15 Years After "I Do"...and why I wouldn't marry that guy again

Today, June 26, is our 15th wedding anniversary.  We were so young. 

Now we're....well, not so young!   Why wouldn't I marry that guy again?  He doesn't exist anymore.  We've both changed a lot since our wedding, especially since becoming parents.  And to be completely honest, we've changed a lot more since Eli's diagnosis.

With our wedding vows we promised to love each other through sickness and health.  We didn't know that meant the sickness and health of our children.  We didn't know we'd have to hand over our child multiple times for major and minor surgeries and wonder if we'd see him alive again. 

For eight years of marriage we enjoyed each other's company, traveled, and moved back to our hometown.  We also helped the other through our own personal health issues; he helped me deal with eye problems that involved a lot of steroids and I helped him through kidney stones.  Shortly after we moved back to Washington, we stood together by my father as he took his last breaths.  A few short months later we did the same thing with Bryan's grandfather. 

We got to surprise our families with the news that we would be giving both sides their first grandchild.  Bryan was at most of the appointments and in the delivery room with me. We hadn't agreed on a name until we were holding our son for the first time.  We looked at each other and one of us said, "He's our Zachary."  No doubt, it was the perfect name for him.  And he's perfect for us. 

Two and a half years later we surprised our family again with news that Zachary was going to be a big brother.  Again, Bryan was with me through almost all the appointments and in the delivery room.  My favorite moment was when he brought Zachary in to meet his newborn sibling.  We didn't find out the gender with either pregnancy so Zachary was the first to know he had a baby brother.  Upon seeing Eli swaddled in my arms, Zachary said "He's so cute and tiny!"  Again, another baby who was perfect for us. 

A few weeks later we were both sucker punched by a small woman in St. Mary's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.  She (who has to have one of the toughest jobs in the world when it comes to stuff like this) had to tell us something was wrong with our newborn's heart.  She drew us pictures.  After we discussed what had to immediately be discussed and she left the room, we sat in silence, staring at our sleeping baby.  We couldn't speak.  We didn't have to speak because we had each other. A few hours later we watched Eli being loaded onto a helicopter.  I couldn't have spent those hours with anyone else.  No one else understood what it felt like.  Only Bryan. 

The guy I married that day wouldn't have been able to look at his child on a ventilator with his chest open.  He couldn't have known he'd be tested on putting tubes down his small son's nose into his stomach for food.  He didn't know he'd have to choose between staying in a hospital room on an uncomfortable couch with beeping machinery or staying away from that hospital for days at a time to spend quality time with Zachary and return to work so we'd have insurance for Eli.  As much as we love spending time with Zachary, I don't know how Bryan stayed away.  I couldn't have, but I'm grateful he did.  He stepped up and provided for us.  And still does.

The guy I married that day wouldn't have gotten up multiple times a night to add formula to Eli's feeding.  He wouldn't have taken Zachary fishing and spent time making sure Z knows he's every bit as important to us as Eli is.  Okay, he might have done those things, but not out of the love he does now.  Now we understand how a simple evening spent on the couch with the four of us reading stories and watching movies can be the best time of our life.  The guy I married couldn't have helped me through a physically and emotionally painful miscarriage last summer that not many knew about.  Together we got through that.  Together we got through being told Eli had multiple strokes and may not wake up.  Incidentally, our lost baby was due fifteen days after Eli's stroke (which was also my dad's birthday).  Emotions were high.

The guy I married that day in 1999 doesn't interest me anymore.  I've found someone better.  Someone I have even more in common with.  Someone who is in love with the person I am now.  Someone who has earned to be loved for the devotion he has shown to me and our family.  No, I wouldn't marry that good looking guy who stood up there with me on our wedding day.  I've found someone better.  Happy Anniversary, Bryan.  I can't even begin to guess what the next fifteen years holds for us but I know we'll get through it together. 

Thick or Thin?

Eli's swallow study was great!  The therapist performing the test was the same one who did his last one at St. Mary's.  It was nice to see her again and for her to see Eli!  Even better than that, I love when there's continuity of care for him because he's such an overall complex kiddo. 

In typical Eli fashion, he fussed a little at first, but then he cooperated wonderfully.  He started by eating apples covered in powdered barium (who wouldn't love that?) and drank nectar thickened juice and milk each mixed with barium.  Those went well, as we expected.  Next the therapist tried plain, non-thickened Gatorade also mixed with barium (barium is what makes his swallow visible on xray).  As we watched the xray in real time, no issues were noted. 

