Thursday, June 11, 2009

Last weeks busyness: Part #2

Friday, after we saw the Kimba, my MIL (Grandma Cheryl) came into town for the weekend. I had to work all day Saturday and Sunday, and I was exhausted, so I went to bed early (for me at least- I was IN BED by 10 pm) Saturday, Steve took the kids to the lake with some friends of ours. The kids wanted to go out on the boat for a bit. Matthew was asleep and had Steve had just fed him, so his extension set to his G-button was still in place. He was due for his meds in an hour, so he figured he would just leave him asleep in his carseat ( he's still in his infant carrier) with my friends on the bank, and come back after a quick boat ride and give him his medications.


Well, while Steve was on the boat, Matthew woke up. When he initially wakes up. his usually is very upset. And when he is upset he arches. Well, he was arching and my friend thought she would try to calm him down, and went to take him out of his carseat, and well, the extension tubing to his button got caught in the carseat buckle and when she picked him up, she pulled his button out. OUCHHHHHHHH! He was not happy! Steve, luckily, was docking the boat and he quickly picked up Matthew and tossed him in the car and headed back to town. He called me at work, and said he was heading into my work and would I please replace his button. Luckily, I had picked up an extra Thursday and just happened to have it in my car. Problem was, though, they were 45 minutes away!!!

Steve was worried about that too, but came up with an ingenious idea. The button that the doctor had put in on Friday did not have a balloon in it, but rather a device on the end that collapsed with a special tool when you inserted it and expanded when the tool was taken out.

When the button got pulled out, the device was still expanded (double ouch) and he didn't have the tool to collapse it. Here's kinda what this looks like


The only part that actually stays in after placement is the bottom piece. So you can see how the tool on top (the purple piece and the T shaped handle) expands it.


So in his words, he "MacGuyver'd" it. He used his Leatherman knife (which he always carries) and cut off the tip and put the remaining piece back in to hold his stoma (hole for the g-button) open. Well, his idea worked, because when he finally got to the hospital (he also drove in the wrong direction for 15 minutes because he was so panicked!) the replacement button I had slipped right in and he was back out the door in 5 minutes. Whew!


(And we had a nice visit about how it's not smart to leave the extension tubing hooked up and then leave Matthew with someone who doesn't know it's still hooked up!)


After that, the rest of the weekend was quiet. I worked, Steve and the kids hung out with Grandma Cheryl. Perfection. Because I wasn't ready for any more drama!!


I'll end with a sweet picture that was taken shortly after Steve got back to the lake (after the drama!). Matthew did not seem phased. He was hammin it up and talking to my friends little girl, Abby. So sweet!

7 comments:

Keeslermom said...

Oh my GOODNESS! Again? You guys are going to get SO good at this. Good job MacGyver!

Diane said...

WOW..way to go MacGyver and to you Jill for replacing the button. It's a wonder how well we work under pressure. I sure hope this weekend is much more uneventful for the Soldatke family.

Diane, Tyler's mom

Kristen said...

I am so impressed with Steve's MacGyver's skills! What a quick and confident thinker under pressure.

Michelle said...

Wow, that's great thinking on the fly! I had no idea that the buttons could come out like that. He is so lucky to have such awesome parents!

Josephine said...

Oh my! What an adventure!

Lisa Christine said...

OK, when I was young I had the biggest crush on McGyver because he was so crafty....so I am super impressed with Steve!

Sherri said...

WOW! We did not have enough time to talk on Thursday!! That is truly amazing! Hopefully this past week has been much less eventful.