Ohio: day four

My Facebook post indicated that I would be writing this update yesterday, however the fatigue leading up to the end of this week has been setting in with a vengeance.  As promised, here is the breakdown of yesterday...just a tad bit late.

The day started off much of the same.  Alex stayed with Cale so my mom and I headed to the hospital bright and early.

As a side note I would just like to brag on myself for a moment if I could.  The hospital is about a fifteen minute drive from our hotel and I am now able to navigate our way there without the use of Miss Garmin.  Men are such great navigators but women often get the short end of the stick and I feel as though I've proven myself this week.  Ha!

We arrived to find Alex a bit under the weather.  I couldn't tell if he was tired from the lack of a good nights rest or if he was coming down with some sort of bug.  Either way he didn't look very good and I could tell he felt it, too.  We were very shortly taken downstairs to begin the first test of the day.  This test was looking for how quickly Cale's stomach emptied a meal.  Of all the tests Cale has been subject to this week this should have been the most easy.  For whatever reason, though, Cale was terrified to lay down under the x-ray machine.  Terrified may even be an understatement because his screams were so piercing that they hurt my ears.   The techs strapped him down and he screamed during the entire three minutes he was required to lay there.  Cale had to do this a total of three times throughout the day and even though he got a little more comfortable with each test his screams were still shrill.

After the first test Alex was feeling so bad that he decided to head back to the hotel to get some rest.  I got a text from him when he reached the room informing me that he had made it back just in time to get sick.  Great.  My first thought was please don't let this stomach bug hit the rest of us and then I quickly prayed that Alex would get to feeling better very soon so that he could join us back at the hospital for the rest of the day.  I hated that he didn't feel well but selfishly I needed him there, both for another set of hands to help with Cale and Cash and also for emotional support.  I've found that the stress of being in a hospital can either wear down spouses to the point of anger, impatience, and bitterness towards each other, or it can bring them together and remind each other how thankful they are to be married.  I'd like to think Alex and I fall into the latter category.  I can't imagine doing this alone and I am so grateful that I have Alex to be my partner during such trying times.

Meanwhile, the sun was shining for the first time since we arrived in Columbus and so we decided to take advantage of it.  With Alex back at the hotel my mom and I bundled up Cale and Cash and got ready to go for a walk.  With Cale's IV pole, a stroller and a wagon, our crew made quite the display.  The nurses outside of Cale's room raised some eyebrows but we were determined to get out of that hospital room no matter what!  We charged right through and made it outside.  It was quite a challenge to navigate all of us off curbs and across streets but we soon realized that the greater the challenge the more we had reason to laugh at ourselves.  My mom and I spent the majority of our twenty minute walk giggling at how silly we must have looked.  Cale enjoyed the sunshine, we got to breathe a little fresh air, and Cash slept through it all.  I'd call that a success!

After returning to our room we hunkered down to wait for Cale's final scheduled test.  This test was looking at the anatomy of his esophagus and stomach to make sure they were formed correctly.  He was required to drink liquid barium while laying down underneath the x-ray machine and based on how he had done with the previous x-rays, we knew this test was not going to be easy.  Like predicted, Cale started screaming as soon as he saw the machine.  My mom stepped out of the room with Cash and the techs just looked at me while I tried to calm Cale down so that he could drink enough of the barium to get a good picture.  In between Cale's screaming and my pleas, Alex magically appeared beside me and together we were able to talk Cale through the rest of the test.

Alex seemed to be feeling better after getting some rest and I immediately thanked the Lord for answering my prayer.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon sitting impatiently around Cale's hospital room as we had been promised that the doctors were going to stop by to go over the results of all his tests.  Around 4:30 the two doctors in charge of Cale's care entered our room.  The lead doctor asked to sit down and she immediately started going over the results.  She started off by telling us that Cale's motility is "normal" and I have to admit that I was immediately deflated upon hearing that word.  She better have something better than that to report!  But then she followed up with her findings of what's NOT normal!  Here's what they found wrong in Cale's hurting body:

• During a 24 hour period Cale refluxed acid 240 times.  A normal person should only reflux 10 times during that same amount of time.  
• Cale has a severe hiatal hernia which basically means that part of his stomach is being squeezed above his diaphragm.  Cale's hernia is so severe that over 1/3 of his stomach is basically sitting in his chest.  
• The part of Cale's stomach that is sitting about his diaphragm is basically acting like a pool for the acid to sit in, which is why the antacid medicine he takes daily has not been effective.

I cannot even begin to put into words what a relief it was to hear these words.  Finally, Cale's pain and discomfort is justified!  He vomits because his stomach is basically squeezed into his esophagus.  He's in so much pain because acid is pooling in his stomach.  He throws up blood because the acid is eating away at the lining.  We have causes for all of Cale's miserable symptoms and it feels absolutely wonderful to finally know what's been behind all of this.  I started crying tears of pure joy as the doctor was wrapping up and I told her that I wished I could give her a great big hug.  She stood up, held open her arms and told me that hugging was okay.

I will very quickly go over what we will do to fix all of the problems listed above.  Cale will have surgery to repair the hernia.  They will basically tie a rubber band around the top of his stomach to prevent any part of it from "ballooning" above his diaphragm again.  He will then have a G-tube put in which is a direct line into his stomach.  He will be "fed" through this tube while he recovers from surgery and we will decide later when and if to remove it.  The doctor said that if it were her child she would have the surgery performed right away so as soon as Monday rolls around we will start making phone calls to get recommendations for the most qualified surgeons in our area.  I can't even imagine a Cale free of pain.  It will be like having a whole different child...a happier child!  And if you know Cale and know how happy he already is, this will be like a happy Cale on steroids...I can't wait!!!

I will try and wrap up a final post about our trip later but this one is long enough and it's time for bed.  Again, thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and especially for Cale.  I've seen God at work through this entire trip and I've even been able to look back at the last four years and see how God has woven those into this last week, so thank you.  A million times, THANK YOU!