Patience

Remember the song about having patience? "Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry. When you get inpatient, you always start to worry." Karla often sings this song to Drew when he is unsettled, usually when he's hungry. I now find myself hearing it in my head along with the line from the Tom Petty song, The Waiting, "The Waiting is the hardest part." This whole surgery on our baby thing has been tough. If the day of the surgery wasn't stressful enough, waiting as he heals has been hard. As previously mentioned, Drew isn't allowed to move too much (at all) which requires a constant dose of painkillers and sedatives. We want nothing more than for our son to be comfortable, but watching him receive these drugs is not fun. This isn't your usual baby tylenol or whiskey on the soother stuff.

Drew is healing nicely. His incision seems to be closing properly and the trachea tube is stable. His tube will be changed on Monday during which the channel (the hole in his neck) will be assessed after which he'll hopefully be weaned from his drugs. The next several weeks will include assessing Drew's ventilation needs, getting our care network and equipment organized and training on how to care for his needs. They don't teach tracheotomy and ventilator care at prenatal classes. A big gap, if you ask me.

As of now it looks like Drew will need 24 hour ventilator support. Pray that as he grows he will need less time on the ventilator. We are coming to grips with the major adjustment our life is facing. I wouldn't trade Drew for the world. He is awesome and the more I get to know him the more I love him (not sure how that works because I loved him more than imaginable from the first time I saw him).

After some indecision on the matter I have decided to include a picture of Drew as he is right now. My hope is that this helps guide you in praying for him.



Here's to looking forward to seeing our squirmy, kicking Drew again soon!

db