Today is a rainy, sleepy day in Minneapolis, even Eli is having a very sleepy day. But, that’s ok because he had surgery on his broken olecranon (funny bone) this morning. Surgeon called to say it went really well! No problems coming out of anesthesia or any of his other numbers that they watch (my main worry in having another surgery so soon). This should be the last surgery though!

Nurse Susan said not to rush to the hospital. I got there around 10:30 and he still wasn’t in his room. They shooed me away because there would be a lot of people and a lot going on to get him settled back in his room in the SICU. So I sat in the cafeteria for another hour or so. I take advantage of that time to make phone calls that I don’t want him to hear – because he hears and understands everything we say so we have to be careful. I’m not complaining; that’s a wonderful thing! He works at Whole Foods here in Minneapolis, so I had to call and open a claim to put him on a leave of absence. It’s phone calls like that, that I’d rather he not hear so he doesn’t get upset.

It’s been a really quiet day for him, but given that he underwent another surgery that’s understandable. He’s actually sleeping more soundly than I’ve seen so far with the exception of when he was on the trach tube. He needs his rest to recover. So I’m sitting here watching my baby boy sleep on and off, even snoring a bit while I try to figure out this website/blog to journal and update all our family and friends. I moved the posts to the blog where you can make comments that we will read to him when he’s ready. At least I hope the comments work – it’s a little confusing for those of us who are not millennials or younger.

Speech came in and reiterated that his swallow is great – no issues that she sees (yay!!!). His diet is now regular food, although I’m not sure he liked the chicken he was eating. He doesn’t have much of an appetite, but again given that he had surgery, it’s normal. PT and OT came after that. Got him up in a chair! No cognitive evaluations today or walking because he’s just pooped!

I saved the best for last, and it looks like the drain in his brain will most likely come out tomorrow!!!! That’s a huge thing because it’s the last hurdle to jump over in order to move out of SICU. Hooray!! It’s an EVD drain (external ventricular drain) that drains excess amounts of cerebral spinal fluid. Normally, our bodies absorb it (guess it’s about a coke-sized can per day we produce). If his ICP (intracranial pressure) numbers go to high he can’t get it removed. However, I had some prayer warriors praying this morning that his ICP numbers would stay low and not go over a certain number. Guess what? God is still listening, and his numbers have been great all day! Please pray it stays this way and he gets the drain removed tomorrow.

That’s all for today! I will write more tomorrow on my day off from the hospital and fill in the gaps of the first few days. Again, thank you for your support, prayers, and love. We are feeling it! Love to all of you!

Dwayne’s day to go. Nurse Susan called me in the morning. I jumped up to answer (like I’ve been doing the past few days). Immediately asked if Eli was ok. She reassured me he was, but that he was confused and a little upset. He was asking for me, his mom. Broke my heart in a thousand pieces. What kind of mom doesn’t stay with her son in the SICU all night… but I was not allowed to because of Covid. Then the nice nurse put me through to Eli, which seems to be out of the norm because it took awhile and a hang up or two. Then I heard his voice. I could tell he was upset. I explained again about the visiting hours being from 10am-8pm and that only one of us could be there per day, but reassured him that dad was coming soon. He wanted to know exactly what time he’d be there. He calmed down a bit, then asked why he was in England? I said, “well, you’re not in England.” Eli replied, “then why do they all speak with accents?” Sometimes we laugh, and that was one of those times. There was a nurse there last night with an accent (although I thought it was a Jamaican accent), and he told me that she said she was from England. I said “she probably is, E”, and he quietly replied, “oh, ok.”

Dwayne arrived at 10am. First report he gave me was that he was sleeping and had the Spanish channel on the tv. That’s our Eli! Dwayne gave a few typical reports throughout the morning like he’s uncomfortable and trying to sleep. But, then good reports starting coming like the fact that he asked to go the bathroom (sorry E) and went there with just a little help from his nurse and Dwayne – huge progress from just yesterday! Dwayne said he wasn’t interested in eating, but that they were going to make him a blizzard type of something and that he smiled  SLP came, and the report was good. He’s eating and drinking fine, just not hungry, but still confused about where he is, but I’d say that’s pretty damn normal for his condition!

Then I got the words I’ve been longing to hear! Dwayne called and told me that the neurosurgeon was just there and told him that Eli was making AMAZING progress and that no-one usually progresses this fast!! Even said he’d probably be out of SICU in a few days!!!! Holy Cow! We knew he was progressing faster than we expected, but this, this is the miracle we’ve been praying for. I got to facetime with him a few minutes ago, and he’s soooo much more alert than even yesterday! Speech is more fluent and he was smiling his beautiful smile that I’ve also been longing to see. Thank you God in Heaven and my favorite angels above for healing our Eli. Please continue to watch over his recovery, we know he still has a ways to go, but we are forever grateful for this amazing progress. I have no other words that I know how to express right now. Love to you all and to our Eli.

I titled this one Go, Eli, Go, because oddly enough with many different texts floating around, several people responded after the good news yesterday with the same/similar verbiage! And Eli is going… in the right direction! I arrived to the hospital that morning to see his blue eyes open, sitting up, and feeding himself ice chips. Rather astounded me.

There’s that phone call that no parent ever wants to get, ever. We got that call this past weekend. Our oldest son was at the hospital and needed to have brain surgery. The nurse asked for verbal permission; pretty sure I screamed yes. We walked around aimlessly, throwing things into a suitcase. Something made me reach into my nightstand and grab my Bible that my parents gave me when I was confirmed. The next thing we knew we were driving at 4am to Minnesota. We decided to leave Jacob at home with family, which although was the right decision, was very hard to leave him behind not knowing when we’d be back or what was happening. Both my boys are strong and are fighters; I know this.