It’s Thanksgiving, and post-op day 2. We have so much to be thankful for today. We are still in very high spirits, and just taking things one day at a time, allowing Jude the time to recover.
One very small thing I’m thankful for is the laptop that was brought from home for us this morning, so I can write this on a real keyboard, not my cell phone. If you were confused by some strange choices of words and bad misspellings in previous posts, it was the phone. If I use the physical keyboard (slower), I am more precise, but don’t have spell check. If I use the on-screen keyboard (much faster thanks to Swype), it has to do more guessing as to what word I meant to type. It gives me choices, but most of the time I just keep going, letting it default to it’s first choice, which usually is right.
Jude is continuing to improve. He got a chance to play some Kung Fu Panda on the hospital’s XBox 360, which he enjoyed, and watch a few different movies. He is now preferring Empire Strikes Back over Astro Boy, I guess even little boys eventually need some change.
We have a much clearer picture of why Jude is being denied water. It is common, after brain or central nervous system surgery in small children for their bodies to waste sodium more than they should. This increases the concentration of water in their bodies in relation to sodium and other minerals, which can lead to swelling in his brain. He still craves and begs for ice water, which we can’t give him. It will probably be at least another day, maybe up to five total, before they are comfortable with him having as much water as he wants again.
With such a positive surgery result, there isn’t as much going on today, and hopefully that will be the same for the coming days. Jude is getting a little better, losing an IV or two, and getting stronger.
We’ve had a few people express the desire to visit. Generally we love visitors, but there are a few caveats. First, children five and under are not permitted on the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) floor, much less in the room. Levi would not be an exception if not for the fact that he’s still breast feeding. Don’t feel bad, even Jude’s cousins weren’t allowed to see him. Also, because we are into cold and flu season, the hospital doesn’t want visitors with symptoms of either. Given Jude’s rough week, we think that’s probably smart. In addition, with the holiday we have a little more family than normal, so it is busy. It should quiet a little tonight and tomorrow, but we don’t want it too busy. The hospital prefers that there be no more than two people in the room with Jude at any time. That’s hard to enforce, but it does start to get chaotic with more people than that. Staggered visits of healthy people six and older are welcome though, as we can work them in.
I did want to mention how very fortunate we feel to have a boy that is on track to be back to good health in short order. We have been talking to a few other families who are not so fortunate. One family has a very young baby, seven weeks we think, with a malignant cancer that gives them little optimism. Another mom that I talked to last night has a 16 month old with an ailment they can’t diagnose. He’s not developing well, he can’t roll over or sit up, and fluids he drinks are finding their way into his lungs, giving him pneumonia. Other kids seem to be left all alone, not having any contact with other people, except for hospital staff. Some of them have parents that have to work while they are in the hospital. Others are so chronically ill that parents come less and less. It’s really sad. If anyone is looking for a ministry opportunity, there’s one. Come and visit some of these lonely kids. Bring them a small toy and brighten up their day. These kids range from very very small through teen age.
We still wait for the pathology report. The oncologist stopped by today to say hello, but had nothing to report. We didn’t expect news yet though, so we are not at all concerned. Tomorrow is a possibility, but really we don’t expect news until Monday or Tuesday.
I know I say it in every post, but really – Thank you all for your support and your prayers. I say it every time because we really do appreciate it so much.