It is hard to believe that I went round and round trying to decide whether or not to have Annika go through surgery when I see now how amazing she is doing. I mean, don't you just want to squeeze those chunky thighs? :) She has gone from 13 pounds 6 oz on the day of surgery to 15 pounds 3 oz exactly one month later. She has more color in her cheeks, her hair is growing and she is just so much happier.
I have had people ask me, why did you wait so long to have the surgery? She could have been gaining weight much sooner. Well, I don't know about you but I find it difficult to make the choice to have my daughter sliced open (her scar is from her sternum to her belly button plus the tube) even though I knew it would probably help her. I had to know that I had done everything I could be for I chose this. God gave us the peace we needed for this decision when it was time to make that choice.
Here we are a month later and she is doing amazingly well. In the past if she was sick she would hardly eat at all. This has not changed. She has had a cold this past week or so and has not wanted to eat at all. Well guess what little girl, you don't have a choice. When she couldn't eat we would just hook her tube up and feed her. That simple and she didn't loose an ounce. It was great and took a ton of stress off of me.
I know this is a scary choice if your child is having to go through this and I am sure some parents out there have some not so good stories, but for us it was the best decision for our child and I would hope other parents would consider it if needed. She had the fundoplication surgery and a G-tube placed. She can still take baths and she is rolling over and trying to crawl. She can still go swimming this summer and she is already trying to crawl. We leave her with babysitters, and have had to train them on how to tube feed her. We even leave her with teenage babysitters so we can go out. As long and they know what to do in an emergency (and we live in a very small town and are not far away) then I feel comfortable still living life. Her challenges are not something that are going to "go away" or be "healed" so we still have to live our lives and have her part of it. I think this is very important for all of us to function and normal as possible. Plus, it allows others to be part of her life and enjoy her sweet, wonderful laugh and smile.
I have had people ask me, why did you wait so long to have the surgery? She could have been gaining weight much sooner. Well, I don't know about you but I find it difficult to make the choice to have my daughter sliced open (her scar is from her sternum to her belly button plus the tube) even though I knew it would probably help her. I had to know that I had done everything I could be for I chose this. God gave us the peace we needed for this decision when it was time to make that choice.
Here we are a month later and she is doing amazingly well. In the past if she was sick she would hardly eat at all. This has not changed. She has had a cold this past week or so and has not wanted to eat at all. Well guess what little girl, you don't have a choice. When she couldn't eat we would just hook her tube up and feed her. That simple and she didn't loose an ounce. It was great and took a ton of stress off of me.
I know this is a scary choice if your child is having to go through this and I am sure some parents out there have some not so good stories, but for us it was the best decision for our child and I would hope other parents would consider it if needed. She had the fundoplication surgery and a G-tube placed. She can still take baths and she is rolling over and trying to crawl. She can still go swimming this summer and she is already trying to crawl. We leave her with babysitters, and have had to train them on how to tube feed her. We even leave her with teenage babysitters so we can go out. As long and they know what to do in an emergency (and we live in a very small town and are not far away) then I feel comfortable still living life. Her challenges are not something that are going to "go away" or be "healed" so we still have to live our lives and have her part of it. I think this is very important for all of us to function and normal as possible. Plus, it allows others to be part of her life and enjoy her sweet, wonderful laugh and smile.
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