The Night Before Surgery....

It's the night before surgery, and Matthew is tucked soundly in his little bed. He's snuggled up with his favorite stuffed puppy his Uncle Nick gave him when we got home from China....he's had a busy evening, and has no idea what tomorrow will bring. Thank goodness for the innocence of children. He got to play all day with his friends, got a special treat and had dinner at Friendly's with Mommy and Daddy where he got to eat french fries AND ice cream, he got a new matchbox car at Target, he rode his tricycle outside for a long time, he got to eat "Pretzel Rivets" late at night from Mr. Bob across the street, he splashed like crazy in his tubby, and fell asleep on the couch watching a DVD.....life is good:)

We are hoping and praying he will sleep well tonight, as he hasn't slept well in the past 10 days and his body sure needs a good nights rest going into surgery in the morning. We have to be at the surgery center next to the hospital at 0730, and his surgery is scheduled for 0830. We aren't sure how long the surgery will take, I guess it all depends on how things go. Hopefully the urologist will tell us a time frame tomorrow morning when he sees us again before the surgery.

Chris and I are praying for God to guide the doctors' and all involved in Matthew's care tomorrow, and we are asking for peace to help get through the waiting and the recovery period. We pray for Matthew to trust us, as he will have no understanding of why he won't feel his legs when he wakes up. They are putting an epidural in that will help with pain control, and it won't wear off until about 8 hours after we get home. He will be scared when he wakes up and hurts.......please pray that we are able to hold him tight and comfort him with our love, hugs, kisses, and tenderness. He will also have a catheter in at home for a few days, so we know that is hurdle, but certainly one we can get over. We know other 2 year olds would be scared too, but with not being able to hear, we know this is even more difficult and scary for Matthew. I pray the staff will let me hold him as soon as surgery is over so I am holding him when he wakes up. They let me do that when he had his eye exam done in the operating room, and that seemed to help.

The journey continues, and we are so very thankful for our precious Matthew in our lives. Last year on this date Chris and I started tearing into the "spare room" that needed to somehome become our son's room - somehow in the 7 years we had lived here, we accumulated a LOT of stuff that needed to be gotten rid of! We also received our very first gift basket full of items for OUR SON from friends of ours. It is amazing that one year later, Chris and I kneeled down next to OUR SON MATTHEW tonight in that very room that was a "junk room"and said our prayers that he would be kept safe tomorrow, and that he would feel completely safe with us tomorrow. The room that is now filled with so much life from this little boy that has blessed our lives in immeasurable ways!

We will try to update as we can tomorrow to let everyone know how the surgery goes........thanks for the prayers, the more the better, and we can always feel them from all of you!!!!!