After he was done, the therapist went through each picture and video in slow motion to look for any signs of aspiration.  She saw none :)  Because Eli has a persistent cough right now related to allergies and the virus he tested positive for last week, she recommended we wait to start him on thin liquids.  You know when you "swallow wrong" and it "goes down the wrong pipe?"  What do you do?  You automatically cough.  That's one sign of aspiration.  If he already has a cough then we won't know if he's coughing just because he has a cough or because he's aspirating. 

So, technically Eli is cleared to have thin liquids!  We'll just wait a while after his cough goes away to actually take away the nectar thickened liquids.  She did say we could go ahead and give him jello, ice cream, or popsicles which are all things he's not been allowed because of their thin liquid consistency when they melt. 

After we finished with his test we visited the Peds unit.  Even though Eli was only a patient there for 16 days, he became very famous.  Even now when we visit, staff we didn't meet will come out and say, "Oh, this is the Eli everyone talks about!"  We got to see many familiar faces which is always nice.  One of his Occupational Therapists knew he was coming and had asked staff to call her when Eli got there so she could visit.  Eli had fun showing off how well he could run up and down the hall.  He also showed a little work with his left hand.  He had a great game of "toss things I shouldn't because I can get away with it now since I'm so cute and mom won't make me stop with a crowd of admirers."  And, yes, he even invaded the nurses station and tried to use the computers and make phone calls. 

Zachary has been busy the past two evenings with his first Vacation Bible School.  We've wanted to sign him up in years past but the dates never worked out with whatever we had going on.  This week he's going to Our Lady of Hope's camp (at Washington Catholic) and he is loving it.  Next week he is signed up to go to the one at Bethel United Methodist.  We asked him several times if he really wanted to do both and he was adamant that's what he wanted.  However, when I asked him one night he did say he was worried about something.  I asked what and he said, "What if I get confused going to two church schools?"  I was very impressed with his question, as it was coming from a six year old!  I just told him that the point of both was to go and learn about God and Jesus while having a good time making new friends.  Then I told him it's like when Mommy and Daddy each teach him something, but we do it differently from each other.  Like tying his shoes.  We each do it a little differently and told him to chose what works best for him.  I told him going to two bible schools was like that; he can learn from both and use it how he likes.  He liked that answer and asked if there was a third bible school to go to this summer!  I told him two was enough!

It was a busy day and Eli and I capped it off with a stop at Krispy Kreme.  No, it's not the healthiest choice, but darn they're good!  And I'm proud of myself because I've only had one as I type this update (plus the two I ate on the way home!).  Hopefully the boys sleep well tonight and Eli's pump doesn't give me any trouble because this momma is tired!  Eli has therapy first thing in the morning and the nights go very quickly around here!

Thank you for the prayers for a good test today.  Eli cooperated well and we got good results.  He does still have a lot of work to do in therapy, but his progress since the strokes is absolutely amazing.  God is good!

The Preliminary Results....

We don't have the final culture results in, but the preliminary reports show no signs of growth!!!  That's the negative we were praying/begging/pleading to get :)  Thank you for all the prayers and expressions of concern.  We've had many texts, private messages, and comments in the last few days asking how Eli's doing and if we have any results.  Thank you! 

If you remember, when we went to Dr. Amy's last Friday (the morning after the fever started & we had cultures drawn) she said Eli's right ear was red.  Sadly, that news excited us very much.  We were hopeful it was just simply an ear infection but with Eli's history we couldn't be sure.  He was started on an antibiotic which he is currently still taking.  Since then, he hasn't had a temperature over 99.5, in fact it's usually 97 or 98.  And, no, I don't take his temperature all the time!  It's not even daily.  Eli has had issues with allergies (as does EVERYONE these days!) although I'm beginning to think he's got more of a head cold than allergies right now.  His nose has been very runny over the past several days and he has a nasty sounding cough throughout the day and especially at night.  The cough sounds like a drainage cough and his lungs sound very clear throughout so I'm not concerned that it's anything more serious at this point.  We're continuing his antibiotic as well as allergy medicine and the occasional dose of Dimetapp as needed for his congestion. 

Eli's still crankier than usual at times and very clingy, but honestly I can't blame all that on being ill.  He's been that way since his last discharge and being sick seems to have exacerbated it some.  You know, like three-year-olds can be!  Right now he and Zachary are dancing to a video in the living room while playing dinosaurs.  I love that my boys can multi-task!  They also made me place a box in the kitchen so they can put important things in it that we will need for vacation (which is still a month away!).  Heaven knows we can't go on vacation without microwave popcorn, special DVDs, and Zachary's binoculars!!!

