New challenges

On June 14 Elijah had his largest medical day since he was a newborn. We started at 9 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. his leg is healing well and he no longer has a cast. The more serious tests were in the urology department. We were glad to hear that Elijah's kidneys look great, but learned at the same time that his bladder looks terrible. Practically, what this means is that he is incapable of holding urine at low pressure like most of us do. This puts him in danger of reflux into his kidneys, which is never good. We will be putting Elijah on an intermittent catheterization program as well as tripling his dosage of the bladder relaxing medicine. Now we can start potty training, but in a very different way. As usual, we are satisfied that this is for God's glory and, hence, for our good. Still no shortage of joy here. This is Elijah's new "normal."

Yesterday was Elijah's third birthday. Boy, was he excited, as you can see.

Big day Thursday (6-14-2007)

Elijah will have a big day of appointments this Thursday. He will finally get his cast removed and get an X-ray to make sure things are growing as they should. The bigger tests are urological and involve catheterization and having to lie still during poking and prodding. You might pray that Elijah will be able to handle these treatments with joy and remain patient with the technicians and docs even when it is nap time.

Follow-up visit

Today we are at Gillette for cast removal (done), x-ray (done), re-casting and a routine CT scan. Our two prayer requests at church yesterday were that Elijah would handle the noises of the saw (that went great --he covered his ears) and the CT, as well as that he would be able to get a swimmer-type weight-bearing cast.

It looks as if the swimmer cast is out because Elijah still has incisions that are healing, but the doc says he will be able to bear weight. We are waiting right now for the new cast (he says he wants green this time).

The CT machine can be intimidating--a large donut that makes noise like a jet engine warming up. Since Elijah loves Thomas Train so much, we told him to be a "useful engine" while he has to go on the tracks into the tunnel. He has been telling people about it, but we'll see if he is so easy-going in the room.

Ready to go home

Elijah is all cast and ready to go home. He is eating his lunch right now. Before he ate he prayed for safety for Caleb (who is traveling home from Cedarville, Ohio today) and that the chicken nuggets would be "yum."

As we wander around this hospital so full of hurting children and hurting families we recognize how merciful God has been to us. Elijah hasn't even cried through this whole process. We are thankful that God has chosen to work his sovereign plan using the effective prayers of his people.

Apart from our Master and what (those) he has given us we have nothing good. As David said, "The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places."

Thank you.

Getting ready for casting

Dr. Stephen England (pictured at left, our favorite doc) has given the O.K. for casting and going home. We'll try to get a photo to the blog of Elijah's cast once it is on. He gets to pick his cast color. He says he wants "dark blue" so he can be like Gordon (from Thomas the Train).

Day two

Elijah had a relatively restful night, with the exception of periodic wakings for blood pressure, temperature and diaper checks. He appears to be very comfortable and is taking only Tylenol for pain.

His toes looked a little swollen last night so he now has ice on his foot. Casting will happen sometime this morning, we think.

He has had some cell phone conversations with siblings, as pictured. It is amusing to listen in on a phone conversation between a two and a four-year-old.

5:13 p.m.

Elijah's stomach started gurgling about 1:30 and he successfuly devoured 2 graham crackers. Then came a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some chocolate milk. He was still calling for more when those were conquered, but we did not want to push it. He is now tearing into a tray with a cheeseburger, broccoli, a salad, an orange, celery sticks, bread, cranberry juice, chocolate milk and a cookie. He may need parental assistance on this one.

Thank you for visiting and praying. The three of us need some sleep tonight.

11:44 a.m.

We are back in the room now! Elijah is pretty straight-faced and groggy, although, as you see in the picture, he is a pretty good actor. The recovery nurse in the picture said he was both inquisitive and informative after the surgery. He was curious about the pictures on his diaper and let the nurses know when his blood pressure cuff went tight.

We will throw another picture on later so you can see the wrapped leg (to be cast tomorrow before we leave).

10:52 a.m.

Surgery is done and we have spoken with both surgeons. Everything went as planned (both by physicians and a sovereign God). We are thankful for your praying.

We would appreciate it if you would ask our Father to keep Elijah from infection. The urologist placed a catheter for a few days to prevent infection near the circumcision, but of course that can always mean there is a risk of a bladder infection. Dr. England also severed Elijah's fibula to make it go along for the ride with the tibial rotation. Again, more risk of infection. There will likely be a low dose of antibiotic prescribed as a precaution.

I will report back after we have seen Elijah.

9:38 a.m.

Dr. Wolpert the urology surgeon just spoke with us. He is heading in right now to start his work. We assume that means Dr. England is done.

9:11 a.m.

Surgery just called and said Elijah is stable and that Dr. England (ortho) is still working. We are guessing the urology surgeon was late because he was supposed to go first. The circumcision is likely a less complicated procedure.

Note the Hot Wheels at Elijah's side in pre-op. Gillette employs people in a department called Child Life who are basically paid to play with the kids and set them at ease. The Child Life specialist brought in "Surgery Bear" to pre-op to show Elijah the things that would be happening, including a sample mask and an I.V.

8:11 a.m.

Wireless Internet is nice. We are sitting in the waiting room for this update. Surgery started at about 7:45 a.m.

