Surgery #1 - Done

So yesterday was my baby's surgery.  To be honest I hadn't put much thought into it, I didn't think it would be a huge deal.  It's just a common everyday surgery, I had gone through it with my first son.  Really though our focus is on our daughter's surgery on Friday.  (She is going to have tubes put in which should fix her hearing loss that she has been suffering from for about 1 1/2 years.)  But I guess because he is 10 months old instead of a newborn the surgery is more involved (at least I wasn't given any other options and I'm kicking myself for not researching to see if there really was).

The surgical staff was very nice and took great care of us.  my only complaint was the doctor seemed to be in too big of hurry to stop and really answer my questions.  I think he was trying to make up time and get back on schedule, my son's surgery ended up started 30 minutes late.

The staff explained to me what was going to happen to try and prepare me but when it all happened I some how didn't feel prepared for it.  I carried my son into the operating room and placed him on the table.  All these hands appeared putting lots of monitors on his tiny body.  There were sweet voices to go with all these hands calling my son's name and telling him sweet encouraging things.  They encouraged me to keep talking to him and then they put a mask over his face to breath in the anesthesia.  He squirmed and cried a little and that's not pleasant to watch but that wasn't really the hardest thing for me.  I watched him fall asleep but you could tell he wasn't really sleeping a nice peaceful sleep.  He looked drugged, his eyes were open but you knew he wasn't there.  That was hard!  As I looked at him I thought to myself, what in the world am I doing to him, they just put drugs into my tiny little boy and now he looks . . . . awful.  As they pulled me away from him everybody began to ask "Are you ok?".  My thoughts were "Absolutely Not!! What are you doing to him!! Isn't there another way!" But I sweetly said "Yea, I'm fine." Then my thoughts went straight to Friday and how I would have to watch that whole thing again with my daughter.  I almost lost it, I don't think I can do that again!

I packed up my things and headed to the waiting area and did just that.  It was nice to get texts from people and to know that they were thinking about us.  I HATE being alone and somehow that made it feel like I wasn't alone.

The surgery took an hour, the doctor thought it would only take a half hour.  When he came out and talked to me he said that nothing happened out of the ordinary but that my son was a little oozy making things go a little slower.  I'm not sure what oozy means but the doctor did ask if he had recently had a cold because that can cause oozy-ness.  After giving me care instructions he sent me back to the waiting room for the nurses to call me back when my son was ready in the recovery room.

When I walked back there I didn't even recognize my son.  They had a do rag on his head, an IV in his arm and he was just laying there "asleep" but not looking very peaceful, you know that drug sleep.  I began to talk to him trying to get him to wake up and that's when the screaming began.  You have to understand my son is the happiest baby with biggest smiles on this planet.  He has the sweetest personality but this awful drug turned him into a cranky monster (ok, maybe not that bad but it gets my point across that he wasn't himself).  I immediately began to nurse him and that calmed him down but he would end up just going back to sleep.  Every time I would try and move him he would just scream, push and kick me.  It was hard to handle him all by myself, the nurses tried to help but didn't really know how.  I didn't really know what to do.  So I tried to be as still as possible and we sat there nursing for about an hour.  It was a sweet time.  I finally was able to get him to sit up and dress him so we could go home.

He spent the rest of the day sleeping or nursing and sleeping.  It was about the time his daddy came home and carried him around that his smiles came back and he actually began to crawl around. 

Overall everything went smoothly but I'm so glad that it's over.  We have a ways to go with the healing but we are on the way to recovery.  Unfortunately, we get to do it all again on Friday.  I'm thinking it shouldn't be as bad with my daughter but I'll be prepared this time.

Update from The Carmans in China

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Dear Supporters,

Four months ago I officially resigned from my position at International School of Qingdao. These last four months have been an intense time of seeking His will, dealing with the emotions of possibly leaving our home of 7 and a half years, and saying goodbye to our incredible friends here. We are still formulating our long-term plan; however, we are excited to tell you about a short-term project that we have decided to do in the meantime.

From July 1 to July 24, the Carman family will be working at Living Stones Village (LSV), in Beihai, Guangxi Province, China. LSV is an orphanage for disabled and abandoned children in Guangxi, China. Children with missing limbs, cerebral palsy, polio, hearing impairment, blindness, and crippling burn injuries are being raised and treasured in the Village.

I initially visited this place in February to see about the possibility of joining with them. I was impressed with the vision of the leadership as well as the obvious blessings that He has shown at this place and to the people who live there. One of LSV’s goals is to be a vital part of the surrounding villages for the purpose of building relationships. This summer LSV has organized several camps to help facilitate this goal. We have been asked to participate in the family camp. Along with us, several families from the US will be working with about 30 children aged 9 to 11. These children come from the neighboring villages. As the resident orphans who are cared for by LSV are all above 11 years old, they will also participate in helping to run various activities at the camp.

We will be engaging the children in various activities, including: English study, sports, hobbies, movies, and games. Week 1 will be orientation and training. Week 2 will be the camp. Week 3 will be getting to know the city, LSV staff, and the director of the orphanage to consider future work. Our objectives are to share the love from above with the children and help LSV create solid relationships with the surrounding villages for future work. Our final goal is to assess how we can further help LSV in the future. As such, this camp will also serve as a survey trip.

Requests:

• That He would do a great work with the children at the camp
• His guidance as we consider working there long-term
• Logistics of getting there and back and then to the US

Financial Needs:
Total Cost of Trip: $4,193 (See attachment for breakdown of financial needs.)

If you are interested in supporting us financially, you can give a tax-deductible donation by sending a check to the following address:

GFMA
PO Box 3326
Chattanooga, TN 37404

Please endorse checks to "GFMA" and signify in the memo line that the money is to go to Jeremy & Jacquelyn Carman

Thank you very much for the continued support over the years.

Sincerely,
Jeremy & Jacquelyn Carman & Family

Jeremy: jalopyhead @ gmail.com (remove the spaces); blog.jalopyhead.com;
Jacquelyn: jalopygirl @ gmail.com (remove the spaces); jalopygirl.blogspot.com
LSV Website: www.livingstonesvillage.org