The day before surgery

Things have settled down since my last post on Friday. Colby has done really well over the weekend. It is amazing how much his demeanor changed once the doctors cleared him to begin eating again. They came in yesterday around lunch time and told Becca he was stable enough for us to start feeding him. They were concerned on Friday that he might not stabilize enough to avoid surgery over the weekend, so to prevent complications during an emergency surgery, the doctors took him off all oral feedings and hydrated him via IV fluids. He was very excited to begin eating again! He started sleeping and resting better and was just overall much happier.... Just like our Colby had been prior to his episodes that brought us to the hospital on Thursday. Since he was sleeping so well, Becca and I were also able to get more sleep last night than we have over the past five nights.... More than a total of 3-4 hours in 45 min increments. We feel a lot better today.

We think Colby is also happy today because of his new "friend." His IV port is now in his hand (he kicked the one out of his foot two nights ago...unfortunately). To keep it in place, they taped a board on his hand. He kept hitting himself in the head and scratching his face with the board, so our wonderful nurse yesterday put a green sock over it. He really seems to like his little sock. We have caught him looking at it, smiling at it, waving it, and even snuggling it to his face. Some kids have lovies or blankies...ours has an IV Board with a sock over it! We may have to make him one for when we get home!

The cardiologist came in earlier today with some additional good news. They had to consult with hematology before signing off on the surgery, b/c there was some concern that the seizures he had the couple of days following birth could be related to a blood clotting issue. Since he has not shown any other signs of blood issues, though, hematology went ahead and cleared him for surgery. We will just have to follow up with them at a later time. Neurology has also cleared him for surgery. They did an ultrasound of his brain yesterday to make sure there were no signs of seizure activity. Those results came back clear. Again, we will just have to follow up with them later.

We also received some additional details for his surgery tomorrow. The surgery should begin sometime between 7 and 9 AM. We were told to expect him to be gone for a total of about 5 hrs, not accounting for any complications. We pray there are none! Once they take him back for surgery, we will get continuous updates along the way. He should be in the hospital for around 5-7 additional days following surgery.

Thanks to everyone that has lifted prayers up on our behalf over the past couple of days. Our prayer now is for God's guidance to the doctors and nurses that will be caring for Colby during his surgery. We also pray for Colby's strength and comfort during and after the surgery.

We also want to thank everyone for all of the words of encouragement and the many deeds done to help us through this challenging time. There is no questions that we could not do this without the support of family and friends, and most importantly, the strength and peace given from the loving hand of God.

Jason