I stood there, in the hallway, with plenty of people walking by but feeling so all alone. Waiting for Chris to come back. It is an awful place to be. Not the hospital, it was a fabulous place, but standing there having just kissed your baby and sent him off. Praying that he will be fine. Praying that the doctors, surgeons, and nurses are on their "A" game. Praying for patience and calmness while waiting.
Chris and I headed down to try and get something to eat. They gave us a beeper/buzzer/vibrator thing so we could be paged if they needed us. We tried to eat but everything that I tried just didn't taste good. Pretty sure that Chris was right and it was me, not the food. We finished eating and then went to buy deodorant in the little store since mine had been left at home and I needed it. While I was standing there waiting for the man to ring me up the buzzer went off!
I PANICKED! I ran off saying over my shoulder, "Sorry, I have to go!" We were so far away! A woman who worked there heard the beeper and saw my panic so she quickly told us a short cut. I was an absolute wreak because it was way too soon! Something had to have gone wrong! I was running down the halls trying to get there.
It turns out that the gastro doctor was done her part and wanted to fill us in on what went on while she was with Ben. The camera broke so she wasn't able to get any pictures but what she could see had "ridges", which is an indicator of EE, what they were looking for. She took a bunch of samples for biopsy and we would find out in 5-7 days the results. Ben did great during the tests and now the surgeon was working on his adenoids and the biopsy on his air way.
PHEW, that scared the crap out of me.
I sat down and Chris went to get us new drinks since he had tossed the ones we had when we were running upstairs, along with the deodorant that I left on the counter in the store. I waited. He came back with drinks. We waited. Mostly in silence. A weird kind of silence, a loud silence, if that makes any sense.
After a bit we were told that Ben was done and the surgeon would be out soon to talk to us. He came out just a minute later and let us know that everything went very smoothly. He said Ben's airway looked great and he would bet his house that the biopsy will come back fine. Yay! Ben had no problem being intubated and his stats were perfect the whole time!
PHEW, now I just wanted to get my baby in my arms.
A few minutes later we were told we could go back to where Ben was so we would be there when he woke up. He was sleeping peacefully for a little bit and pointed to the picture on the ceiling when he first woke up. For a couple of hours he was in and out of sleep, cranky, uncomfortable, and just feeling yucky.
They gave him an extra dose of pain meds in the IV before they took it out because he seemed to be really uncomfortable and had a case of the chills.
He was in his daddy's strong arms.... And, although he wasn't in a very happy mood, he was glad to be in Mommy and Daddy's arms again.
And, boy were we happy to have him there again!
It's was a long recovery, well longer then I expected for sure. He really took just about a week before he was back to himself again. We had a lot of cuddle time.
Again we waited. This time for the results of the biopsy. I did some research and was pretty sure that Ben was in fact dealing with an allergic reaction in his esophagus. I have been so scared and just consumed with worry.
Finally today, 9 days later, we got the call with the results. NEGATIVE! He does not have EE, the disease that they thought he had! THANK YOU GOD! This was WONDERFUL news! AMAZING news!
He does have acid reflux and that was present and obvious in the biopsies. We have figured that since he was a tiny baby and have been medicating him for it.
So the plan is to keep him on the reflux meds and the appetite enhancer. We will meet with Dr. R in a few weeks and decide where to go from here.
But tonight, I will sleep without the worry and fear that has been with me! Well, I will try to sleep, hopefully Ben will let me!
Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers throughout the last couple of weeks and more!
After the hard work of making the masterpieces for Daddy they went outside and played in the hose and dirt!
I got them nicely cleaned up and then they gave Daddy the gifts that they had for him. Katelyn had made him a fishing pole with an attached fish that told daddy that he was the perfect catch.
Chris loved all the gifts that the kids worked so hard on and gave to him.
Justsoyaknow... 
She had her best friend sleep over for the very first time! She has never had any friends sleep over! You should have seen the look of excitement and shock when I asked her if she wanted to have Ryley sleep over.
The girls had a great time and did so well that I won't be so hesitant to have sleep-overs again. They slept on an air mattress in the playroom which worked out great.
What a great time we had watching Connor graduate from kindergarten. We are so proud of him!
Although I am pretty sure he wass thinking he may catch her in the net that he was carrying around.
