Surgery and Seminary

The boys did very well with their surgery's on Monday. They faired well with a liquid diet and bowel prep the day before, and filled their belly's with; green and purple Gatorade, blue Koolaid, blue Jello, Popsicles, chicken broth, lemonade italian ice, and Sprite. makes for some fun colors!!They had to stay away from liquids that were Red and Orange.
We arrived at Children's Hospital at 6:30am. By 7:45am we were in a room and by 8:00 they were getting their "happy juice" (Goose says it should be called grumpy, paralyzing your legs juice) Bug was the first one wheeled to the surgical floor. Boys were quiet and nervous, but they never shed a tear. Goose went second and both were done by 9:10am. After talking to the Doctor, I went downstairs to meet Ooma and Bear in the recovery room. Bear was getting a CT scan of his lungs at 9:30am. (he didn't like being strapped down on the table)
Bug was asleep when he returned to the recovery room, but woke easily. He slept for the next hour and half and came out of anesthesia very well. Goose was awake and agitated when he returned to the room. He kept fighting sleep and tried to talk several times, but all we heard was mumbling and garbled speech. He would try to pick up his head and asked if he was all done and could go home. He kept saying he saw double of me and the people on the TV. He finally felt better and we were able to go home by 11am. Both boys were wheeled to the van in a double wheelchair as they were both very wobbly and dizzy. Bug did well the rest of the day and never napped once. Goose on the other hand napped most of the day and felt achy and dizzy all day.
The GI doctor said their Endoscopy's and Colonoscopy's went well, but both boys showed redness and inflammation in their stomachs (Gastritis). He looked at the esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines and took several biopsy's. The pathology report should be back in 2 weeks. Here is the findings of their blood work and Surgery for each child:

Goose: Gastritis, 8 food allergies (allergy RAST testing-Blood allergy testing) to Corn, Rice, Wheat, Tomato, Peanut, Soybean, Beef, and Chicken. Negative Celiac panel.

Bug: Gastritis, no food allergies, Negative Celiac Panel, one elevated Liver enzyme that they will watch.

Minnie Mouse: We opted out of surgery, but she had blood work. Her RAST allergy test showed allergies to Dairy (also whey and casein), Egg, and Peanut. We were surprised to find out her peanut allergy is very high at 68, so she will have to carry an epi-pen at all times. Negative Celiac panel.

Bear: The Cat scan of his lungs looked great, so we decided to not do the bronchoscopy. His Pulmonologist said he hopes to get him off medicine by the Summer. He is doing very well with the medication and we see a huge improvement to his breathing and stools (food enzymes work great), He did have a Negative Celiac panel, but a positive Gliadin antibody (gluten), and high antibody levels for allergies. He tested Positive with the RAST test for Dairy (whey and casein), eggs, and peanuts. These are very severe and high and also cause him to go into anaphylactic shock. Some more allergies are Cantalope, shellfish, rice, soybean, and wheat. He also had some elevated blood work and white blood cells were found, but they don't think this is a problem. We also cancelled his Endoscopy and Colonoscopy that was scheduled for today. P was having a bad feeling yesterday about this surgery. He had had a nightmare the night before and there was some talk about dreams in his Seminary class. So, we felt like the Lord was clearly leading us to cancel Bear's surgery for today. An answer to prayer! We had been praying for several weeks about these tests and putting Bear through the surgery. We had also been praying about a clear diagnosis for the boys bellyaches and whether they had celiac disease and also if Bear had Cystic Fibrosis. (Bug and I both tested positive 1.5 yrs ago for the Celiac Antibody. My scope is schedule for Jan. 31st, if I keep it. hehe! Very nervous to go under anesthesia). We have seen many answered prayers this week and have peace about our decision!
Please pray about whether we should take Goose off the foods he tests positive for, and if Bear should be taken off Wheat, Soy, and rice as these are new allergies for him. We see no outward symptoms for either of the boys, so it can be confusing.

The kids and Daddy made a Gingerbread house with our Sunday School class. It was a competition for the kids and one adult.
Daddy and his sweet girl!
I am so proud of my hubby, he is taking a week long Seminary class this week. He is taking a class on Missiology with about 75 other men and women. His class is from 8am to 5pm, then goes back to his Hotel room to write papers, read, and study from 3 textbooks. He has 2 papers due this week and one due next week. I am thankful that he checks in with us a couple times a day. He met a classmate this week, a guy from Texas, who is an associate Pastor. This gentleman only has 2 more classes until he is done with Seminary. P just finished his 2nd year and has about 5 more years to go. :-) 7 more week long classes!!We were excited to have Ooma and Papa here this week to help with the Surgery's and around the house. They are a huge blessing to us. We will see them again in April and May when they come back to see us for Bug's and Goose's Birthday.