The Rest of the Story

Riding in the car, I used to look forward to the quirky news report done by a man named Paul Harvey. It was always some kind of interesting story with a strange turn of events or unlikely scenario, and he would say, "And that, my friends, is the rest of the story."

Unfortunately, there is a part 2 to my previous post. Stay tuned for news and the rest of the "Forced Family Fun Day Goes Wrong because of Toothpick" story...

I'm typing this post from the 12th floor of Lebonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, and this is the 20th day of Josh's summer vacation spent in the hospital. He will have some great material for the cliche "What I did on summer Vacation" essay. Hopefully he will choose to focus on the number of arrests we witnessed from the 9th floor window or the amazing 4th of July fireworks display we got to see over downtown Memphis. OR he could write about the day the superintendent of the school system came to visit him, along with other coaches and about 20 kids. If he is feeling super creative, he could pen a fictional narrative based on the imagined backstories of the doctors and nurses around here.  At this moment, I am thinking his essay might not be so focused on the positive and humorous.

If you remember from the last post, we left our second Lebonheur visit being told that he was just constipated from traveling and that the pain was not related to the toothpick. For our third ER visit, he had high pain and fever- BUT he wasn't vomiting and he could bounce on one foot without falling on the floor in pain. CLEARLY, the doctor assured us, he was not in need of anything surgical, and we needed to just make an appointment with a GI doctor and stop taking up space in the emergency room when it obviously wasn't an emergency. 

After several more weeks of pain and frustration and weight loss, we had a GI appointment.  The NP did blood work and scheduled Josh for a scope a few days later.  That afternoon, we had just gotten back to New Albany when she called and told us to go back to the ER... TONIGHT.  She said his blood work showed that his inflammatory markers were alarmingly elevated and she wanted him admitted for more tests.

An exploratory surgery to check out some "haze" on the CT turned into a bigger deal; Josh woke up missing 50 centimeters of his small intestine because of a puncture, abscesses, and infection. This is no small surgery, so we ended up in the hospital for a full week while he recuperated.

The doctors and nurses for this fourth time at Lebonheur were great- AND we had a room with a view of a liquor store and the Hernando Desoto Bridge.  There were light shows at both places, lol! There were "blue lights" at the liquor store regularly surrounding people, and we saw all kinds of drama going down.. It was like watching an episode of COPS in person every day!  The bridge lights in Memphis aren't quite so dramatic, but they are beautiful! The lights change colors, flash, and dance- it is a sight to see.  To top it all off, we had the best seat in the city for 4th of July fireworks! The Redbirds stadium and Mud Island fireworks were both right outside our window.

We were sent home on July 5th or 6th (days run together), and things seemed to be on the right track.  I was somewhat concerned that Josh wasn't improving as quickly as I thought he would, but I tend to be a little over-competitive and pushy (imagine that), so I put it out of my mind.  However, he undeniably started feeling bad again about a week after arriving home and his temperature went back up.  We called our follow up number, and they sent us back here... to our new home away from home...

Infection had set in from surgery and was working a number on Josh.  He had lost even more weight, blood counts were not great, and the CT showed "something." For a full day, we just knew that the CT showed "something." This is a scary phrase.

They got him started on IV antibiotics... and here we are, 9 days later... Hospital Stay #5.

Although this hospital visit has been very difficult (particularly mentally) for Josh, it has most certainly made us thankful for our family, church family, and community. SO many people have checked on Josh, brought food, offered help... I could go on and on!  And nothing has brightened his spirits as much as the many times a friend or two (or 22) has ventured up to Memphis to sit with him or play cards. It has been humbling and sincerely touching how many people have expressed their concern and offered to pray for Josh.

The good news is, there was a little progress yesterday. THANK THE LORD FOR ICE CREAM AND ANSWERED PRAYERS.  After a very discouraging day, he tried a little ice cream and it didn't hurt his stomach.  Then, he realized his pain was only a 2.. this was like a light opening up at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

While this was "the rest of the story," the end of the story is yet to be told. The next several days will be very important.  We are praying that he continues to poop, his pain continues to decrease, AND that when they take him off the IV nutrition and antibiotics, he will continue to improve.  If the cycle of pain/ inflammation/ constipation begins again, they will have another surgery, in which they "leave no stone unturned" looking for a toothpick that MAY be at large floating around in his abdominal cavity.  Lovely thought to end on, huh?

I can't end on that note- I just can't go there.  Instead, I will close with this: God is good all the time, and all the time, GOD IS GOOD.

"The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."
"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it....May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, or all endurance and patience with joy.   "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world"

We are hoping and praying for the best!

P.S. Before I could read over and post this, we had a setback today. Short version:  Josh was supposed to have some kind of special MRI... but actually an MRE... of his intestines this afternoon.  After drinking two things of gross-tasting contrast, he was left in his little triage room too long and the test didn't work.  Now he has to do it all over again tomorrow.  This sounds trivial... but it really wasn't.

AND THEN, the bigger blow was yet to come. When he came into the room, he asked me to take his temperature, saying he felt feverish. For 5 days straight his temp has consistently been between 97-98.1.  After only 6-7 hours unplugged from IV antibiotics, it was back to 99.7. This somewhat changes our hopes for a best case scenario, but we will know more tomorrow.... And after all, tomorrow is another day.

Even tonight- when there is no ice cream and only more gross-tasting contrast drink for breakfast- God is good.

Another few positives- we are close to the zoo... and since we got a family pass on "forced family fun day" we have taken Kayleigh to the zoo several times.  She wants to be an animal doctor.

Hannah was granted a $5,000 stipend for nursing school- Did you know that's what those car tags pay for?? Get the Nurses Touch Lives car tag!! :) 

And finally, our African Queen comes home from Kenya in 7 days!! We will be so glad to see Sarah!