Almost a week.

Can you believe it’s been almost a week since Elijah had surgery?

Tomorrow will be one week, and I have to say it’s gone by rather quickly. I do think that our time at home may move a little more slowly, but as I mentioned we’re trying to do things to fill the time and make it fun so hopefully it doesn’t drag too much for Elijah.

He slept pretty well last night, though he was definitely a little more restless. Both times when I gave him his medicine during the night, he was moving around a bit more and didn’t seem to be sleeping as heavily. This morning when we went in to get him, he kept talking about waking up and not wanting to stay in bed so long because he wasn’t sleeping well. I’m not sure how accurate that is because he was in fact sleeping and is still on strong pain medicine which can make him a little bit cloudy at times, but he did seem to have a little more trouble as far as we could see.

We’ve had a steady stream of visitors and gifts, and many people had given gifts beforehand, so we have a stockpile of gifts waiting for Elijah. We thought it would work best to space these out and give them to him throughout his recovery rather than all at once. So, if you have sent us gifts, just know that he’ll get them and we’ll make sure you get your proper thanks as well. We decided to let him open a couple gifts this morning, and we picked a couple from the Finley family. He loved them!

After that we got a surprise visit from his Aunt Jennifer who brought him a special tray that he can use to work on projects or hold food or whatever we need it to. It worked great at rest time when he wanted to build his new Lego set in bed.

On a similar note I had ordered a table for him, not necessarily as a present but just something that we could use. We move him between different seats throughout the day and it’s not always easy to do things like eating or working on projects depending on where he’s at. For example his wheelchair doesn’t fit under the kitchen table, so we would set something flat on his lap and then set the food in his lap. Or if we wanted to seat him out by the TV, we put him in a chair that Grandma and Grandpa Rice let us borrow, but it’s too wide for most TV trays to fit and we didn’t have anything to use there either. after doing a little research and looking around I decided to buy a smaller 4×2 foot folding table that is height adjustable. I had done some measuring and figured out that it had perfect heights for both his wheelchair and the chair in the living room. So now whichever chair he’s in, we can set up the table in front of him and he can use that to eat or work on whatever. We’ve only had it since this afternoon but it’s working great so far.

Mentally and emotionally I’d say it’s been a pretty good day for him. He got those gifts which made him excited and we went to Grandma and Grandpa Rice’s shop for a bit which got us out of the house. The one thing we did notice a bit more today, is that he’s getting a little bit more antsy with his situation. This morning I saw him lifting himself up in his wheelchair but also pushing himself up with his heels. I’m not sure exactly how much weight he had on his legs or if the foam pillow was bearing most of the weight but it definitely scared me a bit because it looked like he was putting weight on his legs, which is obviously a no-no. Then just a few minutes ago, I walked by him and I see him peeling back the bandages on his legs. These bandages are supposed to stay on as long as possible, and here he is peeling them from the corners trying to either see or get at whatever’s underneath. Breaking that seal and opening it up definitely isn’t ideal and like most tape, once you peel it up, it doesn’t stick as well the second time around. So I’m not sure how much longer these bandages will make it before we have to replace them. The hospital sent us home with some extra bandages, so it’s not a huge deal but still we don’t want to mess anything up or cause any more issues. We had a talk with him both times about what he’s not supposed to do and why it’s important that he doesn’t do those things. I think he understands, but I know it’s much easier said than done. If I was him I would be just as antsy and I don’t fault him for doing any of the things he’s doing.

I stopped by some thrift stores earlier today and found a shower chair, so tonight we’re going to try giving him a shower for the first time. We’ll see how that goes. I have to imagine it’ll be better than a sponge bath but it might be a bit harder.

We’re just finishing up eating our dinner which was provided to us by our family friends Dennis and Kathy, and it was delicious. Thank you both so much for that and for the wonderful gifts you brought the kids.

Tomorrow we’re planning our first trip to a store. We’re planning on going to Sam’s Club to pick up a couple things and also because they have extremely wide aisles and not too many customers, so Elijah should be able to wheel himself around a bit and we can push him around as well without having to worry too much about getting in people’s way or navigating small spaces. And again it’ll just be something to break up the day and pass some time.

I just want to say a final thank you to all of you who are following this blog and for all of the positive words and encouragement we’ve been getting about our situation and the blog itself. I’m glad to see that it’s been helpful and keeping everyone informed of what’s going on and how Elijah is doing. I’ll keep it up and hope you stick with us as well. We also appreciate the continued prayers and support from everyone. Thank you all. We love you!