Monday morning

Well, last night's hope for an 'early-to-bed' did prove to be wishful thinking, but we traded James' crib for a hospital bed so Hannah and I are no longer sharing one of those hospital chair beds. I think we all slept a little better.

The big news from here is that James pooped! This is a HUGE step in the right direction--a major milestone, as it were. Everyone here is pretty excited. Last evening, we suspected something was moving through as James was pretty uncomfortable. We suspect things were moving past the fistula repair site and causing the discomfort. Just in case, we went ahead and decreased his tube feeding rate and gave him a small bolus of morphine. That seemed to get him through the rest of the night just fine.

Over the next few days, we are hoping to increase his tube feeding rate (pray that he tolerates all the increases) up to his normal nightly feeding rate (which is 40ml/hr, for anyone wondering). During that time, I'll be working on slowly reintroducing some mild foods by mouth as he shows interest. Once he is up to the 40ml/hr rate, we'll hold the major 'drip' feeding for the nighttime, like we would at home and work more on his eating by mouth trying to get back to what we used to do before all this big stuff happened with the leukemia and his tube site leaking.

The doctors all said today that they are hoping to get us on our way to Georgia early next week. And that they definitely have "Georgia on their minds". Hooray!

Vern, Katie, Owen, Becca, Carrie, Dixie and Kitty all arrived in Toomsboro last night at about 10:30. I understand Grandpa John beat them by about four hours. When I talked to Vern, he was greatly looking forward to getting horizontal. We are thankful for the safe trips and looking forward to the next family reunion!

Today they are unloading the truck and trailer. I'm sure unpacking will be sort of like an extended Christmas ;*).

Hannah and I would love to see some pictures from the Georgia Skellys. If you share our interest, would you weigh in with a comment I can post so that they can see how much we want to see them too? (All you have to do is click on 'comments' below this post and follow the directions, step by step).

I heard from one of the nurses that it is supposed to get up to the mid-70s today here in Minneapolis.

Please pray:

1. for continued protection from infection for James and for complete healing of all his little surface wounds and the big things from surgery.
2. for transportation to Georgia for Hannah, James and me. Corporate Angel Network will allow both parents to travel to treatments with a child who has cancer, but we are uncertain yet if they will let Hannah travel in Vern's place. Of course, it also depends on the availability of seats in an already-scheduled corporate flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta, as well.
3. for the folks at home in Georgia as they get settled and determine what is next.
4. for a good report from James bone marrow check and spinal tap this Thursday.

Don't forget to comment that you want to see pictures from Georgia!!

Love, Stephanie