Posted: 10/21/2008 8:54:07 PM EDT
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Here is what we have posted on our Gideon's page. He's finally lost his feeding tube and we are beyond words with how far our son has come. Thank you all for your support. Things get really weird when you have a special child. We've found so many "strangers" who have supported us the most. Many of those strangers have been here and we are so thankful. Thank you so much for your support!!! Dear Friends, Today is a very special day. Gideon’s mic-key fell out!!! This is the end of the feeding tube for our Little Man and we are so thrilled to have it out. Gideon’s hole was always cared for with extreme caution. I always had pads taped underneath it and we were very careful to not let him crawl on his tummy, slide on his tummy etc. because it would make the hole larger and larger. Anyway, we are so thrilled to see the hole is closing very quickly. There is no stomach leakage and that is a huge blessing. As we were saying our family prayers tonight, I was overcome with emotion over this event. I have never seen Gideon’s body without a medical device in it. When he was born, they wrapped him in a blanket after making sure he was stable. I held him for a few seconds as Mike took two pictures. The next time I saw Gideon he was already hooked up to many lines. And, after all the trauma of the first hospital stay, he’s always had the feeding tube. It brought to closure all our trials with his eating issues and all the prayers we have said over the years for him to just be able to eat. Mike mentioned this to the girls, all the prayers we have said for Gideon to be able to eat by mouth. It’s such a unique situation and I’m sure sounds odd to many. But, I was overcome with gladness and relief that the tube is finally gone!!!! Praise God that Gideon is here and is doing so well! We are continually amazed at how well he is doing. Just today, we saw our family photo at church they took for the directory. Seems the directory is taking some time to get done because the picture was taken before his last surgery and before Faith was born. Gideon has purple lips in the picture and is blue around his mouth and eyes. They want to take a new picture to include Faith. And I am really happy to do that but I’m also happy that our new picture will reflect Gideon’s new health. He will be pink for the new photo! Yippee! It’s also started a whole new world of experiences for Gideon. He is sliding off the couch on his tummy. He’s low crawling on the floor. These are things he was not able to do before. He is talking about how he can now “slide around” because he doesn’t have his mic-key anymore!! Wonderful! He also said, “Mom, I’m proud that my mic-key is out.” I thought that was strange for just a minute and then I was also so proud of him. Gideon’s tummy troubles have been detailed here on this page for so long. The struggle was very great and I remember so well the fear we felt that we would loose him because he could not grow and could not even tolerate the things we had to tube him. Words can’t really describe how far he’s come…all the therapy, all the experiments with different formulas….all the sickness, dry heaving, throwing up, bleeding in the stomach, all the hospital stays. This boy has come a long way and we are on the top of the world tonight!!! We will now have to plan his party. We have told Gideon that when he gets his tubie out, we can have a party for him. So….now it’s a reality. Praise God!! Some ladies from church kidnapped me yesterday and took me on a much-needed break. We ate lunch at a wonderful restaurant and then shopped…or, window shopped at some really neat places. Also stopped at a pastery shop for some treats and I was so renewed and blessed to have this time away. Also very, very thankful for these women who saw that I needed some time away and were so kind and loving to just take me away and bless me with fellowship that I desperately needed. My parents stopped by the house today on their way home from a trip. It was neat to see them and they were here to witness the falling out of Gideon’s mic-key. The kids were very excited to see Grandpa and Grandma and were running around, doing cartwheels etc. We were having dessert and I looked down and saw Gideon’s mic-key on the floor! Awesome! Anyway, this is getting long. Just wanted you all to know that today was a huge milestone in Gideon’s life. And a huge testimony to not give up on prayer. We prayed for almost 5 years for this event. Many times we were so discouraged because it felt like God was not hearing us. I remember times of just laying in bed crying and praying that God would let Gideon drink an ounce of formula by mouth. And, then day after day, Gideon could not do it. Not only could Gideon not do it, he was sicker and sicker by the day. For 4 years, this was the daily reality. God’s answer to us was, wait, not yet, keep praying, and trust. About six months ago, God started to answer and in a mighty way. Gideon started eating, started drinking, and now is able to eat and drink in a "Gideon normal" way. We are celebrating tonight. We are so thankful that God has allowed us to keep Gideon on this side of heaven when so many HLHS kids go to heaven. Thank you for all your prayers said for our Little Man. Love, Tracie and all |