Again, thank you for the prayers, concern, and support.  More prayers that he gets over this ear infection and head cold are appreciated as well as for the final culture results to be negative. Unfortunately because of Eli's history we will never be comfortable with any fever he has until we prove it's not caused by staph, so this may happen a lot.  Hopefully not for a long time because we desperately need some peaceful moments around here.  Although experiences like this once again make us realize how fortunate we are to have each other and appreciate Every Little Beat...




UPDATE:  About an hour after posting this we got a call from the doctor's office.  The final culture report is in and it is NEGATIVE.  You may begin your happy dance now, we did!

We Need Negative

Early one morning last week Eli had a temperature of 100.6.  He was seen by our family doc later that morning and of course by then his temperature was normal!  The exam was normal and Eli was acting better so we just chalked it up to a short lived viral issue.  He went home, played, ate, etc in his normal fashion.  Until Thursday evening.  I thought he felt warm when he got up from his nap.  Since he had just been asleep under a blanket I waited to take his temp.  When I did take it, it was over 100.  I waited another hour and it had jumped to 101.5.

Because of his severe history with staph aureus, we have orders to get blood cultures drawn on Eli if he a) has any temperatures over 101 or b) prior to any antibiotic administration for any other illness such as ear infection or strep throat.  Our fear is not the fever itself.  It's actually nice to know that his body reacts normally and can fight infection.  The temperatures he had weren't that high either.  Normally (as a mom and a nurse) I don't treat most temperatures unless they're over 101.  Our fear with Eli having a fever is wondering what caused it?  When he had his fourth heart surgery to remove infected hardware, the surgeon was unable to remove one of the leads from Eli's pacemaker.  Some of those other leads tested positive for staph aureus.  Since then, we've lived in fear of a recurrence of staph.  If a total of twenty weeks' of antibiotic therapy in the last year haven't gotten rid of it, what will? 

So, off to the hospital we went.  Eli was again a brave little boy who had to get stuck not once but twice for blood cultures.  Two samples have to be drawn from separate sites so we can ensure one positive result isn't due to a contaminate.  This time, in addition to the blood draws he also had nasal swabs done (yes, two again) to test for a variety of viral ailments.  He tolerated both of these things very well.  There were lots of tears but he didn't fight.  That's what bothers me the most; no three year old should be so used to needles, blood draws, and swabs that he doesn't put up a physical fight.  After he was done and collected his prizes from the toy box we came home. 

We were finally able to give him some Tylenol to help bring down his fever which was hovering above 101.  He requested popcorn and even though it was waaayyy past bedtime, the four of us snuggled in bed as we watched the Reds and ate popcorn.  Eventually he fell asleep in our bed.  Bryan and Zachary slept downstairs and I stayed with Eli.  Dr. Amy wanted to examine him in he office in the morning and I thought I'd stay up and start packing in case we were looking at an admission in the near future.  But I didn't.  Instead I stared at him a lot.  I slept some.  And I prayed a lot.  How many parents can say they've begged God for their children to be diagnosed with an ear infection?  Or strep throat?  Or even pneumonia?  Yes, those things are still dangerous for Eli because of his heart condition, but not as dangerous as a recurrence of staph could be. 

Eli still had some fever through the night but by mid morning when we were at Dr. Amy's his temperature was normal.  She didn't have any results from his tests drawn the night before as those take 48 hours to complete.  Her exam did show that Eli's right eardrum was red and puffy.  That was a relief to hear.  A partial relief anyway.  We still won't rest easy until we hear that his blood cultures come back negative.  They have to come back negative. 

We're not ready to be so serious again.  Eli's strokes were only four months ago.  We've only been home from the hospital for two months.  Zachary just finished kindergarten one week ago.  Eli and I missed half of Zachary's kindergarten year because of being in the hospital.  Wednesday we were making a list of things to do this summer.  We're just starting to have fun.  Just hours before Eli's fever started Thursday, Bryan finalized plans for our summer vacation.  Eli's first real family vacation ever.  These are the issues that our family will always face.  Even when things are going well, we can never rest easy.  Congenital heart defects complicate every detail of our lives. 

