1 Week Post-Surgery

   It has been a busy and exciting week post-surgery! While we were at the hospital, a very dear family came to town for the week-the O'neil family! My sister Natalie, brother-in-law Josh, and their four children (plus one on the way) drove from Georgia to help Hailey take care of us this past week and cheer up Joel, which made coming home from the hospital even more exciting for him and for us! Another big highlight of coming home from the hospital was seeing Joel's face light up in a huge grin when he saw Michayla! I am so thankful that these sweet siblings have each other and for the love they share!

   This boy has been playing, sight-seeing, walking around outside, and eating good foods this week! I am so thankful to be able to report that Joel seemed back to his normal self quicker than with any previous surgery so far! Within two days, he was eating normal meals again and back to a regular nap schedule. And within a few minutes of being home, he wanted to get down on the floor and play with his toys and cousins. Joel and I ended up accompanying everyone else on many outings they had, including a trolley ride and adventure downtown Dallas to the Dallas Museum of Arts, church on Sunday, evening park trip and fun at the Children's Aquarium of Dallas, We are amazed at the patience and joy God has blessed this little guy with!

   In the midst of the fun, there has also been frustration and exhaustion as well as we expected. We still see these fingers/toes surgeries as harder and more uncomfortable for Joel than the skull surgery, although we really dislike both! He is just now at 8 days post-surgery pretty much weaned off of all pain medications, with a dose of Motrin here or there as needed. The limitations of being in casts are not easy for Joel! We are his legs, walking him around to the many places he wants to go, and we are his hands, feeding, reaching and holding things for him. His waking hours are full of many desires and demands! He and we will be so happy when he has his legs back to scoot around by himself, and his hands back to hold and grab things by himself! He is much heavier than he was 7 plus months ago! We joke that he thinks we are his horses-a little kick of his legs and thrust of his body lets us know which direction he wants us to take him. His sleeping hours aren't quite as restful as normal either-sleeping in casts for him is still not the easiest thing. He wakes up often at night and is up for the day earlier than normal. We are thankful that the casts will only stay on two weeks this time! A week from today, he will be cast-free! Having one hand cast-free, wrapped up in Coban instead, has been a help. He can bend that one arm and has very obviously favored his left hand this past week and used it as much as he can to accomplish what he wants. His thumb (although swollen and unable to bend right now) and tips of his fingers are peaking out of the bandage allowing him to feel his hair and mouth and push buttons on toys. All things considered, he has been very good-natured and happy despite the circumstances! 

   What a whirlwind of a year! We are so relieved and excited to be on the other side of the first set of surgeries Joel needed to go through! Hopefully Joel will have a good break for years with no surgeries. We are so thankful for our families, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ who have loved us and supported us throughout this time. It has been a year of transitions and starting over once more in many ways. We have no doubt that this is where the Lord has wanted us, using these circumstances to work on our characters and increase our faith. I hope we have learned something this year! We feel like we are in a new stage now and looking ahead to what the next step is for us as a family now that this first goal has been reached. Please keep us in your prayers as we recuperate from so much activity and seek the Lord as to where He wants us and what He wants us to be doing. 

 

On the way home from the hospital

So excited to be home and arrive to his sweet sister, cousins, aunts and uncle

Trolley ride downtown Dallas 

Cousins on the trolley

Museum of Arts Dallas, Day 4 after surgery

Playing outside with cousins, Day 5 after surgery

Lots of children, lots of fun!

Children's Aquarium in Dallas, Day 6 after surgery

Boy cousins

Nadia, Joel's oldest cousin (on my side of the family) is such a sweetheart to him!

I love my boy!

Special times with Aunt Natalie

Kisses for Abuela, 1 week after surgery