How long is this going to take?

It's difficult to remember a time when Christopher's abdomen wasn't full of scars and feeding tubes.  He was only two weeks old when he had his very first surgery.  The only real pictures I have of him when he was still in his original, newborn, pristine condition were taken at the hospital and at home in those first few days.   

Christopher and his feeding tube buddies

For as long as I can remember Christopher came with his tell-tale feeding tubes protruding out from underneath his t-shirt.  They became a part of him.  Christopher had two arms, two legs, and two feeding tubes.  They started out as artificial, plastic invaders, but soon they became necessary and welcome friends.  Where Christopher went, his feeding tubes went along for the ride.  He would run, jump, and slide without a thought to the possible consequences of such antics.   Christopher was a "normal," active little boy.  His job was to play and explore.  Our job was to work feverishly to protect his feeding tubes from coming out while trying to create some sense of a normal childhood for our son.  It was a delicate balance. 

2 arms, 2 legs, 2 feeding tubes

It took 16 long years, but now Christopher's t-shirt was "bump free."  Christopher had taken the feeding tubes out on  April 26, 2012, and now his t-shirt lay nice and flat against his abdomen.  The early spring blooms of April were celebrating the early summer sunshine of late May.  Almost a whole month had gone by, and the vacant holes left by the feeding tubes were still leaking like a dripping faucet.  Frustration was growing with each drip.  Time was not on our side.  With each day it was becoming increasingly obvious that the only answer to this problem involved anesthesia and a scalpel.

Spring blooms

Christopher would be out of school for the summer in a couple of weeks.  We decided that it would be best to wait until summer vacation to schedule the surgery since the procedure would require a hospital stay and several weeks to completely heal.  With great reluctance, I dialed the surgeon's office.  The cheery receptionist answered the phone, and we scheduled the surgery for June 28, 2012.  The surgeon would need to see him a couple of days before the operation to go over the details of the surgery, so we scheduled an office visit for June 26, 2012.  I hung up the phone trying to convince myself that I would end up cancelling these appointments in the end.

Celebrate the 4th of July!

All that was left to do now was pray that surgery was NOT a part of God's plan.  We had one month for things to turn around.  Hopefully leaking holes in May would become dry, healed holes in June.  We were trying to remain optimistic that Christopher would never have to be wheeled in on that gurney into the operating room.  Surely the holes would be healed before then.  Surely no cuts or stitches would be required.  Surely we would be celebrating the 4th of July with hamburgers, fireworks, and NO LEAKS!


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

More tomorrow...