Good Things to Come

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a video worth? This one's worth at least a few minutes of your time. - Luke

Welcome Home Alex!!

Yeah we are finally home after spending 6 days in the hospital. 

We weren’t quite ready to go home yesterday so when the doctor told us we weren’t cleared to go I was relieved. As of yesterday Alex still wasn’t eating very much and they were watching him closely to make sure his bowels were working properly. His intestines were still kind of asleep so they kept us another day to make sure there weren’t any complications. I was a little nervous when they told us we could go home today and his bowels still hadn’t performed their proper function (he hadn’t pooped). I was told that by now his stomach would have been swollen like a pregnant woman and he would be in a lot of pain and have a fever if they were obstructed. He had none of these symptoms and had been passing gas and his gut sounded good. It’s odd how certain bodily functions are exciting in the hospital. I hope he forgets this soon and tries to show proper self control now that we are home again. :)

He was so excited when they finally stopped his IV fluids because he was drinking more. Now he didn’t have to get up to go to the bathroom as much and that was a plus because it caused him pain to get out of bed. He did get very good at doing it without much help. My poor 16 year old boy was moving like an old man. He also got his "gut tube" removed. That’s what I called it. It collected his gut juice or the fluids that drained out of his stomach cavity. One night Alex and I and a nurse kept trying to think of what flavor of fruit juice it reminded us of. We came to the conclusion that it looked like passion fruit or guava nectar (and sometimes it had pulp). We have some pretty yummy pictures we took but I won’t totally gross you out by posting them. Before he had the gut tube removed he asked one of the nurses if it hurt. She said, “No, it just feels a little weird.” I then quickly asked her if she had ever had one removed. Of course she hadn’t. Well for the record, Alex did say it felt weird and it also hurt. I'm not surprised. How could getting a tube the size of a straw pulled out of your body not hurt. Good think it only took a few seconds. Once again I have some good pictures and even took video if anyone is interested. Today when he got the staples removed the nurse was decent enough to say that it might sting a little. Alex said it felt kind of like a shot. He really didn’t move or seem to be in discomfort as she removed all 18 staples!! There is a really neat tool they use and it is very similar to the one that removes staples from paper. I have it on video as well and Alex kept the staples as a souvenir.

Alex is so happy not to have shots anymore. He was given shots twice a day in his stomach so he wouldn’t get blood clots. His poor stomach has so many little shot marks to go along with a gut tube hole and a four and a half inch incision mark. Poor guy. I now can’t complain about all the stretch marks he gave me when I was pregnant with him. He is also happy he doesn’t have to eat hospital food anymore. To be honest it wasn’t that bad. I usually ate the stuff he didn’t. I even got him a shake a few times knowing he wouldn’t eat much of it and I would get the rest. I am sneaky. He is just super picky and had no appetite and did I say, super picky. I was glad yesterday when I discovered he would eat strawberries.

Well, I will wrap this up. We got home today at around 3pm. We arrived home to our family and cousins on the driveway to welcome us home. A huge banner hung on the garage and orange and blue balloons were tied to the porch railings. The banner was written in blue and orange because Alex loves the Denver Broncos.

We are glad to be home. I was thrilled to have a real shower. It felt so good to walk on carpet. It was so good to see Mike and the kids. This evening Mike surprised Alex by getting him an Xbox 360. We figured Alex deserves it because of all he has gone through. Plus he has to be a couch potato for the next few weeks and we don’t want him to get totally bored. You should have seen his face when he saw the box!! He tried so hard to get out of the recliner but couldn’t. Mike helped him up and they hugged. Alex said he would have jumped up and down if he could have. He was so happy and it felt so good to see him smile. This moment was like the stupid credit card commercial puts it, "priceless."

Once again we would like to thank all those who have some to our aid yet again. Thank you for the prayers, texts, visits, meals, watching kids, and so many others we can’t list. It really means so much to us and I know it touched our sweet son to know so many love and care for him. We love you all and plan to take a break for a while from trauma and hope we can have a nice and peaceful summer.

We know our Heavenly Father loves us and has helped us through this additional trial. He works in mysterious ways and someday it will be great to know why we had to go through these trials. We have learned so much and yet still have so much to learn. We are more thankful for our families and friends and the things that really matter. We are so thankful for the plan of happiness and all the joy it brings us. We know the scriptures are true and guide us as we follow their counsel. Families are forever. I am so thankful for a loving older brother, Jesus Christ, who has felt my pain and who had stood beside me and my family through all of our sorrow, hardship and pain. What comfort it brings me to know I am never alone.  

Thank you again everyone. We love you all.

Love,

Catherine, Mike and kiddos