Elijah was well-behaved and not a bit scared going into surgery. I was allowed to accompany him right into the operating room. He was wide-eyed as he looked around at all the equipment and people (all prepared just for him). I held him and his mask as the nurse anesthetist cracked jokes. He went to sleep smiling.

Thank you for praying about the trip over to the Cities. Elijah talked a little and slept a lot. He said, "I'm hungry" once in pre-op, but we are thankful he is very easily distracted.

We have a pager and will get and report updates from surgery as they become available.

6:49 a.m.

We left home at 4:20 a.m. and arived at Gillette at 6:10 a.m. Elijah is in a great mood, impressing the nurses by spelling his name after seeing it on the end of his pre-surgery bed. So far no fuss about the dry red spots on his sides. We'll report later.

Surgery still on for Thursday

Surgery is still on for tomorrow, but Elijah does have a rash that could be a deal-breaker. We'll keep you posted. We are supposed to be at Gillette in St. Paul at 6:15 a.m.

I will seek to update the blog tomorrow as I am able.

Note the careful use of the towel in Elijah's homeschool science experiment. He loves to slide a chair over to the sink and make wet discoveries. At least he's neat.

New surgery date

Elijah is feeling much better. This morning's quote upon seeing Sarah in her colorful maternity jumper: "Mama, you are beautiful!" The new surgery date is Thursday, May 3. Prayer concerns stay the same as the earlier post with one addition: please pray that he doesn't get another bad cold!

Blessings,
Steve

Surgery postponed

Elijah has been sick with a fever and congestion for a few days. That is not compatible with surgery, so we will have to wait at least two weeks. Thank you for checking in. Please pray that he will stay healthy for the next attempt. As I write this, Elijah is lounging on the couch watching a "Thomas Train" DVD. He is not his normal, perky self, so we know it is best to wait.

Surgery scheduled

We learned this week that Elijah will be having surgery on April 18 to again de-rotate his left tibia and transfer a tendon to prevent further recurrence of the club foot. The orthopedic surgeon said he thought is was necessary now because Elijah has started to walk a little, but is held back by the turned foot. He is concerned that waiting could cause damage from walking too long on the side of his soft-boned foot.

The plan is to balance the unopposed tendon on the inside of the foot by splitting it and connecting it to the outside of the foot. This will presumably stop the inward pull that has caused all his problems since before birth.

We were also advised to have a urologist perform the circumcision that was put off at Elijah's birth as long as he is under anesthesia anyway.

Some prayer requests:

• Overcoming Elijah's natural fear of the things he will be experiencing. For the first time he told us he was scared when we went to the Gillette clinic.
• For the hunger situation. The surgery is scheduled for early in the morning, but first we have to make the 100-mile trip without breakfast.
• For pain issues. The leg surgery is less of a concern because of the lack of sensation he has in his lower legs. The companion surgery will likely cause some longer-term discomfort.
• Logistics (sleep, ambulation, recreation) during 5-6 weeks of casting (above the knee to the toe).
• For the broader schedule that follows for the family, including a pastors-and-wives getaway we have had on the calendar for awhile. We want to be wise about our choice of either skipping the event, leaving Elijah with the older kids or taking him along.

We are ever aware of how blessed we are. Elijah is doing great. Thanks for your concern.

Blessings,
Steve

O.K., about the eggs...

First of all you have to understand that there is something about Thursdays at the home of the Svendsens. The last two of them have been interesting to say the least. On Thursday the 18th of January, we decided spur of the moment to have an all-girl pizza and game party. It was something Sarah and Rachel had wanted to do before Christmas, but eight of our ten got a nasty virus and then with all the traveling, it just didn’t happen. Anyway, we called all the families in the youth group shortly before noon on that Thursday, and they ALL wanted to come! We ended up with 21 people to feed which included our family. It went really well and the girls laughed a lot.



Well, the following Thursday we decided to feed 20 some people again. You see we found out on Sunday that a man from church was having a kidney stone operation that Thursday. Sarah decided it would be the right thing to do to offer to bring supper over that night for their family of eleven. Then she found out that no one had signed up to bring a meal to yet another post-surgery family for that Thursday. She decided to feed them also. Then, of course, there was our own family of nine to feed. It was a busy day and Sarah planned ahead by grocery shopping around nine that morning, bringing home 48 eggs as part of the necessary ingredients, plus some extra (start the scary foreshadowing music here).



Rachel babysits for a ladies' Bible study at every Thursday morning. Sarah left around 11 a.m. to pick her up and take another girl who also babysits home. She left the groceries in the breezeway, not having time to put them away (foreshadowing music intensifies). Apparently Elijah saw her leaving and wanted to follow. Promise thought there was no harm in allowing him some playtime in the breezeway, so she let him crawl out the door. He found a way to toss forty-seven of the forty-eight eggs around the room in a pattern that pretty-well covered the floor. The odd thing was, he had evenly spread the pattern across the room without getting egg on the furniture, shoes in the rack or himself. The quote upon his mother entering the room: "I squashed it like a pancake!"

You may watch a brief video of what Josh labeled "all this carnage" if you have a fast Internet connection.

Elijah likes eggs.