A good day.

Ok, so maybe not all of it was great, but overall it’s been a pretty good day!

After I posted last night, I left to go home and Elijah was sleeping peacefully. That didn’t last for long and I got a text from Julia after getting home telling me that they have given him a dose of dilaudid to ease his pain and put him to sleep quickly. It did just that. The rest of the night he slept well. He had to be woken up occasionally to be given his medicines, but all in all it was a good night and Julia slept pretty well also.

This morning when I showed up, he was wide awake and chipper. That was a good sign but often happens after he’s had his medicine. After a while of just hanging out, eating breakfast, and playing, his physical therapist and occupational therapist showed up to talk to us and to put him in his wheelchair. They asked if he’d like to go to the playroom just down the hall and he said yes.

We took him there and we worked on a craft for a few minutes but he started complaining about pain and discomfort so we didn’t last too long in the playroom. He was about due for some more pain medicine anyway, so we came back to our room and put him back into his bed.

The roughest part of the day was when they had to take out his epidural. It was fastened to his back with loads of tape to ensure it stayed in place. But that tape doesn’t come off easy and with all that peach fuzz on his back it didn’t feel good coming off. They used some adhesive remover to try to make it better but it was still a slow and rather painful process. He also experiencd some pain when they pulled out the epidural tube as well which seemed rather uncommon but not dangerous.

Then, he got his pain medicine and it didn’t take too long for him to start feeling better. We thought he would go to sleep rather quickly because of the type of medicine they gave him but it actually just seem to wake him up more. His Aunt Jennifer and cousin Leah came to visit him and he chatted with them and played with one of his new building sets. He’s still over there playing with it and talking with me as I type this out.

At some point earlier in the day we got to exchange our wheelchair. The one the company had originally sent us was not the right one that he needed so we brought that wheelchair here and they did an exchange for us and got us the correct wheelchair. It’s kind of like going from a Honda Civic to a Cadillac. It will take up more room and be heavier, but it will work much better for him so we are glad about that. Though because this one is a different size the custom cushions that Julie made for his last one won’t work. Sorry Julie!

We are also starting to figure out what we’re going to need to take care of him at home and ensuring that we have those things ordered or provided to us. It’s a bit more than we expected, and we keep finding out new things each day, but I feel like we’re starting to get a grasp of what it will be like.

His nemesis is his hip abductor pillow that holds his legs in place. His legs are basically strapped to it and he has been in it since his surgery. He’ll have to use it a lot for at least the next few weeks, which I know he’ll be frustrated with. But usually when he’s feeling good, he can deal with it. When he’s not feeling good, it may feel his wrath…in words anyways.

But again, it’s been a good day today. And he just got a new Lego set that should keep him busy for a while.

Thank you God for a good day! Thank you all for your prayers. Thanks to those who have come to visit or are planning to visit. Thanks to those who have sent presents, brought snacks, read this blog, sent an encouraging word, or anything else. We thank you, and we hope that we can show you all how much we appreciate you.

Talk to you later.