Surgery Day

Thanks everyone for all the prayers for our sweet Beckett today. He is such an amazing and tough little guy. We are so thankful for him and all the wonderful things he can do. He is absolutely precious.

This morning started off with a happy Beckett who didn't want to leave "old McDonald's special house." It is such a cute and happy place for kids.  He really enjoyed his short stay there and when we were packing up his stuff to come to the hospital, he cried, "no, come back here!" It was sweet, and it was hard because we knew how disappointed he would be with where we were going.

When we first arrived at 8:00 this morning, he had his blood drawn.  He was hopeful that the blood work was it and that we were headed out of there. He said, "ok go bye bye now." He got his prize and thought he was headed home, but instead we headed up to surgery.

Once up on the surgery floor, they got us into a pre-op room very quickly.  This began our long wait in the holding room while we were all NPO. (One simply cannot eat in front of a 2 year old who can have nothing to eat or drink. Does not work.) Becketts surgery got bumped by one. When looking at the bigger picture, we are truly grateful that Beckett's condition was such that it could be bumped.  That really is a blessing and a good thing. When they started talking about "we'll get going..." Beckett perked up and said in his happy little voice, "all done?" And it kind of broke my heart because I knew what was coming and that it would be very painful for him. And there is just no way to prepare or explain all of that to a two year old.  But in a way, I guess he was right, we have been waiting for this surgery, and now it is done.

Beckett was in the OR from about 1:15 to about 3:15.  The surgeon was ale to go ahead with the ACE procedure.  The difference between the ACE and a cecostomy is simply placement.  ACE Malone uses the appendix as a tube and it then comes out through the belly button.  A valve is created to
prevent leaking.  The cecostomy button goes directly into the cecum (part of the colon). This is more
likely to leak. Now, typically an ACE Malone is very discreet bc it just uses an opening in te belly
button that no one can actually really notice.  Older children/teens prefer this because there is no plastic button or anything different looking on their stomachs.  For Beckett, they wanted him to still have the button due to his age and ability to tolerate me sticking a catheter in his belly button daily (probably not great). So they put the plastic button on his belly button. I will post pictures on my blog later when I am back home at my computer.  I will make an album on FB tomorrow.

We got to see him in recovery at about 3:45. He had a hard time in recovery.  The anesthesiologist said that he did great in the OR, but when she brought him out, he got flushed and sweaty and his heart rate went up quickly. He was red and covered in sweat by the time we saw him. It was very
stressful for his little body.

He is in a whole lot of pain and it is hard to watch.  He is on morphine and tylenol and motrin, along with a couple of IV antibiotics to prevent infection.  he has had a couple of sips of juice, but is mainly relying on IV fluids now.  I keep telling him that this will be okay. He is absolutely one of the toughest people I know, and I am so proud that he is my little boy.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support.  We are so very thankful! Thank you! Please continue praying for Beckett. Please pray for his recovery and his pain.  Tomorrow, we will try to flush a little something through and see how it goes.  We need to try to get him to sit up tomorrow.  I pray that he can feel more comfortable soon.  Thanks for joining us in prayer today. Our little guy is doing great. Our big God is bigger than all of this and all of the struggles we have seen in various families at the hospital today. And I am so thankful for that.

"I lift my eyes up to the mountains-- where does my help come from? My help comes from The Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip-- He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Isreal will neither slumber nor sleep." Psalm 121:1-4

Thankful to serve a God who never sleep...who has no need to sleep. Who loves us more than we could ever understand and who has an ultimate plan for our lives.  Thankful that He who created the moon and the stars is taking care of my sweet boy.  Even on the hard days.