Joseph had his supra pubic catheter looked at this morning.  It was hanging on by a thread since most of the stitches had ripped out.  Ouch.  We were concerned that they'd have to sedate Joseph just to do the 5-minute procedure but he wasn't as traumatized as I had expected.  He was very brave and he cried, but he didn't put up a huge fight.  The doctor was amazine and was able to snip the two remaing stiches even with Joseph wiggling around.  When he realized that there wasn't a 'pee-pee poke' he settled down quickly. 

They put a foley in this time (into his supra pubic site...not his urethra) so now the catheter is held in with a water filled small balloon in his bladder -- just like how his g-tube button is held into his stomache.

Dr. Wilcox wouldn't be comfortable doing the Mitrofanoff during the summer since we have our vacation planned in August.  He said Joseph just wouldn't be 100% even if there weren't any complications.  So, the catheter that's in right now has a cap on it and I'll empty it in the a.m. and in the p.m. just to be sure he isn't retaining too much during the day when he pees normally.  It can be left in up to 3 months.  We'll visit Dr. Wilcox again after our vacation and set up a plan for the Mitrofanoff and the Monfort/abdominoplasty procedure.

So...no surgery this summer!  We have lots planned!

This evening we just took our inagural family bike ride around the neighborhood.  We fixed up a couple bikes that we got from a garage sale last year and I had purchased a bike trailer from someone on Craigslist earlier this season (a steal at $40!).  So, we popped Joseph in the covered bike trailer and hooked him to my bike and all 4 of us rode around the neighborhood for about a 1/2 hour.  When we returned, Joseph had so much fun riding inj the bike trailer that he started throwing a little tantrum when it was time to get out!  So, we humored him and went around the block one more time.

Roy's favorite part was going fast down the small hills.  It was just his 2nd time out around the neighborhood on his bike.  It was FUN and we'll try hard to ride as a family at least 2 times per week. 

That's about it for now!

Sherie