Where do I begin?! Ya know that whole mentally preparing myself thing I’ve talk about? I don’t think I did enough of that this time. Or maybe we just got a lot of overwhelming information. Or maybe it gets harder and harder to send Sam off to surgery as he gets older and more aware of what’s going on. Or maybe it’s a combination of both. Or maybe sometimes I have my moments.

Sam is definitely starting to figure things out. He does just fine until everyone starts coming in to go over things. This time his anesthesiologist said he was pretty feisty when they brought him back to the operating room. Poor buddy. After looking at Sam’s history, the anesthesiologist said “Wow, he’s got quite the history. It’s v.e.r.y rare a kid makes it to three pages.” We all joked saying Sam should get a medal or trophy or something. I could have laughed or cried. I laughed. Laughing is much better for the soul.

Trying to explain everything and making it make sense to the general public is tough. I’ll do my best.

ENT…

Because of the GI findings, Sam’s ENT has decided to stay in the background for quite a while. He wanted us to talk to Sam’s pulmonologist as he said Sam’s airway is really red and inflamed. This is likely due to Sam’s most recent illness, which is a whole other story. Thankfully, after looking at the pics, Sam’s pulmonologist wasn’t worried. The good news…the small part of Sam’s airway he fixed last month was successful!

GI…

We got answers, but not the greatest news. It’s a lot of info, but in short, his GI surgeon is going to talk to docs from Boston as they are stumped and not sure what to do next. After looking, they discovered his tummy surgery came undone or unwrapped. The surgery, last done in November of 2017, that’s failed three times now. It’s likely, the unsuccessful surgery is due to Sam’s violent retching episodes, which in turn wreak havoc on his already stressed esophagus. Either way he’ll have another open surgery sometime this summer. Open surgery…yuck. They will do some more tests and dilate his esophagus again in four weeks. The good news…he once again recovered beautifully!

Once again, we wait…patiently.

We are use to getting bad news and the unknown. Hope is hope, just that, and it’s a phenomenal thing. We cling to hope.

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
(2 Corinthians 4:8‭-‬9 NIV)