Our Young Jedi Knight Prevails!

Well, after a week-long stay in the hospital, we are finally settling in at home again.  It's been a very busy couple of days and I'm just now getting a chance to write.

As you may already know, Wednesday Caleb had the NG tube inserted to help try to relieve the bowel obstruction. He pulled the tube out after about 4 hours. We had it reinserted on Thursday morning. He kept it in most of the day, but pulled it back out again after dinner. Since we were still waiting for a "poonami" to happen, it was reinserted Friday morning. This time he said that he would keep it in until they were ready to pull it out.  We were ready to try just about anything non-surgical to help get that blockage moving. Caleb had an appointment with the hospital's massage therapist & she performed a "poop massage," which is basically an intestinal massage designed to help move stuff through the intestines. Caleb says, "This is fun and important, too.!"  Such wisdom from such a small boy.

He was such a trooper through the entire ordeal. By late Friday night, his little bottom was blistered and bleeding so much he would scream every time we had to change him. We actually had to start giving him morphine for the pain on his bottom more often than the pain in his head!

He had a horrible night Friday night, because the tube was still inserted & they were still pushing meds into him to make him go even more. Even after over 2 litres of the medicine, the blockage still had not moved very much. He was awake every hour to be changed to help his bottom. They even made some special ointment called "ICU Butt Paste" to put on him. It was so hard to see him in so much pain and know we had to keep going.

Saturday morning he decided he was done with the tube & pulled it out again. We had an x-ray done to see if the blockage had moved any -- only a tad. We did discover that things were getting around the blockage. (I won't go into details other than to say that the doctors have been able to confirm that Jell-o has no blood in it.)

Saturday morning was also the "BIG DAY" with the fight against Darth Vader.  We had the following family members come in to witness the fight and spend some time with Caleb:  Grandma Kitty, Grandpop Andy, Uncle Andy, Aunt Deanna, cousin Jordyn, Aunt Darlene, G-ma Kay, Pawpaw Ron, Uncle Bernie, Aunt Jennifer, cousin Emmanuel, & Uncle David. The room was packed with family. We had so many people taking pictures & video of us that we felt like we were surrounded by the paparazzi! I actually heard someone ask who made the shirt I was wearing.

We went to the family lounge shortly after 10 a.m. The Star Wars gang arrived around 10:30 a.m. Caleb was so excited. He'd been practicing from his bed for 2 days prior.  After introductions & instructions, the fight began.   During the match we began chanting, "Team Caleb, Team Caleb!" Even the stormtroopers were chanting with us. Caleb fought valiantly and Vader was no match for him.  Caleb prevailed!! When the fight was over, Caleb was able to take pictures with everyone. They presented him with a medal for besting Darth Vader, a t-shirt, several autographed trading cards in a collector binder, a stuffed Yoda (that was bigger than the stuffed Vader he'd received earlier that morning [thanks, Aunt Karen]), a certificate making him an honorary Stormtrooper & some other items.

I'm still working on editing the video so it's short enough to post on YouTube. As soon as it's complete, I'll put it in a separate post,  but I've at least posted a group picture below for now.

He was exhausted by the time we left & went back to the room. While he was napping, we got word that we were being discharged! So, we packed everything up so that we could leave as soon as we spoke to the doctors. The entire family entourage helped pack things up & followed us home. We had a wonderful evening visiting with family & Caleb held out as long as he could.

Aunt Dar, Uncle Bernie, Aunt Jennifer & Emmanuel are staying with us for a few days to help out & we are so very thankful to have them here.

I have so much more to write, but don't want to take away from Saturday's fun, so I'll write the rest up in another post.

Love, hugs & kisses to all from us.
Angel

P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment. Please remember to put your name & a location if possible. Caleb has been enjoying hearing how many people all over the world are praying for him.