Dawn

A Post from your Daddy:

It was late Friday night/early Saturday morning four weeks ago that we took you to the emergency room and then to Doernbecher’s for your emergency surgery. There have been a lot of ups and downs since then which have been accompanied by a ton of prayers and sleepless nights by your family and friends. Today is the first day of a new year, 2011, and with it comes the rise of the sun for you in your health. Right before dawn is that time of day that seems the darkest. It’s when our bodies seem to be the most tired and unwilling to awake. Dawn is that time of day when you start to see the light of the sun peeking over the horizon. It signifies a new day, a new beginning, and a new start to whatever you’re working through in life. Today is your dawn…so it is only fitting that today be 1/1/2011, the first day of the new year.

There are several reasons today is your “dawn.” First, you finally made it 24 hours without a fever. This is a first since coming to the hospital. Keep in mind that a fever by the doctor’s and nurse’s definition is 101.5 degrees. So, your body temperature is finally starting to drop back into the “close to normal” range. Second, you have finally started to eat and not need to be tube fed as much. For the past few weeks since the doctors stopped feeding you intravenously, you have been fed thru a small tube that goes up your nose, down your throat, and directly into your stomach. We have tried to get you to eat food, but you haven’t shown hardly any interest at all. So, Mommy and Daddy have been ordering you just about everything on the hospital patient menu to see what you’d be interested in. Today, we found out you were getting your appetite back and had pancakes (6 bites) and eggs (5 bites). You also drank grape juice (2 ounces) and a smoothie drink called “Naked”…something else that just kind of fits for you since you like to not have clothes on whenever possible. And third, when the surgeons came to see you this morning the head surgeon looked at you and said, “Whoa! You look a lot better, William! Good job getting better!” You are getting better, a little bit each day.

There have been a lot of people praying for you and sending you good wishes, Little Man. The support your family and you have received from friends and family, people from church and work, wonderful neighbors and even people we don’t know has been astounding. As your daddy types this blog post out his eyes are filling with tears knowing and remembering how dark the night seemed to be at times, how much despair and pain we went through together, and how close we came to losing you in this life…on too many occasions. What a joy it is to see you getting stronger, smiling, and turning back into the little boy that we have always loved so much.

Keep eating, drinking, and filling that ostomy bag up (that’s nasty stuff you make by the way – way worse than a diaper, but it’s like precious gold to us because it means your insides are working). Keep fighting to get better. Keep receiving the prayers and warm wishes people have offered for you, your nurses and doctors, and for your family. And, know forever that it’s because of those prayers, and the tender mercies of your Father in Heaven, that you are getting better. We’ve seen far too many miracles in our hospital and operating rooms these past four weeks to doubt that.

Your Daddy loves you Will…today, tomorrow, and forever. Sleep well tonight and know that today was your “dawn” and that the road ahead will continue to get brighter.