Setback

Wow! What a day it's been!

After staying up until 1:30 AM (couldn't sleep!), my day started at 5AM when I was startled awake by a phone call from Ron telling me I needed to come down to his room, one of his tubes had dislodged and come out! He tends to gag easily and had a gagging/retching episode that caused the stitches that hold the tube in place to break. This is the tube that leads to his lower intestine (originally put in place by Dr. Elieson back on November 6), the one that Dr. Parikh was able to put the feeding tube in shortly after arriving at Presbyterian.

It was a very anxious time for a while. Ron was very upset, not sure what to expect but having flashbacks of the last time he had problems with the tube feed and ending up having surgery to clean out his belly. They immediately stopped the tube feed and called in the surgical resident who taped everything in place so it would not move until one of the Digestive Health surgeons came in around 8AM. They scheduled him for Interventional Radiology and took him down around 10...but had trouble getting someone to administer anesthesia so it ended up being 12:45 before they got started! Fortunately, it did not pull out the feeding tube since it is threaded further down into the intestines, so they were able to place a new tube in the same place and will try to resume tube feeds in a few days. He did well, but they had to keep him in recovery a little longer because his blood pressure was running low. He was back up in his room about 4PM.

It's times like these that I'm especially thankful that I'm able to stay at Hotel Presby....I can't imagine what the drive would have been like after that call. I must confess, times like this cause a little anxiety about going home...but I know, God is in control, and know that He will be right there with us every step of the way!!! And He will equip us to handle whatever He allows in our path. We are to "be anxious for nothing," and to "pray about everything."

On a better note, we were able to continue with our plans late this afternoon of celebrating our first birthday with our daughter, Kristin! I took advantage of the opportunity to inaugurate our guys with our first girly birthday and we celebrated in true Princess style! We had Princess plates, Princess playing cards, and we each had a tiara to wear! But then we did add some Nerf shooting as well...too much estrogen was going on for my guys! Aaron made a wonderful red velvet cake with cherries, whipped creme and almonds! The staff love it when we have birthdays, not only do we share our cake but they get a kick out of our party attire and games!

It was alot of fun for everyone and was especially good for Ron....playing with his "kids" really lifts his spirits. We were laughing so hard, his belly was really hurting, poor guy!

This is definitely a setback no one was expecting...please pray things will get back on track quickly!

We appreciate each of you and your faithfulness!

Christie & gang

from Streams in the Desert

Nahum 1: 12 "Although I have afflicted you...I will afflict you no more."

There is a limit to our affliction. God sends it and then removes it. Do you complain, saying, "When will this end?" May we quietly wait and patiently endure the will of the Lord...we would not want the difficulty to depart until God has removed from us all the honor we can yield to Him.
...
It is not difficult for the Lord to turn night into day. He who sends the clouds can just as easily clear the skies. Let us be encouraged--things are better down the road. Let us sing God's praises in anticipation of things to come. ...Charles Spurgeon