The Snyder Family: 2008

For those of you who have not heard... Saturday night Joey got a hold of some candy and choked on it really bad. I noticed immediately and Leah called 911. I tried to scoop it out with my finger but couldn't. He turned blue and passed out. After multiple attempts to get him to cough it up, Pierre and Erin took turns doing CPR until the EMTs arrived. They too tried to turn him upside down and pound his back to get it to come out but it would not. So they had to intubate him, which was very hard for them since Joey's throat is very small. They got his heart rate going again and had a pulse so they packaged him up for the ride in the ambulance to Children's hospital.

He went directly to the ICU at Childrens and after they were sure he was stable he went for an operation to remove the stupid candy. The operation was successful. After the operation they kept him heavily sedated because he had a breathing tube. They were also keeping him cool because they were worried about brain damage since he went for an unknown amount of time without oxygen (in our heads it seemed like hours so we couldn't give them a good time estimate).

On Sunday morning, we got some really encouraging news that he had woken up and looked around freaked out like he didn't know where he was and did not recognize anybody. Although, this was very sad for JoJo, it was good news from a brain damage perspective because it was a sign that his brain was working normally. He spent pretty much all Sunday sedated and on a breathing machine.

Sunday night was the best night! They decided to take him off all of his sedation medicine to let him wake up and put the breathing machine on standby to see how he would do breathing on his own. They tested him for two hours and he passed with flying colors, so around 10:00 PM they removed the breathing tube. Pretty much as they were taking the tube out Joey jumped into my arms and the nurses pulled a chair up to his bedside and just let me sit there forever and hold him (I am getting choked up right now just thinking about it). He ate two things of applesauce and signed for "more" and "all-done," so we were sure at that point there was no brain damage. That night he slept off and on wanting out of his crib every time he woke up (Josh had a pretty long night but loved every minute of it:).

Monday he was pretty much back to his normal self. Playing with a ball my mom brought for him, pointing at everything, and signing like crazy. Monday night was nice because the awesome nurse had the beds switched, so we could have a regular hospital bed and Joey and I could sleep together. We slept great.

Tuesday, we went home!!!! We couldn't even believe it!!! His recovery was amazing. He is so strong. We are so happy to be home, but I will tell you it is nerve-racking to feed him and put him to sleep at home. We miss the constant monitoring of the ICU or knowing someone is right there if something goes wrong. On the other hand, Joey is loving being home. He is crawling all over and playing with his toys like nothing ever happened.

Through all of this everyone has been right there with us. All of our family/friends have been at the hospital everyday and spreading the word to get everyone to pray for Joey. I can't tell you how reassuring it was to hear about all of the people that were praying for him. I am so thankful for all of you and SO appreciative. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! And that doesn't even begin to relay how thankful we are. The other reassuring part was I know my grandpa was looking after him. When the EMTs were there I started praying for my grandpa to keep him safe and soon after is when they said they had a heart beat. So I knew we were in good hands. I love my JoJo so much... I am bursting with happiness!!!!!

Needless to say... we are done with 2008 and ready for 2009. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Right after they took out the breathing tube.