was wrong. Shortly there after that he threw but then he seemed okay - still not wanting to eat, but ok. Well about a few hours later he threw up again and continued to throw up for the rest of the day and into Monday morning. Owen and I didn't get too much sleep either that night b/c we were worried and we also were trying to make sure that he didn't get sick all around the house. Luckily he was drinking plenty of water so he wasn't too dehydrated but since most of it would come back up we weren't sure how much was being absorbed.

Owen called the vet first thing Monday morning and they said that based on what has been going on and the new developments that we should bring him in to the vet hospital ASAP. So we packed up Charlotte and off to the vet we went. When we got there the ER doc saw him and said that he was in pretty bad shape. She could tell that he was dehydrated and wanted to admit him to the hospital right away and get an IV started. Owen and I decided to admit him so they could get him stable and we could hopefully figure out what was going on. We went back to visit him on Monday afternoon and because of the IV he had already perked up a bit. Unfortunately, the ER vet called later that night with not so encouraging words. She said that his blood cell count was low and dropping and as a result, his iron levels had gone down even more and he would need a blood transfusion. We gave our consent for the transfusion and kept our fingers crossed for the best.

We called this morning to see how he was doing and we spoke the the internal medicine doc who we had met with previously when all his issues started. He said that Artu's iron levels were down even after the transfusion which meant that he was still bleeding internally somewhere. He was very honest with us and said that if they performed surgery, it would be exploratory since they really weren't sure what they were looking for. Their best guess was a tumor or ulcer. The vet told us that we needed to make a decision soon b/c if we were going to do surgery Artu is at the strongest he has been in a while and now is the time. The other alternative was to take him home where most likely he'd only be with us a few more days. We hung up with the vet and did A LOT of soul searching in a short amount of time. We came to the decision that our boy had a lot of fight left in him and we were going to proceed with the surgery. Another visit to the vet was made so we could have a heart to heart with him and give him some hugs and kisses to tell him to be strong so that he could come back home soon. Owen and I tried to keep ourselves busy for the rest of the day since we knew we wouldn't get a phone call until evening to let us know how everything went.

We got the call at about 7:30 tonight from the surgeon to say that she found a cauliflower like mass in his large intestine and was able to remove it all. Yay! I know that this may sound like bad news but this is GREAT news as it is great to finally have an answer of what was wrong! The surgeon considers the surgery a success as the mass was most likely the cause for the blood loss that Artu has been having. She said that he did great in surgery and was waking up nicely. I can't tell you how relieved I am that we made the right decision for our boy and how proud I am of him for being patient with us while we figured out what was wrong with him. He doesn't realize it yet but once he comes home he is going to get what ever he wants! It is amazing what we do for Artu but he has become a big part of the family!

Now for Charlotte's news...we took her for her 3 month follow up visit at the hospital. She met with the neonatologist (same doctor that was there when she was born), a speech therapist, physical therapist and occupational therapist. The doctor and all three therapists saw her at the same time and they all said that she is right on target for her corrected age. They did suggest that we take her for baby massage classes since her muscles seem a bit tight and this might help them loosen up a bit. But besides that, she is just a normal, cute little girl. It was reassuring for Owen and me to hear that we are doing the right things with her in order to promote her development.

Overall, today has to be one of the best days that this Burritt family has had in a long time. Once Artu is home and everyone is under one roof it will be even better!