Tabitha's Day

Heath and Tabitha left for Cincinnati yesterday afternoon.  They made it fine, with a fairly uneventful drive.  It's been weird not having them here!  I mean, usually I go away with the kids and leave Heath home.  It's strange being left behind, and not having the two of them here!

Today Tabitha had her cloacalgram.  This is a procedure under anesthesia that puts contrast solution into her and makes a 3D picture of everything inside.  That way when they do the surgery on Monday, they'll know exactly where they're going.  The procedure went fine, but Heath took a beating when she woke up afterward!  She woke up pretty fast after the anesthesia and, even though she was conscious, wasn't all "with it."  She was quite upset and flailing around, managing to leave some good claw marks on Heath.  After a bit she calmed down and was fine after that.

The rest of the day was OK for them, except for the after-effects of all that contrast enema coming out, and not necessarily when and where it should!  I have to say I'm not sorry I missed that part!  My husband is amazing and handles all that kind of stuff much better than I do.

The boys and I went to the zoo with some friends today.  When we got home we got to talk to Heath and Tabitha on Skype and actually see them!  I may be behind the times, but I thought that was really amazing!  Tomorrow Tabitha doesn't have anything going on, so Heath's going to take her to the zoo there.  I hope they enjoy their day because Sunday starts life at the hospital.

For anyone praying for us, here are some specific requests:

safe travel to/from Ohio

wisdom and skill for the doctors

no need for a colostomy (Depending on what they find during surgery, she may need this temporarily.)

an outcome that leads to eventual bowel control  (She currently has no ability for bowel control. With surgery her chances are 50/50.)

pain management during recovery (the surgery is extensive, and I imagine healing will be quite painful for awhile)

the hospital stay (She'll stay up to 10 days in the hospital afterward, and only be fed by a picc line, which I'm sure she won't like.  Also, I imagine it'll get boring being stuck there that long!)

peace for her and for us

anything else I'm forgetting that we should be praying for!

Please thank God with us too:

We have excellent insurance and they agreed to cover this, even though it's out of network.

We were able to get in now, instead of waiting until late summer like we originally thought we'd have to.

That we even found the Colorectal Center, which is probably the best place in the world for handling her conditions!

Tabitha's a tough little cookie and has come through all her other procedures very well.

I'm also very thankful for living in this time in history.  Not only do we have medical procedures that can accomplish amazing things, not only are we able to learn from people we've never met because of the internet, not only can we easily travel across several states to get Tabitha the help she needs, but we can even SEE and talk to each other while we're apart.  As much as I often say I'd love to have lived in an earlier, simpler time, there are definite benefits to living in the 21st century!