A few answers to prayer

Jenson's MRI was scheduled for either 7:30am or noon (since it was a work-in appt it would depend on how things looked). Sydney and I get up early. I go to get dressed and am reminded of her sweet little voice yesterday telling me to wear a dress for Jenson because he's really sick and he really likes it when I wear dresses, so I put on another dress today too. I drop Syd at pre-school early today so I can get to the hospital for the MRI.

I check with Doug (aka Mr Night Shift) for the update. They put that long tube down his nose to his stomach and he ripped it out twice. It was in no more than a couple hours, but did seem to get some of the air and bile out during it's short lived stay. They also gave him a high dose of steroids to reduce the inflamation from his disease in his GI tract hoping that this will work quickly and allow the poop blockage to move.

Outside of that "Nothing" happened according to Doug. This is good and bad. No poop even after the suppository but there also was no vomit and no fevers. Jenson is not sitting up at all yet but isn't moaning all the time like yesterday. That is at least a small step in the right direction.

I walk in and our oncologist is in the room. Our time for the MRI is going to be noon and there haven't been any cancellations yet so they can do the MRI and CT scan (which is scheduled for Wed) together, so it's looking like he's going to have to go under anethesia today and tomorrow also for the CT scan. We're obviously not happy at all about this. It seems crazy, but our doctor has talked to everyone she knows and so have others and no change. Bummer.

She also says she's thinking a big part of why he's probably feeling a little bit better than yesterday is that the steroids are working to make his bowel less constricted, and that she does hear movement in his belly (yesterday that had stopped). She's also asked a doctor from surgery to come up and take a look and talk to us about the poop issue.

He arrives in our room and seems very knowledgable. We give him all of Jenson's history. "Wow. He's been through a lot," he says. Yes indeed. We ask about the tube down his nose and whether it needs to be put back in. He says, "That tube feels nasty and some of my patients can't stand having it, so I'm not surprised he ripped it out. As long as he's feeling better, no vomitting, and his belly is less distended than yesterday, we don't need to put it back down. I also don't think we'll need to do surgery to remove the poop as we believe it's starting to move likely due to the steroids. Any other questions for me?"

I say "You don't happen to have any strings you can pull with the radiology department do you, because we're really not happy about having to have him put under twice... once today and again tomorrow. That seems crazy and high risk given his situation." He replies, "You shouldn't have to do that. I can make some calls" and proceeds to get on the phone immediately. I hear him talking to our oncologist and she says, "It's actually not radiology now, it's anethesia." He says, "They need to figure it out."

He comes back in about 10 minutes later with our oncologist and says they've scheduled the MRI, CT scan, and bone marrow sample (think I forgot to mention yesterday in the update that they need to check his bone marrow for LCH histio cells too) all tomorrow at 11:00am. Finally, an answer to this prayer.

Our oncologist later tells me, "He can pull strings I can't pull given he's the Chief Medical Officer for this hospital. He also does surgeries, so that was why I thought to get him up here." The Chief Medical Officer... likely the only person at the hospital who can make this happen... is the one who is in our room as I'm expressing our frustration. Definitely not how I thought this prayer would be answered, but VERY happy about it. Thankful for that little "God wink".

So now our big prayer for poop is still looming out there. Strange prayer request, but it does make you realize how much we take for granted simple blessings like bodily functions working properly.

He actually drinks milk today... the first time in several days... which we've spiked with Miralax to help with the poop issue. Still no poop. He also gets another suppository.

Then it comes, and comes, and comes. Another prayers is beginning to be answered. They've told us this is going to take a while because his system is so backed up. When I leave to put Sydney to bed, he's still pooping. Yippy! We just pray the big blockage part will come out too as the evening progresses. Even though getting the poop blockage out won't help with the pain he has from his disease raging, it will definitely help with other pain he's experiencing.

So, the steroids (which are normally used in conjuction with another chemo medicine but are right now being given by themself) seem to be helping. We now need the balance of the poop to clear, as he can't get chemo which will constipate him more until it's out.

The final step is the results of the MRI, CT scan, and bone marrow test tomorrow so we know how widespread the disease has grown to and which of the more aggressive chemo paths we should chose. Please God let it have progressed no further than the skin, GI, and bones. Please no vital organs.

Kristin