Christopher's "new birthday"

Christopher's birthday was actually on April 9th, but April 26th was kind of like a "new birthday".  April 26th will forever be remembered as the day he started his "new life" with real food.  On April 26th his feeding tubes were removed and God's miracle healing was complete.  Christopher will have a great testimony to share with the world!

For the first time in his life Christopher got to see what he looked like without feeding tubes.  He had never seen his stomach without the two plastic protrusions who had been with him ever since he could remember.  It felt weird.  It felt strange.  It felt vulnerable.  His instinct was to protect them with all the care that a mother gives a newborn baby.  His feeding tubes had become a part of him, and now it seemed so peculiar as his eyes  focused on the small holes where his feeding tubes once resided.

Look, Mom!  No more tubes!

It wasn't a feeling of regret or longing to put them back in.  It was more of a feeling of curiosity and wonder, and it represented the confirmation, the completion, of the miracle that God had done in him.  The words, "their out", echoed through his mind as a wide smile played across his face, and his eyes absorbed the image of his new physique. 

Satisfied with the medical procedure that he had so precisely executed, Christopher could think of nothing else but... LUNCH!  After all, it was nearly 2:00 PM, and he hadn't eaten since breakfast.  The bowl of cereal and banana that he had eaten were long gone.  Teenage boys are notorious for consuming the contents of their parents' refrigerator every few hours or so, and Christopher was no different.  It was time to celebrate and "refill his tank". 

Christopher's favorite local restaurant serves Chinese food, so he left the hospital with his two friends to test the limits of his new abdomen.  He gave it the "true test".  After four plates of Chinese food, his appetite was satisfied, but the gauze dressing that protected his G-tube was bulging with liquid.  The leakage had been fairly significant, but interestingly enough it was just liquid, no solid food. 

Coban is awesome!

We met back at home where I was prepared with a large supply of gauze, absorbent pads, and Coban.  Christopher removed the now soaked dressing and cleaned the holes.  The leaking had stopped, but the skin around the holes was already showing the results of sensitive skin meeting tape.  In order to avoid a tape infection, we applied antibiotic ointment to the effected areas and redressed them with gauze and Coban.  Coban is the "Velcro" of the medical world.  It is a stretchy, brown material that is self adhering.  You can use it to wrap wounds, and it sticks to itself.  No tape needed!  It is an ingenious product that has endless applications.

His new best friend for leaks.

The plan for the rest of the day was REST and RELAXATION. Christopher found a comfortable spot on the couch where he could lay on his back to reduce the chance of further leakage.  He filled the remainder of his day with movies and video games.  There's just nothing like a good movie to busy the mind while the body heals itself, and Christopher's body didn't waste any time repairing the holes from the feeding tubes that had sustained him for the last 17 years.   

This is how he spent his day, flat on his back.

It was astonishing how quickly those holes started to close!  You could actually see how they were closing from the inside out, but Christopher didn't want to risk a repeat of the leakage that he had experienced at lunch.  He decided to skip dinner, stay flat on his back, and let his body do its' job.

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can pray like this:

More tomorrow...