Age 9

It's official.  Caed has turned 9. That in and of itself may not seem like any kind of milestone, but for me....I remember vividly a conversation with Dr. G during the first few weeks of Caed's volvulus.  She said, "...be prepared.  Caed may need a feeding tube at least til age 8-9."  Now, at this time, remember he was age 4.  Age 9 seemed LIGHT YEARS away.  (I'm picturing Caleb right now feeling the same way).  5 YEARS?  What in the world are you saying?  Won't all this go away and be fixed at least in a couple more days or weeks? 

She talked with us daily, it seemed, about how TIME would be an enormous factor in Caed's healing.  To rehabilitate his bowel and "retrain" it to work again would not happen overnight.  They talked about the bowel being one of the most sensitive organs in the human body.  You mess with it....and it's ((tough)) to simply bounce back.  You take out 90% of it, and you have a LONG road ahead of you.  Most patients would have needed a bowel transplant, which is what they thought would ultimately be done for Caed too.

But God......

....had another plan.

Caed had a checkup this past week to look at his incision.  Dr. G was pleased to see it continuing to HEAL!  She doesn't want to see him again for 6 months!  YEA!  This past year was such an unusual ordeal.  One that nobody (doctors) fully understood.  But, finally.....it seems our last surgery did the trick.  We THANK GOD for closure....literally!  We also thank GOD for all the medical staff that has played a role in Caed getting where he is today. There is quite a long list, but we believe they each one have played a special (very important) role.  This is the woman who was with Caed from day 1.  She initially removed all the dead bowel the early morning hours of March 2.  And now look at them!  Who would have thought?

(more details to come regarding Caed's birthday party)