Elijah Update (June 12)

Dear Friends,

So sorry to keep you waiting to hear how the surgery went on Saturday. I'll start off by telling you that the surgery was successful, and Elijah is now doing great.

Now to the play-by-play:

We are very thankful to God that immediately following the surgery Elijah was taken off of the respiratory vent. That is a big event and we are delighted that he didn't return with the vent. That was one of our biggest concerns.

We were very unhappy that Elijah's pain wasn't controlled better post op and immediately following his return to his room. He did an awful lot of crying over several hours and lost a lot of blood because of the pressure the crying caused. Everyone was concerned about giving him this strong pain reliever because we had just broken his addiction to it. Finally mid-afternoon Elijah was given the med, and he settled down for the rest of the day.

Sunday was much better and Elijah has improved each day. In fact he has only needed a squirt of Tylenol today.

The most fun and exciting news is that Elijah is bottle feeding again. He has eaten progressively more at each feeding, and today he started "asking" for his meal right on time. Such a great little boy.

We are so excited and thankful for the progress Elijah is making. We are so thankful that God is walking right alongside our little boy.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We continue to need them every day.

Joel, Judy and Elijah

Story:
Joel was walking through the "lobby" of PICU when a family asked, "How is she?"
Joel said: "I have a little boy."
Them: "Oh, WE were asking about our girl. We thought you were a doctor."
Joel: "You must be new to PICU."
Them: "Well, no.....we have been here 3 days."
Joel: "Yup, you are new."
Them: "How long have you been here?"
Joel: "Since March."
Then the group all went back to talking amongst themselves.