Just to let you know, I recently participated in an event that may possibly signal the beginning of the end. On the 15th of February, our friends Bobby and Melissa were blessed to bring Robert Michael Smith into the world. Melissa's baby shower, however, was scheduled for the 16th, but rather than reschedule, the show went on with Bobby opening presents and me writing down names and gifts. I'm sure this heinous act seriously violates the unwritten church of Christ shower protocol and even posting this photo may be an excommunicatable offense. But we are beyond the point of no return so here's a picture of two very confused guys lost in this big crazy world.
After Benjamin had his surgery back in December, we started noticing that when we fed him crackers we'd find a few crumbs in his trach. This went on for awhile and we finally decided to put some green food coloring in Ben's milk to see what the deal was. Unfortunately, after we gave him the milk, we found that the secretions that we were suctioning out of his airway were lime green.
The doctor said that Ben is still relearning how to swallow so bread crumbs and liquids tend to go down into his airway. This has forced us to take a step backward and start giving Ben most of his liquids through a stomach tube again. Yesterday at work I swallowed some water down the wrong pipe, and it made me think how annoying it must be for Ben to have that feeling every time he eats.
Ben's next surgery is scheduled for this Thursday. The doctor will be going down past the vocal cords and removing any excess tissue that's constricting Ben's airway. You all know what to do.
February wasn't much of a month for family videos so I leave you with one of Ben right before his birthday party. I take full genetic responsibility for the pot belly and chicken legs.
I suppose we've all come to expect good news about Ben's progress, but it still feels good to report it. Dr. Digoy examined the area where the cyst had been taken out last time, and he said he was "amazed" at how well everything had healed. With the cyst out of the way, he was able to take the first look at Ben's vocal cords. He could see that the left cord was in good condition, but he couldn't even find the right cord because the cyst continued all the way down over the area where Ben's right vocal cord should be.
Because everything else had healed well, the doctor decided to go ahead with the procedure to remove the next chunk of the cyst and determine the condition of Ben's other vocal cord (if it had even developed at all). There was a risk of damaging the vocal cord with the laser if the cord was underneath the cyst, but he was confident that the procedure could be done successfully. Half an hour later the cyst was out, and he discovered that Ben's right vocal cord was in its proper place, fully developed, and unharmed by the procedure. This means Benjamin will be able to speak once they take out his trach! That will still be several months down the road after Ben has his trachea reconstruction surgery, but it's such a relief to know that we'll be able hear his voice someday.
We're back home now, and Ben has recovered much more quickly from this surgery. You have once again been our advocates to God when we grow tired. I only hope you draw as much encouragement from this as we do.
With all our love, Whit, Adrienne, and the audio-enabled Benjamin
I finally got around to reading Phillip Yancey's book "Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?" It felt good to finish something with a little more depth than Goodnight Moon (though I must say I wouldn't have minded an occasional pop-up page or velcro pig to keep things interesting). The book brought up some issues that I had tucked away in the months after Ben was born.
Many people associated with Oklahoma Christian University were praying for a little girl named Harper Hawley around the time that Ben was in the hospital. I didn't know the Hawley's well, but I was touched by all the struggles they were going through as their baby's health slowly deteriorated.
At times it felt strange to write about all of the answers to prayer we were witnessing while another faithful Christian family had to deal with God's silence and the eventual loss of their child. Both babies had legions of people praying round the clock for their healing, yet God allowed one to live and one to die. How can we say our prayers truly make a difference when we see seemingly arbitrary behavior on God's part? We serve a mysterious God. All I know is that I come home every day to a smiling, healthy baby boy who should not be alive after everything that happened to him. That fact prevents me from saying that prayer doesn't make a difference even though I understand so little about prayer.
On Friday, Ben goes in for his next round of surgery. Dr. Digoy will be taking a look at his vocal folds to see if they're still blocking his airway. If they are, he'll have to do some delicate work to cut back the vocal folds. We're hoping that he may even be able to tell us whether Ben will be able to speak someday. I don't know how prayer works, but I have seen the influence of your past prayers and ask that you continue to pray for Ben's complete healing. The two weeks after Ben's previous surgeries have been very stressful (little sleep, constant suctioning), and if you could pray for peace in our house during that time, we would love it.
Well, Jenny Connell has outdone herself again with Ben's 1st birthday photos. Her ability to bring out all of Ben's expressions is fantastic. I leave you with some of her latest work.
Thanks to many of you for the birthday well-wishes this past week. I received a special birthday present on the 3rd when Mike Huckabee was propelled to victory in Iowa due to an endorsement by Chuck Norris and the Huckabee bumper sticker on my car. I'm willing to split the credit 50/50 with Chuck.
After his poor showing in Iowa this past week, Ben has decided to drop out of the race in order to give his full attention to learning how to walk. It's unfortunate because we really wanted to unveil his presidential portrait to the world, but I'll go ahead and let you have a look.
Benjamin had his birthday party on Saturday so I'll leave you with some photos of the highlights.
