Day 4- Slow and Steady

A friend of mine's daughter had a major bowel surgery on Monday (the same day as Beckert's surgery), and her blog entry for today was titled Slow and Steady.  It can be the perfect way to describe these kiddos, and we are thankful for the "steady" part of it.  But things are definitely moving s-l-o-w.

Recovery around here is going just a bit slower than anticipated.  He is standing, but not without crying and breaking into a sweat.  It upsets him very much and is quite stressful.  He walked a few steps a couple of times today, and we celebrated that with him despite all the tears it took to get there. He did drink a few ounces of juice today so that was super exciting.  He is talking more and becoming much more playful again.

Our biggest trouble is that his stools are not moving through him very well (which is not really a surprise as surgery can slow most people down and he is very susceptible to that). As I mentioned in my last post, he had an enema last night that did create some results.  However, based on the exam this morning and the look of the x-ray yesterday, the doctors (surgeon and GIs) decided to transfer him to the GI floor and to their direct care.  The surgeon was pleased with the incision (2 or 3 inches long vertical below his belly button) and the way things were healing up, and GI really seemed to want him upstairs so they could deal with him more directly and closely. So we are now back to our usual floor in the hospital.

He had two more glycerine enemas with no results this afternoon, and we are now doing a go-lytely clean out. The go lytely is running on a pump at a slow rate directly into his new button.  He is having cramping and pain.  He was asleep when he woke up crying and uncomfortable a little while ago. I was able to calm him and get him back to sleep, but I have a feeling this is going to be a very long and hard night for him.

I cannot say that we are exactly surprised that this is taking more intervention (the go-lytely clean out) and time than we had expected.  But we were really hoping it would be an easier process for the tough little guy.

We know for certain that nothing surprises Beckett's Heavenly Father. Our God who never sleeps or slumbers (Psalm 121:1-4) is also never caught by surprise.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Psalm 139:2-6

We can have comfort knowing that when hospital stay are more than we bargained for, or even when Mondays are just too long, that the God of the universe knows us completely and has his mighty hand upon us.  Thank you Lord for being familiar with all our ways, our comings and our goings, our good days and our slow days.

We are praising God for how steady Beckett is.  The big picture here is that he is doing very very well and we have a lot to be thankful for...he had no major side effect from anesthesia, he has no infections, he is able to breathe well and think clearly and be a stubborn 2 year old. The big picture is that a little extra time for some additional clean out and IV fluids is not at all horrible. And quite a blessing that that is all that is keeping us here.

But please join us in praying that his little digestive tract would wake up and get moving. We are actually literally praying for poop! Yes, I said it. :)   And please pray for his comfort- that he will soon be able to stand and walk without complete upset and stress to his whole body.  Thank you for all your love this week.  We are thankful!