From Room 135...

Benjamin is resting. Finally. Around 2 a.m. he began to become much more awake...and to feel much worse. The pain meds they are giving him through an epidural has the possible side-effect of making you feel itchy all over...and it did! He was convinced there were "spots" on his tummy. I was able to assure him there were not and by rubbing his little belly, alleviate the discomfort enough to help him sleep. He also began asking why they operated more on his left side, than his right. I assured him they did the same thing to both and he told me his left hurt a lot more! This was extremely telling to the doctors because it indicated that the epidural probably wasn't giving him enough pain control.

After playing with this med, changing that med, and readjusting the rate on yet another one....they seem to have him resting easy. Praise God!

Will you pray for continued pain control? Benjamin doesn't even verbalize pain until it is already a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. By then we are playing catch-up trying to get it under control.

His blood pressure is extremely low right now. He is scheduled to have a blood transfusion shortly. It is Wade's blood so that should go smoothly -- but will you still pray?

I have to tell you how powerful your prayers have been to date: Dr. Segal is Wade's partner...and as such was terribly nervous about the surgery. He after all, has more than a dr-patient relationship with Benjamin. They are friends (and if you know my Benjamin, to be his friend is a very special gift! He is a great kid!) and as such Dr. Segal was not feeling as objective as usual. I was able to assure him with confidence yesterday morning that you were praying for him by name. He was so appreciative.

Today, the scrub tech from the case came by to visit Benjamin and check on us (did I mention that the team at Phoenix Children's has taken amazing care of us?!)....she sat down and shook her head and said she had NEVER seen a case go as smoothly as Benjamin's did yesterday! She just kept saying how amazing it was really because they could not have asked for things to go any better during the Operating Room time (he was there for nine hours, by the way.)!

Oh my sweet friends, this was no coincidence. And frankly, it was not even a testimony to the strrength of the team working on my boy. This was pure and simply God's hands keeping the calm, keeping the steady, keeping the team focused, energized, alert and wise.

It was God's response to the prayers of the saints. My heart can barely contain my gratitude. Thank you, friends. And praise you, God!

He has more hurdles. I know. Can you stay on your knees for this guy of our's? He needs to get his lungs clear and start taking deeper breaths (they have even as I'm typing come in and put a little oxygen mask near his face to help him breathe deeper); he will have to get in a wheelchair tomorrow and that will be painful; he needs the blood transfusion to get his levels back up and his blood pressure more normalized; and he needs to keep resting.

Thank you. I'm praying for each of you, too. That God will mightily bless you and restore to you double all the time you spend praying for my boy!! I love you.