Since Eli's ear did show some reason for concern, he was started on an antibiotic.  He took a good nap and had some playtime with Zachary.  Zachary had a baseball game tonight.  Eli knew Z had a game and started getting ready right along with his big brother.  He had on his baseball cap and kept asking for his shoes.  We constantly have to make decisions about whether or not Eli will go places with us.  We have to balance keeping him away from unsafe/unhealthy situations with allowing him to have normal experiences.  It's difficult.  Tonight as I was forming my opinion on whether or not he'd go, I hated the reason I decided he should go.  If his cultures are positive he'll be back in the hospital for an unknown amount of time.  And we don't know what could happen.  As a CHD family we always hope for the best but have to acknowledge the worst.  Eli went to his brother's game.  We were early and the boys chased each other on the freshly raked field.  I looked at their footprints in the infield dirt and loved that, for the moment, theirs were the only ones.  Hearing their shrieks and laughter as they ran around confirmed we made the right decision by bringing Eli.  Some may not understand that.  Some may think the best decision would be to keep him home, away from crowds and germs.  For us, it was right to bring him. 

I'm sorry I haven't updated this blog often.  Our family life is more than a full time job.  And I've had to make real efforts to take better care of myself so I can somewhat keep up with the demands.  There are so many moments, pictures, and stories I want to share here, for all of you and for us. 

Eli is sleeping beside me in our bed again as I type this.  He's such a perfect mixture of sweet, feisty, innocent, stubborn, and cuddly.   He doesn't have any fever now, but as I wrote before, the fever doesn't scare me.  Please pray that his cultures are negative.  We need negative.  Please, just let it be negative and leave my baby alone.  It's going to be a long weekend for us. 

Fontan-iversary

I've been playing with Eli this morning and reflecting on the past year.  His Fontan (third open heart surgery) was one year ago today.  One year ago today the waiting room at St. Vincent's Hospital was dotted with colorful tshirts that read "Eli's MVPs".  The town of Washington was dotted the same way.  Eli's FB page was filled with photos of people wearing their shirts in a show of support for Eli.  We also received innumerable messages of support and prayer from many people.

It was a long surgery since the Fontan was expected to take about 5 hours and during pre op testing we found out he also required mitral valve repair.  In addition to that he also was getting his pacemaker so he spent nearly 8 hours in the OR.  Initially he was doing very, very well.  In the coming days he developed some complications that turned into major complications.  All in all that admission was seven weeks long. 

Because you all follow him so well, I'm not going into details about the events of the year.  Let's just say that of the last 365 days, Eli has spent nearly half of those as an inpatient.  And when he's not been in patient, he's had some multiple outpatient issues to deal with such as home administration of IV antibiotics through a PICC line or his ongoing therapies. 

Throughout the past year we've faced many things we never imagined we would.  I'd love to say it's all behind us, but that isn't true.  Congenital heart defects do not "go away".  There is no single surgery, procedure, medicine, or exercise to cure him.  A transplant is not the answer, even if he requires one someday.  Now in addition to his heart problems he has a whole new set of challenges because of the strokes.  Because of all that, we've grown closer as a family.  We've been made more aware of the incredible power of prayer.  I wish Eli never had to go through these struggles, but because he does, he, and the rest of us, will be better because of them. 

There are no words to express the gratitude we have for all the prayers, hugs, meals, donations, gifts, and support from all of you.  Thank you isn't sufficient and I don't know what the next best words are.  Please know that we know how blessed we are by all of you.

To end, I thought I would lighten the mood by telling you how Eli celebrated his Fontan-iversary this morning:  He locked me out of the house while I walked Albert.  Yep, we party hard around here!

Home and Loving It!

We have been home for a little over two weeks now.  Eli has therapy every week day; occupational therapy comes Monday, Wednesday, Friday and physical therapy is Tuesday and Thursday.  The therapists come to the house for his sessions.  That is so wonderful for me.  Eli loves getting to go places, but it is hard to take him out these days, especially by myself.  He's a busy and active three year old but has balance issues, can't use his left arm much, and is still wobbly on his feet because he's only been walking for a little over a month.  Let's just say that the majority of my days are spent within arms' reach of the boy.  It's tough to keep myself that close and yet not help him too much.  He has to learn (relearn) how to do things for himself.  Having therapy at home is building his confidence as he maneuvers his way around the house.  Overall he has made lots of improvement but of course there's a long way to go. 

