Today was the big day. Caden had a surgery called a cricopharyngeal myotomy. This surgery was preformed to divide (cut) the muscle that causes the UES (Upper Esophageal Sphincter) to squeeze closed. In Caden’s case the muscle has never relaxed enough to allow for him to pass food, drink, or even his own saliva into his esophagus. That is what has required him to have every single meal of his five years of life via a feeding tube. Once this surgery heals for a couple of weeks we I will take Caden in for a MBS (Modified Barium Swallow). Sherry being pregnant will not be able to be in the room with all of the radiation. The expected results should show that Caden is ready to learn to swallow. At that point we will begin to arrange for advance feeding and swallowing therapy. I am not 100% sure we will be able to get what we need locally so stay tuned for what the next step will be.
Lots of Blood and a Sedated Echo Cardiogram
While Caden was out for the surgery today the doctors pulled about 20 tubes of blood for his immunology workup and the MUSC pediatric cardiology team slide in for an echo cardiogram. They like for kids to be as still as possible and most five year olds can’t or won’t stay still long enough. They forget that Caden demonstrates very good self control for medical procedures.
I will give a shameless plug here for the lessons in Growing Kids God’s Way and other teachings by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo that have taught us that parents have a much harder time with training things like self control than do the children. The kids will come along the way if parents have the conviction and dedication to maintain consistent character training. The cardiologist at MUSC obviously don’t meet enough kids whose parents have the conviction and dedication that I am talking about. None of our kids including Caden have perfect self control and never will, but we stay the course and strive to rise above the level of mediocrity as taught by Joey and Carla Link of Mom’s Notes.
Prayer Requests and Praises
Praises:
- Surgery completed as expected without complication
- Caden is fever free
- Grandparents and Nana
- Friends who visit and/or lift our family up in prayer
Requests for Caden and our family:
- Rapid healing
- Remain free of infection
- Comfort and free of pain
- Understanding and compassion from Riley and JJ
- Healthy and rested Daddy and especially Mommy
- Continued health of Baby Ozz 0.4 (we do not know the gender)