Surgery Week

We just came back from a great weekend at my parent’s lake.  When RJ first came home he watched a video of Jackson skiing behind my dad’s boat and ever since he’s been talking about taking a ride on Papa’s boat and learning to ski.  Well the weather didn’t hold up so well for skiing but he did get his wish to drive papa’s boat today and he was very excited!  A little later he fell asleep on the boat and we thought it was so cute only to have him wake up and we realized he doesn’t quite have his “sea legs” yet and had a bit of motion sickness.  Poor little buddy got to spend the rest of the ride on the front of hte boat with me hanging his head over the side!  He did still say he had fun though :)

This weekend would’ve been the weekend we would go to Camp Masala and meet up with our other India adoptive families but RJ was very clear that he wasn’t ready.  We’re glad he was honest and we were able to respect his feelings but we sure do hope we can get to go next year.  I really want him to hold on to that heritage but time will tell how he feels about it.  He’s old enough to let us know how he feels.

RJ finished up kindergarten really well and will be going into first grade next year.  He is still a little behind but I think with time will catch up.  He’s already talking about Mrs. Post and how he’ll get to stay at school all day and pick a prize from her treasure chest if he’s good all week.  I really think that is going to be a good motiviation for him.  When he was having some trouble a few months ago we found that behavior charts and rewards really work for him.  He loves to have something he can see progress on and be able to color in or put a sticker on.  He’s his momma’s boy ;)

We went on vacation the end of May and he was awesome!  We wondering how he would do being away from home for 10 days and sleeping a few different places and he was a real trooper!  I think the few things we have done to ease him in have done wonders for him.  We did one overnight in a hotel all together, we let grandma put him to bed on a night we went out but would be home quickly after, then we stayed out a little later the next time, then he saw Emma and Jackson go have a sleepover at grandma’s and come back home and so on.  We are honestly so, so thankful that he has the bigger kids to watch and learn from.  He takes in everything that they do and realizes that everyone comes back together even if they are gone a few days.  All these things he has handled extremely well and I’m so thankful.  One big test will begin in July when all the kids and I move to MI for five weeks to take Laila to the therapy camp she attends.  We’ll be coming home on the weekends so he understands that we still have our house and that we are still all together but this daddy’s boy might not handle five days straight with only mommy each week.  We’ll see…..

And on to the big event of the week.  Tuesday afternoon RJ will have his first surgery.  This came much quicker than we had expected but he is ready and no time like the summer for recovery.  I’ll explain the details for anyone interested.  Ranjit is missing his right eye.  For the past several months we have been visiting an ocularist every 4-5 weeks for prosthetic eyes.  At first it started out small and they have been gradually increasing the size to push and round out the tissue in his ocular cavity.  This has been extremely sucessful but all the while, a prosthetic is not meant to be that large in size so it has been a bit goopy and irritating the last few months.  Tuesday what they will do is slit the tissue and basically shove a bouncy ball in there and stitch the tissue back closed.  No seriously, the ocularist walked in with a hand full of implants and showed them to RJ and threw them up in the air and they all went bouncing around the room.  We LOVE her!!  This impant is not an eye.  No one will ever see it as it is just meant to be in the cavity and keep the shape, it will be completely covered by the tissue they have been stretching and possibly some donor tissue if he doesn’t have enough.  Then we wait until everything is healed before he is able to wear a new prosthetic.  This will probably be about 8 weeks.

RJ doesn’t really understand what is going to happen.  I’ve explained it to him the best I can.  He knows he’s going to take a nap at the doctor and then when he wakes up he’s going to be in a lot of pain for awhile.  I’ve been told this is a very, very painful procedure.  They will attach what muscle they can to the implant and then every time he moves his good eye, it will also move the implant.  Ouch!  It will stretch and pull those newly attached muscles.  There is also a possibility that there will not be enough muscle to attach.  If this happens they will leave the implant in there unattached and hope it takes but his body could also reject it and slowly push it out through the stitches.  Tough but this is what the doctor thinks is our best chance if his body will make it work.

Please pray that he has enough muscle to attach and that this surgery is successful.  Please also pray that RJ feels comfortable enough to show his vulnerability and tell me when he is in pain so I can help him.

Thanks for sticking with us and we so appreciate your prayers!