Believe In Good Things To Come

Well things seem a little more manageable today. Maybe it is because I was able to get 11 hours of sleep last night, but I think things are looking up. While I was sleeping Layne’s parents were able to take shifts over night to help. I am glad they did. We have found Layne does better and recovers better if someone is here with him at all times. We learned the hard way last time.

Yesterday morning when I got here they were able to get the pain under control. Before that though it was bad. He told me he wanted to die. He was able to rest for the afternoon while I was here with only a few twinges of pain. Just before 6 pm his pain started to change. It became more frequent and even though it was not near as bad I started to worry. I called the nurse in and we were able to get him an Ativan. It helps him relax a little bit when the pain comes. That seemed to make it a bit better and we also put a call into the anesthesiologist to have him reassessed. His mom came in and I left at around 7:30ish. His pain continued to get worse and Layne asked to go for a walk when his dad got here to help to try to get things moving, so the pain would go away. I think that in it’s self is a miracle. Layne didn’t walk after his last surgery until almost the end of day 2. He wasn’t even out from surgery for 24 hours before walking and walking with only 1 person this time. Last surgery he needed a lot of help for his first walk. After his walk his mom left and his dad stayed for the rest of the night. His pain continued to get worse and got to the point of screaming again and finally the anesthesiologist came in. They gave him a bolus for his epidural and increased the rate or it from 6ml/hr to 9 ml/hr. After that, that seemed to nip the pain in the butt and we haven’t really had any problems since.

First walk post surgery!

All the drugs make him nice and itchy. You can tell by the red around his eyes!

Shortly after getting his pain under control Layne pooped the bed (I got his permission to post that haha) He couldn’t get up quick enough to get to the toilet. Last surgery we were on day six post operation before he was able to have a bowel movement. This time again it was less than 24 hours. The surgery had worked because he is now having bowel movements where he hadn’t for 2 days before surgery. What a relief! His dad helped him to the toilet where he proceeded to pass out, thankfully his dad caught him and they just sat there and talked while the nurse took his vitals and Layne got to do some karaoke. I guess he started singing I’m A Dreamer by John Lennon at the top of his lungs. I wish I had been here to see it because let’s just say he is not the best singer! He was able to sleep the rest of night but had many hallucinations. He tells me he gets to go to his special place. Which consists of a gym that is white and there is AstroTurf. Everyone is a ball and he gets to be a red ball and all the balls make formations and when he went to bed he slept in an egg bed. He said he had the same dreams after the last surgery.

His mom came back this morning at 6:30. He says he just kind of in and out slept. When I got here at 1pm they were just getting him up to walk around again. He was able to walk to the end of the hall and back. We were able to have some good conversation this afternoon. He seems to be doing well, hardly any pain. He got up to go to the bathroom and I cornered him into the tub where I washed him down. I had to be careful not to get his back wet because of the epidural. He felt really good after getting cleaned up. He walked all the way around the unit and at a really good pace. He even walked from his bed to the bathroom without any help at all. Now I am sitting here watching him watch the baseball game and play on him phone.

Getting ready to go on a walk

Making our way back down the hall

Today is a good day. Layne seems to be doing really well. He is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was with the last surgery. They think they will take the NG tube out tomorrow morning and start him on a liquid diet. Thank you everyone for your fasting and prayers. They are working! We still have a long way to go but this is the first time I haven’t been feeling uneasy about everything that is going on. Jackie said the same thing. Tonight she told me she felt like a 100 lb weight has been lifted off her chest. Yesterday I was sitting in the hall having supper. I heard a family discussing how (it must have been their grandma) was opened up and she had a tumour in her colon but it had spread all along her colon and into all surrounding tissues and lymph nodes and because it was too embedded they had to close her back up. We truly are blessed that we are only dealing with this. Hopefully tonight things will go as well as today and we continue to move forward without any hiccups.

You know you feel better when...

Here's a picture of the boys on a walk with my mom. It was windy and my mom couldn't find a hat for Ty so she pulled out one of the props for her shows from her van for him to wear. So glad she is here to help watch and love them!

Here is a video my sister-in-law sent me. I have seen it before but it's always a good reminder that there are good things to come!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-05-12-good-things-to-come?lang=eng