I'm not on the computer as much when I'm at my son's house. They have dial up and it's as slow as molasses in January. Also, I'm caring for his home and the dog and kids. The kids are 14, 7 and 4 months. My husband is working on one of our rental units and comes home for supper and the night. Thank goodness he takes Eliana to school and picks her up at 4. I hate the thought of dragging a baby out twice a day in this cold and on these country roads.
Anyway, the doctors removed the stomach tube yesterday. It supposedly was removing the fluids that are constantly in his stomach. The idea was to keep it pumped out so he wouldn't have anything to throw up. Well he did anyway. In the meantime the stupid tube was in his nose and taped to his face. When he talked he sounded nasal from the tube. It was hard to clean his nose with the tube there. And he hated it because it was constantly in the way and pulling at him. So Dawn asked the doctor what it was accomplishing and he agreed that maybe it wasn't doing anything. And if the vomiting became a lot worse, they can always put the tube back.
Oddly enough, they thought the kidney was threatened by the tumor and it might be but right now the kidney seems to be functioning just fine. His counts are good except for blood platelets. There seems to be some internal bleeding but they have no idea what from. The tumor was giving off fluids in the abdominal cavity and causing severe distention so they put in a drain with a valve so they can draw it off whenever they want. It's been averaging about 12 ounces a day. But he is sooooo much more peaceful now. He has that button that he can push when he has pain and asks his mom when he needs it. He talked to Eliana on the phone last night and was happy to hear the kids would be coming down to visit. HE wanted his big fire engine brought to the hospital so Daddy took it.
The other evening, Dawn was laying on his bed beside him and he started to fuss because his tummy hurt. She encouraged him to "Push the button" and he did. It wasn't long and he felt better. Dawn had a few moments of tears and usually she/they try very hard to not cry in front of him. He realized she was crying and asked her if she was. She said she was. He asked her why. She told him it made her sad to know his tummy hurt. He said, "Mommy, you shouldn't cry, you should be happy. I am happy." Hard to imagine he can be happy in his situation.
So basically, nothing new. The funeral arrangements have been pretty much made with the funeral director and the pastor of their church so that is all taken care of. The local funeral home is charging only about a third of what he would charge for an adult. This funeral is going to be quite different from the typical one I suspect. Kevin doesn't want it to be about death and hopelessness. It is to be the recognition of Braeden's healing and graduation from this earth. Kevin has made up a 4 minute video of him to play at the funeral. There is a guy at their church who has a wonderful singing voice. He has consented to sing "There will be a day" at the funeral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iopO_jQ2yLk&feature=related I suspect Kevin won't even wear a suit to the funeral. I don't think he owns one. He got fed up with that kind of dress when he was a kid and I tried to dress him like an old man for church.