Health-wise he's been doing pretty well until late last week.  He developed some allergies and/or a cold.  That's been getting better but he's still got a runny nose and red, goopy eyes.  The good news is that he hasn't had any fevers with it.  We know he will be sick at some point again and he will run a fever.  However, we are so fresh from his recent bout with staph aureus that it really scares me.  I don't know if you remember, but after Eli's most recent heart surgery it was determined that the staph was in the graph in his heart, in the wires used to close his sternum, and on the pacemaker leads and wires.  The graft and sternal wires were replaced and the pacemaker was removed.  All but one of the pacemaker leads were removed.  There was one lead on his left ventricle (his only working ventricle) that Dr. Abraham couldn't remove without causing too much damage.  The unspoken fear for us and Eli's entire healthcare team is that the staph could still be hanging out on that lead even after six weeks of IV antibiotic treatment.  That one lead is the reason Eli cannot ever have an MRI and why I will forever have heart palpitations and be sick to my stomach anytime we even think he has a fever.  He had his antibiotics and now it's just a waiting game as we pray the staph is gone. 

Let's move on to the more exciting news around here! 

Zachary  I always talk about Eli, let me brag on Zachary for a little bit.  You all know what an awesome kid he is and if you don't then just take my word for it.  He is so glad to have his brother home.  Probably glad to have me too, but it's so rewarding to see how much he loves Eli.  Even through all the weeks we were apart he kept working hard in school and hasn't really acted out in any crazy way.  There are some things that come up from time to time but we just deal with it as it comes and nothing has been as bad as it could be with everything he's endured.  For St. Patrick's Day he had an assignment at school.  When I saw this it brought tears to my eyes.  He had six wishes to make and here's what they were:  Disney Cruise, Turbo Fast (a movie), a huge pizza, for Eli to come home, an airplane museum, and a real dinosaur.  It melts and breaks my heart that he used a wish for his brother to be home.  Most kids would like to give their little brothers away (and I'm sure there are times Zachary wants to as well), but he gets how special it is to have Eli home because he knows how rotten it is without him here. 

On April 2nd Zachary lost his first tooth!  While we were apart, one of the things I was afraid of missing would be his first loose tooth and losing it.  We got home on a Friday and on Saturday night I was giving the boys their bath.  Zachary was roaring like a dinosaur (surprise) when I noticed something in his mouth.  On closer inspection I saw that his permanent tooth had already broken through behind his baby teeth on the lower jaw.  His response?  "I thought something felt weird."  Then we checked his teeth and found that he had a loose one.  Several days later he and Eli were playing in his room and he came running out yelling about blood and his tooth.  I was sooooo happy we were all together for this occasion for him. 

The hole from Zachary's first lost baby tooth.  He was a very excited little boy!
 

Little League  Washington's Little League Opening Day is on Saturday April 12.  Our boys have been asked to throw out the first pitches of the season.  We are so excited.  They talk about it at home and have some practice, but I'm really curious to see what happens when we get there in front of a crowd of people!  Eli will throw the baseball first and then Zachary will throw a softball.  If you're going to be at the Sports Complex watching your little loved one that day, please wear your Eli's MVPs shirt.  Eli gets a big kick out of seeing his shirts on people.  He's starting to grasp the support he has around him...even if he doesn't know why!  We are very excited for Saturday and I can't wait to see how the boys do!


Motorcycle Ride  A group from Washington is sponsoring a benefit for Eli.  This is also on Saturday April 12.  Because of the Little League obligation we won't be able to attend the departure from downtown (with police escort!).  We are planning on being at the Krome Khaos club house when they return.  This event is like nothing we've ever participated in before and we are so grateful to those in charge who heard about Eli and want to help.  We plan on using any funds raised to help purchase a special trike like he used at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital.  We thought it would be fitting for the bikers to help buy him a bike!  Eli's bike will have foot and hand pedals. The combination hand/foot drive builds strength and coordination as well as increases range of motion.  It helped him a lot physically and mentally at the hospital and we want to continue that at home.  Depending on his size and needs, these trikes (called an AmTryke) can range from $400 to $800 or more. 

If you ride a motorcycle and want to participate, here's the info on the ride. 

Shirts and Bracelets and Pizza Hut Coupons  I will be closing out our Eli's MVPs tshirt and hoodie order soon.  I wanted to have it turned in and done by now, but of course life has other plans.  Our hard drive fried on our laptop and that took the whole computerized spreadsheet I had of all the orders.  Luckily I still had a paper trail of orders but that's taking time to get them entered into our new spreadsheet.  Thank you all for your patience.  I haven't forgotten and I definitely don't mean to put you off.  If anyone still wants to order a shirt let me know by Monday April 14th please.  Also we still have Eli's MVPs bracelets for sale ($3 each plus shipping if necessary) and we have coupon cards for Pizza Hut ($10 each).  Contact us via Eli's Facebook page or email us at elismvps@yahoo.com.



