The Recovery

The next 4 days were spent entertaining a 3 year old while he was couped up in the hospital.  Jeremy drove down as soon as he got word that Jase was going to have surgery and he arrived a little later Sunday afternoon. Between having a little boy in the hospital and a newborn at home we were constantly juggling back and forth between my parent's house and being with Jase at all times. 

Jeremy stayed until Wednesday, then the demands of work got too stressful and he felt he had to head back. It was a huge help having him there because he spent most of the time with Jase. The poor guy even  slept at the hospital for the three nights he was there. Thankfully the hospital is geared towards kids and they had quite a bit of things for them to do. I think Jase watched Toy Story 3 at least twice (sometimes three times) a day and mastered Angry Birds on the iPad.

On Monday the nurses said Jase needed to get up and walk around to help get things moving inside him. It was quite painful for him to get up, but once the Morfin would kick in and he had a chance to sleep in off a little bit he would feel pretty good. 

He loved the playroom and became especially fond of a Batman action figure that he loved being  reunited with every time he got to go. Kylie also enjoyed Jase's time there!! He's definitely a boy through and through though because he would have nothing to do with any kind of craft projects they had going on!

After Jeremy had been there most of the day  I would switch him off and to give him a chance to eat and rest and spend time with the girls before his night shift would start again. 

We had a good time walking, or rather, riding the halls. We learned later that we could take him off the floor and even outside just as long as we didn't leave the campus. 

Jase's big brown eyes and "amazing three year old hair" was the talk of the floor. The nurses and doctors thought he was the cutest things ever. He was so laid back and easy going and seemed to take everything as they came. 

Grandma thought it would be fun to have little Nerf guns that he could use to shoot the nurses when they came to his room. Of course he loved that idea and would take them with him when he walked the halls. Everyone soon learned he was the boy with the guns. He especially caught the attention of the floor's security guard who loved having wars with him. Jase would have his Nerf guns and Mark the security guard would have syringes full of water. Those two became quite the buddies and before Mark left on his last of his three day shift he hunted Jase down and said good-bye to him. 

We were warned by the surgeon that probably a couple days into recovery we would have a "train wreck day" where he would start to become pretty restless and annoyed from being there and as they were also trying to cut back on the pain meds. That day for us hit Wednesday. Jeremy gave him a sponge bath that morning which he wasn't fond of and that's when Jase really got a good look at his incisions and he was NOT happy!!

Jase asked Jeremy what they were and Jeremy told him that is where they went into his belly to fix his tummy ache. Jase made it very clear right then that he didn't want to be fixed! Or more specially he didn't want anymore scars. I think mostly he just didn't want them to hurt.

Also, Wednesday marked a whole week from when he had actually been able to eat something and keep it down and I think he was anxious to eat again. Monday and Tuesday he was only able to have 1 oz of ice chips every three hours, but by Wednesday they wanted to start him on liquids. The boy is a big time drinker so he was stoked to finally get something to drink!  But what he really wanted was Macaroni and Cheese and all morning that was all he asked/whined for.  

Jeremy left mid afternoon on Wednesday and then it was Grandma's turn to hang out. She was the very funnest of all. 

She took him for rides all over the hospital on his IV stand they names George. They also visited a super fun train display and watched the waterfalls by the front door.

Grandma was also the witness of him eating his first meal. They first tried Jello and then a few hours later he got his Mac & Cheese!!

His NG tube had fallen out Tuesday night when I was with him. He had just gotten done having a water fight with Mark and I think the water must have loosed the tape on the tube causing it to slip. We were in using the bathroom and he was complaining that he had a booger so I told him I would help him wipe it as soon as he was done. I put him back on his bed and I turned around for one second to  grab a tissue and all the sudden he starts crying, I look over and the NG tube is sitting in his lap.  I panicked for a split second thinking they were going to have to put it back in, but thankfully since he had been off suction for the whole day anyway and he had tolerated it well, they were planning to take it out anyway.

I spent the night with him on Wednesday night and for sure by Thursday he was ready to come home.
The requirements to leave were, he had to be able to eat and tolerate solid foods and pass gas and both he was doing like a champ!

While we were waiting for the surgeon to give us the final OK to leave we wandered the halls and found ourselves a room with an air hockey table. We played that for a good long time, but what he had been really dying to do was..

 crawl through this tunnel. He had had his eye on it for quite sometime, but since he was hooked up to his IV he couldn't go though it. It was the last we did has we left the hospital that day.

We were so grateful to finally be back at Grandma and Grandpa's house! I was grateful to finally be able to be with all the kids at the exact same time!

I can not even begin to explain how appreciative I was for all the help we had. Everyone had to sacrifice one way to another to help us out this week and I couldn't be more grateful. I am so glad this happened in AZ where we had a ton of family to help as we shuffled kids and baby milk back and forth and all around. We have also had an overwhelming response from friends and ward members back at home. We've had meals offered and people mowing our lawn for us. We've had millions of phone calls and text messages asking how Jase is doing and wondering what they can do to help. I'm not one that responds well to whole bunch of attention or help, but I am truly grateful for the love people have shown us. Once again I am learning to let people serve and to just be grateful for it.

Jase was such a sweet little boy while he was there and I am so grateful to have my happy healthy little guy is back with his infectious smile and bright eyes. I love that boy like crazy!!!