My name is Susan Kauffman and my husband is Michael Kauffman. My husband and I have been married for almost 25 years. When we first met I was working here at the Purdue School of Nursing and Michael was working at Monon Trailer and was a Sargent in the Army Reserves. While in the army, Michael was activated and went to the first Gulf War where he served for over 6 months during the war. I have worked here at Purdue in the School of Nursing for almost 28 years and Michael is now here at Purdue at the Power Plant and has been working there for over 10 years now. We have 2 sons – Clinton “CJ” who is 17 and Kristopher who will 12 in November. They are both adopted. Here is CJ’s Riley story.
A little over 17 years ago my husband and I wanted to start our family. After numerous attempts to have our own biological children and being unsuccessful we decided to adopt. Again after several attempts we met CJ’s birth mother and everything clicked. CJ was born on May 5, 1996 a very healthy and happy baby. He hit all the milestones at all the right times during that first year.
At 1 year old CJ underwent surgery to fix a hernia. Let me tell you as a parent you are not prepared for someone to tell you that your child needs surgery. That was a scary time. Even though it was a common surgery it is unnerving when it is your child.
CJ recovered and again was doing well when we got another shock 8 months later. The day care where we took him called us and said that CJ was not feeling well and that his stomach had “hardened” and he would not let anyone touch him. We rushed him to our pediatrician who then sent us to Riley Hospital. The Riley doctors and staff were wonderful. We were informed of every test and procedure that they were going to do on CJ and were supported throughout our entire time we were at Riley. The first doctor that we saw came out between surgeries to talk with us and look over test results that we brought. He ordered more tests and once they were completed came back out of surgery to inform us of what they had found. What they found was that CJ had a 2 pound lymphangioma which is a large gel filled sack in his abdomen that had solidified and that he would require surgery to have it removed.
At 18 months old we were not ready for our son to go through another surgery. We went to Riley on a Friday night and he was scheduled to have surgery on Saturday morning. On Friday night while waiting for the surgery our son’s nurse came into his room and went over all the tests they had run and let us know what they were looking for, what levels were normal and what CJ’s levels were. She stayed with us until we understood every test. We were told by the doctors that he might come out with a permanent colostomy. She stayed with us until we were calm and were ready to be there for CJ. On Saturday morning the surgeon and her entire team came to CJ’s room and walked us to surgery. Again so much support.
Thankfully everything turned out fine and the lymphangioma has not returned. We can’t thank the doctors and staff a Riley for the great care our son received. CJ is now a junior in high school and doing great.