Thank you so much to everyone who has brought us a meal as we adjust to being back home.  I cannot tell you how helpful it has been to not worry about cooking everyday.  It's hard to do tasks like that when I need to be so close to Eli all the time.  The main problem with having these meals brought to us is that my family is figuring out I'm not such a great cook!  The food has been delicious.  We think it's because it was made with love.  Thank you!  If anyone wants to sign up there are some dates left.  Go to www.takethemameal.com  The recipient name is Veale and the password is Eli's MVPs.  Or you can contact us through his Facebook page or email to set something up.  Thank you again to anyone who has helped out. 

We are so grateful for all the support and prayers from all of you.  The phrase "miracle" is not something I use lightly, but I really believe Eli is a miracle.  He has made amazing progress since his strokes.  For the first week we truly didn't know if he'd wake up.  Once he did, his progress was slow at first.  Our big excitement was when he moved his eyes from one side to another.  Now he's bossing us around and pestering his big brother like he's supposed to.  We know his progress is due to all the prayers that have been said for him.  Please keep praying for him.  He has a lot of work left to do and the majority of our time is spent trying to find ways to make everything he does therapeutic in some way. 

I'll end with a sweet picture of the boys.  It was taken tonight as they were playing in the living room.  These two are our whole world and we couldn't ask for anyone better. 

Home Sweet Home

We're home!  All of us are together at last!  Eli came home on Friday the 21 of March and our final family member came home today....Albert!  He had been staying at my mom's house since all this started.  I got him this afternoon and now the five of us are together again.  The boys were excited to have Albert home again too.  As I'm typing, Albert's curled up beside me.  I haven't snuggled my dog since Dec 29 so I'm really glad he's here! 

We had a nice gathering with some family Friday night.  When Eli and I pulled into the driveway we saw "Welcome Home" signs and balloons.  The balloons were blue and tied to the stop sign in our yard, our mailbox, our outdoor light fixtures, and other areas.  Yesterday it occurred to me that anyone driving by our house who doesn't know our situation would think we just had a baby! 

Eli and Zachary are both settling in just fine.  The first night at home, they were snuggling on the couch and Eli fell asleep while laying on Z.  It was precious.  Eli has had some rediscovering to do here.  He's asked a few times where different doors lead and he often asks where we are.  I think he just likes hearing me say "home."  We haven't had real therapy since we left Evansville but we've been trying to work with him as he's playing and incorporate stretches, transitions, etc with his play.  We have an appointment Tuesday for an evaluation with therapists who will come to the house for his therapy sessions. 

As wonderful as it is to be home, it comes with some added pressure.  In the hospital Eli was receiving five hours a day of therapy.  Even if he's approved for daily therapy, it won't come close to that.  We just have to be vigilant about doing our part with him.  We've said all along that Zachary is the best therapy tool we have.  Eli loves to play with Zachary and do what he's doing.  We have to be so careful to make sure we don't use Z as a babysitter for his brother and just let him play as a six year old with his three year old brother.  Eli is walking better however one of us always needs to be within arms' reach of him.  He does well but can easily lose his balance or get his feet caught in something. 

Another thing we spend a lot of time doing since Eli's return home is encouraging him to eat.  Prior to his fourth heart surgery and strokes, he was eating about 75% orally and about 25% was delivered through his feeding tube.  After the strokes we slowly worked at getting back to his baseline.  We were close to it before we left Indy, but in Evansville his appetite decreased.  He's also not drinking much (he was doing that in Indy, Evansville and now at home).  On a normal day he'll drink 5-9 ounces of liquid.  Because of that he's also getting regular water flushes through his tube so he doesn't dehydrate.  We encourage him to eat and drink but he still needs a lot of nourishment through his feeding tube (thank God he has that!).  In a typical 24 hour period he gets three 3oz water flushes, two boxes of Boost which total 720 calories (one midday and one overnight), and another 8oz water flush after his nighttime Boost.  We're hoping being home and getting more comfortable here will lead to more intake on his part so we can decrease some of those supplemental feedings and flushes. 

I'm sure there's so much more I want to write about and tell you, but as usual it's very late and I'm tired!  Thank you to everyone who signed up to bring us a meal in the next few weeks.  We are so appreciative of that and all the other help we've gotten.  Prayer is the most powerful thing and Eli is obviously benefitting from it!  It's amazing to me that Eli's surgery and subsequent strokes were on January 21 and his arrival home was exactly two months later on March 21.  We are so humbled and thankful.