Friday, December 3, 2010

Eli's Update



We are long over due for an update on Eli. Eli is doing really well, but I will back up a little. Eli had his second open heart surgery (Glenn) at the end of October. His recovery at the hospital was very quick. We were home 6 days after surgery, which is really good. He came home on a ng tube (feeding tube that is placed into his nose) and was prescribe many medications. The first two weeks at home were incredibly hard. I have to say, we were not prepared for it. All I heard and read on life after this second surgery is that Eli would do so much better. That was not the case. Eli would not eat and when he finally did, he would vomit the whole thing up. This lasted for a few days. He would pull out his ng tube, which meant that either Israel or I would have to insert it ourselves. I remember one time we were trying to put his tube in, Eli was crying we were crying, it was so hard. But the hardest thing was Eli's headaches and withdrawal from his pain meds. This lasted for about 7 days. I can't begin to describe what is was like. Because of this second sugery it effects the pressures in their head. This would cause extremly painful headaches. Eli would cry and the best way I can describe it is that he would thrash around for at least an hour. He wasn't consolible. We would just hold him and pace around the house for an hour or so until he would finally calm down. We would do this several times a day for a week. Eli needed to be held all the time. We were so discouraged. Many times we thought maybe this is how life would be for Eli.

Its so hard when a heart baby has hard days. Not only because Eli was in so much pain, but it's hard when you don't know the "whys". Why isn't he eating? Why is he vomiting? Why is he crying so hard? Could it be his heart? headaches? gas pains? teething? Those days were very discouraging and heart breaking. Eli's np, Laura supported us so much during this time. Now that we are now on the road to recovery, life is beginning to become "normal" again. We can take a deep breath, relax a bit and look back at all that Eli and our family and friends have been through and feel a sense of deep thankfulness and peace. Our journey is hard but our son is strong and in the midst of the storm we feel God carry us. We look forward to the days of playing at the park with friends, long days of swimming and all the fun things that boys like to do.

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