Shabbat has Come!

Shabbat is a time of rest and introspection. It is a day that the father has set aside to meet with his children, and this Shabbat he is meeting with us. Yesterday, we were discharged from Lebohneur Hospital in Memphis after just only three days of recovery for Tzadok. His recovery has been amazing and I'm sorry that I haven't had time to update the blog in the last several days, but it has been a whirlwind of emotion for us. Tzadok went into surgery Tues. morning at 8 A.M. That was the most difficult thing Rachel and I have ever had to do in our entire lives. The surgery took about five hours. Wow, five hours. I remember pacing the waiting room and with each hour that passed the knots in my stomach grew worse almost to the point of being sick. Rachel also experienced this same feeling, and I still get those feeling when I think back at those moments. Who couldn't? We were updated every hour of the process. Call #1 Dr. Klimo has made the incision and the surgery has begun. Call #2 His vitals are stable and he is doing well. Call #3 Dr. Klimo has made visual contact with the tumor and is beginning to drain the cyst. Call #4 Dr. Klimo is very pleased with what he saw, and is closing the incision now. The fifth call never came and instead Dr. Klimo met us in the waiting room to let us know that Tzadok was doing great and he was on the sixth floor, which was the Neuro ICU area. Neuro ICU, words I thought I would never say.

Everyone we talked to that day and since has said if their child was facing a similar diagnosis that there was no one better than Dr. Klimo. I would agree. I am happy that the father led us to St. Jude and ultimately to Dr. Klimo. He was meticulous with the surgery and he even has specific instructions for the gauze covering the incision, which is better than some Neurosurgeons we've heard of. Its the little things that sometimes make the difference.

Back to the actual recovery, the first night after surgery was a sleepless night filled with IV's, morphine, and swelling; however, Tzadok did well drinking some liquids and sleeping for the most part. Day two was a little different. Tzadok was taken off of the IV's because he was drinking even better and even attempting a bite or two of food, which meant that we had to manage his pain differently than the morphine because it ran through the IV. So we tried a Tylenol lortab mix, which equaled mistake. He became irritable and couldn't stand the taste of the medicine so we had to regain his trust. He was also in a drug induced fog where he wouldn't eat or drink. That night he was put back on the IV's and the morphine, which was another trying time for him and for us. After that night, we regained his trust by letting him stick his finger in the medicine before tasting it and we also stopped all pain medicine except for the Tylenol, which was a good move as long as we kept the medicine in him every four hours. The next day was simply watching my boy recover. He started eating again, continued to drink, and we were in awe as the Father shrunk the swelling. He has done so well that we have been discharged from the hospital after only three days. Three days! That is also supposed to be the worst day of recovery, but we were released on the third day. How amazing is our Father!?  It is Shabbat now and I'm about to head to Nashville and pick up our boys for a long awaited reunion another Sabbath blessing. The first leg of our journey is almost over and  your prayers and support have aided us so much, but the second journey is about to begin. However, today we will focus on rest, recovery, and family for tomorrow has cares and worries of it's own.