First day in the hospital

This morning we took Luie for breakfast with his
whole family. His dad, step-dad, step-mom, all his siblings and I. Today he was to be in the hospital by noon to get ready for surgery tomorrow. He's been a trooper, even when they put the tube down his nose. (He's covering it in the picture) The tube feeds him this clear liquid, that cleans out his intestines to prep him for surgery. This will be an interesting night. I was worried about the 6 hour surgery and how was I going to get through the anxiety of it. I asked the docs if I can be put under for the 6 hours. But with this liquid stuff that they are giving him, he will be going to the bathroom all night and will need my help. So I see myself sleeping for those 6 hours of surgery. Solves that problem. Luie is supposed to be here 5-7 days after the surgery so he will be home with his Dad and family for Christmas. I have faith in the Lord that he will be in that operating room, that he will be guiding the surgeons hands over my son. The Lord brought us to this and he will get us through it. I have faith in that. Amen. They've told us that his surgery is scheduled for 9:30am so we are excited that we don't have to wait all day like we were told. Well we will update tomorrow.






A Little History
My son has been sick for the last year
and a half. He was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, (a disease of the intestine, specifically the large intestine or colon, that includes characteristic ulcers, or open sores, in the colon)
after his first flare happened in May of 2008. His symptoms started with abdominal pain, blood in his stool and diarrhea. About 2 weeks after his 12th birthday. He was hospitalized with dehydration and anemia, and after so many test, and speculations of what he might have, and hours of Internet research, he was diagnosed with UC, as we call it. They put him on prednisone, a steroid that controls the swelling, and Asacol, 6 tablets a day he would take for the rest of his life. He went home about 5 days later, with a food restriction he was not happy with at all. In July while we were in Disney world he flared again. We came home and went straight to the emergency room. He was hospitalized again. His UC was controlled and 5 days later he went home. He was doing well eating whatever he wanted and with no symptoms. Taking his medications as directed, we even got him one of those little pill boxes to make sure he didn't forget to take his pills and I can keep track. January 27 we ended up in the hospital again. His blood count was extremely low. Oddly enough he had not lost much blood that we'd noticed and his energy level was high until that week. They started with the same routine, the prednisone and IV and it wasn't working. They had to up the dose and give him a transfusion because his blood levels were still going down. He was improving, so they sent him home only to end up in the hospital again, 3 weeks later after having had a colonoscopy done. At that point it was decided that the Asacol was not working so they put him on the next med, 6MP. It takes 3 - 6 months for that med to work so he had to be put on prednisone for 3 months again. At the end of 3 months he flared so they left him on the prednisone for 3 more months. He flared again. 6MP didn't work. The doctors decided to put him on the next medication, remacaid. A med I was not comfortable with it since it can cause cancer. 4 weeks after being on remacaid, he flared again. He should have been healthy for at least 6 weeks. Remecaid was not working either. Luie was hospitalized in November and it was time to consider surgery. We left the hospital after 5 days again, this time with some serious thinking. Luie's dad, step-dad, step-mom and I all discussed it, Luie too, and decided this would be the best thing for him. December 14th they will preform the first of three surgeries. In surgery 1 they remove his large intestine. In surgery 2 they create a J pouch out of his small intestine, and in surgery 3 they attach the J pouch to his exit. The second surgery is done 3 months after the first and the 3rd, 6 weeks after the second. Our goal is he be done by the time he gets to high school.