My Happy Little Family

Day 10 - There's no place like faux home...

Well here we are at day 10 and I am sitting at my work desk staring out at a stormy sky thanking God that my ENTIRE family is asleep all around me.  Isaac got discharged from the hospital last night around 7:30pm and we are so very thankful for that!! For any of you not familiar with this surgery coming home has it's own stress.  It's a good happy stress because he's outta that place but it's the "Home Care Scramble" as I like to refer to it. LOTS AND LOTS of meds and schedules. LANTIS and TUBE FEEDS AND BOWEL MEDS - OH MY!!  He is on 24 hour tube feeding until the doc gives us the green light to start on clear liquids.  This doc is very set in his ways about tube feeding strictly for weeks and then proceeding to food but as we've seen with Tasia, doing things differently has great outcomes. So please pray with us that he will have an open heart to let Isaac start eating soon, as he is ravenous!

I was up with the birds this morning trying to get some work done so that I can take Isaac to his first clinic appointment. I work remotely from a laptop while away from CO - and yes I work for a really awesome company!! Technology is my friend and I am so very thankful that I have the type of job that is able to be done by email, webcams, ipads etc.  God has blessed us in EVERY area. Shout out to my co-workers that read this... Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

I will wrap this up now and give you a more detailed report of what is going on later today.  I love you all and thank you for your prayers!

How do ya like Hipster Dorothy?

I'm diggin' it!

XOXO,

Jillian

Update

Isaac is doing very well. He says that he most definitely feels as though he's had 4 organs removed but so far his pain has been kept pretty well controlled and his blood sugar has been stellar. On a pain scale from 0-10 he seems to hang out between a 4-6 range. Not too bad considering. He's been up and walking and is impressing the medical staff at how quickly he's recovering as well as how well his pain is controlled. He's still very weak but gaining strength daily. He currently has a J-tube for tube feeding and a G-tube for drainage. This surgeon is not open to him eating anytime soon which is very different than what we experienced with Tasia. I choose to trust his expertise and pray for the wisdom of Heaven to be given to him so that he will do the best thing for Isaac, even if it's not his normal protocol. We have been very blessed so far with great nurses and staff - we all know how nice that is.

The crazy thing to all of this is that the doctors here kept telling me since March not to expect Isaac to have as good of a recovery as Tasia. They said it just wouldn't happen. But I never lost hope that what God would do for one he would do for another and boy is that the case. So far Isaac not only is doing as good as Ta' but he's actually had an easier time!! His pain has been better managed and he's been able to move around easier!!

God is just so good to us!

I am so relieved to have the most stressful part behind us and start moving on to our future. I want to say the biggest thank you to our amazing employers who have been SO amazing to us through all of this. The Chief even flew all the way from CO yesterday just to see Isaac and check on him. How amazing is that?! My work,as well, has been so supportive and I just cannot say enough about what a great company I work for.

Well I will close for now and update as I know more. Please pray for a good night for Isaac tonight - one of little pain and lots of sleep.

XOXO,
Jillian

Dear Isaac,

I know you won't read this for quite a while but I had to let you know how absolutely amazing I think you are. Your bravery is beyond measure and your heart is gold. The fact that your first words out of surgery were to tell the staff to relay a message of your love for us was so beautiful. It's just like you to think of us before yourself even after such a major surgery! It's just so like you and yet after all these years your love still amazes me. The fact that you smile at your nurses and call them sir and ma'am is a prime example of the type of man you are. The type of man I admire so greatly. I loved that as soon as you saw me you made a joke and said "The ceiling is dripping yellow" because it made me know instantly that you were okay. You still are full of that humor I fell in love with. Even your surgeon commented and said what an awesome, beautiful man you are. The fact is, you are beautiful and your heart shows in everything you do - even through surgery. I'm still so amazed that you don't have pancreatitis. Its jaw dropping to me. I just can't even believe it.

I get to have you for the rest of my life!!!

I didn't know if we would ever grow old together. I didn't know if you would see your children get married someday or see your grandchildren play at your feet. We have such a beautiful gift - A new chance at a beautiful life together. I can't think of a better day for all of this to happen than today - 14 years to the day after you came into my life. And today I get you again but this time for good! I love today! I love you! I love God for giving you back to me!!!

XOXO,
BabyDoll

Our prayer - Surgery Day is tomorrow

Tomorrow is surgery day. Pre-Op starts at 5:30am and surgery begins at 7am and will last anywhere from 10-14 hours. Thank you all for your fervent prayers.

We are praying for a smooth surgery with no complications, that his pancreas and any other organs being removed come out easily with very little bleeding. We pray for a high yield of islet cells even when the medical team is telling us not to get our hopes up - we have our hope set on the Greater One. We pray that the islets graft well! We ask that God would be guiding the surgeons hands and that every move that he and his team would be led with the wisdom of Heaven. We pray for sweet sleep for the whole surgical team so that they will be well rested to do their best surgery yet. We pray that the pain and nausea would be quickly controlled and that our family would have a peace that passes understanding through it all.

Thanks be unto God who always causes us to triumph through Christ Jesus!

Day 2

Today was a day filled to the brim with appointments. The kids and I were planning on staying at the hotel but the surgeon decided to not give us an exact appointment time so the I ended having the kids at the clinic for 5 HOURS! They were absolutely amazing though. I'm so blessed to have such good children. Finally around 1 o'clock appointments were done so we decided to end the day with some tummy yummies. We went to 5 Guys Burgers for the first time and it was delightful. Mmmmm!!! Isaac only has a few meals left before he's done with food for an extended period and so we wanted to eat something delicious - and boy was it ever!!!

Currently Isaac is snuggled up with the kids watching a movie. I am trying to drink in the last moments of "normal" we will have for a couple months.

I will update via the blog as I have time throughout the surgery and recovery. If you'd like more frequent updates then please feel free to friend me on FB and Instagram.

Loves to you all. Thank you for your prayers and support.

XOXO,
Jillian