The Procedure

I'll begin by thanking everyone for their thoughts and prayers for Stella's endoscopy and colonoscopy today.  They are much appreciated and felt.  However, please continue them as we are now playing a lovely round of The Waiting Game until test results come back, hopefully sometime next Tuesday.

But before I begin to fill you in, let me back up a bit so you get the whole picture of the goings on in Drosche Land for the past 2 days.  

Wednesday morning, 12:00 am.  Jackson wakes us up.  He's sick, throwing up.  Great.  Seriously?  Seriously.  He's also running fever.  Crap.

Amy has one last day of meetings on Wednesday so I am home with the kids again.  Wednesday is also the day we have to begin prepping Stella for her procedure.  But now Jackson is ill.  He spends the bulk of the day on a couch watching TV or playing on the iPad.  Totally uncharacteristic of Jackson.  To be still.  To be quiet.  Well, for longer than 30 seconds that is.  Braeden isn't doing so well either; he's super whiny and is also complaining of his head hurting.  Seriously?  Seriously.  Crap.

Per the doctor's orders Stella's last meal is lunch.  Now, this little girl loves to eat.  LOVES it.  So Amy and I are filled with trepidation about this from the get go.  However, that would prove to be the least of our worries.  This next part gets a little graphic so I'll spare you the gory details but trust me, you'll get the picture.

Amy comes home and we begin Stella on the prep (read: colon cleanse) for her procedures.  However, it isn't working as easily as we thought it would.  After a few doses she begins to refuse the bottle of juice/Miralax mixture because she's literally stuffed.  It's around this time that Jack begins throwing up again.  Yeah, seriously.

Calls in to the nurse relieve our fears, slightly.  Give the routine a break and then try again.  Check.  We do that and eventually it begins to work.  We stay near diapers and wipes for the rest of the evening.  Meanwhile, Jackson is continuing to be ill randomly throughout the night.  Lovely huh?  They don't tell you about these things when you're signing up to be a parent, do they?  

Long story short we all turn in at around 9:00 pm as we are all exhausted.  The boys on the floor in our room; Jackson due to the illness and Braeden due to the codependence and unwillingness to sleep in his room alone.  Whatevs, let's just all get some sleep.

Jackson is awake off and on all night long, throwing up more.  Stella wakes at 2:00 (yes dear readers, that's a.m.!)  She's hungry.  She's tired.  She's cranky.  She's tired of the results of the cleanse.  

My amazing wife manages to handle everything with fatigued grace and asks me to take over at 4:00 a.m. so she can grab an hour of sleep before heading to the hospital.  Check.

Our original plan was to take the boys with us to the hospital so we could be together.  Yeah, we should have known it wouldn't work but we thought we'd try.  As it turns out they don't let young siblings in, no shock.  Add to that the fact that Jackson is battling some wicked virus and there is no way they can go.  So I stay home with them while Amy braves it alone.  She texts me off and on while there to keep me in the look and to stay occupied.  I stay occupied with vacuuming, dishes, laundry, and Netflix.  

I'll pause here to briefly comment on my wife.  She is amazing.  There is something about being a mother that is completely different from fatherhood.  Amy is a natural.  I don't know how she does it but she does it.  All the time.  She survived and managed to make it through Stella's rough awakening from the anesthesia.

The results?  Well, we don't know much actually.  We know it's not ulcers.  We know there was a lot of mucus in her esophagus/intestines which could be due to mastocytosis.  We know her number of mast cells was elevated but still within "normal" range.  We know they took several biopsies whilst (cool word alert!) on their journey of Stella's GI tract.  That is what we are waiting on.  The pathology results from the aforementioned biopsies.  They will give us a definite answer of what is going on.  Mastocytosis?  Some allergic reaction?  Whatever it is, we will find out.  

So, we wait.  Ugh, more waiting.  It's never fun and it's never easy.  But here we are again.  HE is always working on us (me especially) on waiting.  HE is also working on reminding us that we are not in charge and HE has everything under control.  So Amy and I are focusing on that.  That and, as my wise wife put it, our beautiful perfect daughter.  Who, despite what the test results may bring to light, will always remain that way.

Once again, thanks.  Keep it up, and thanks.  On a happier note, now that Amy is finished with school and meetings, summer can officially begin!  We are very much looking forward to relaxation and family time.  It is much needed after the past 2 days.  Oh, and Jackson is doing better today (thank goodness).  Stella is doing well also but spending a lot of time resting, as we were told to expect.  So things may be, should be, hopefully will be returning to normal shortly!  That is, until the next adventure!

All is well, waiting, in Drosche Land.