Collin made it through the endoscopy just fine. I was able to be with him until he went completely asleep. Of course, since he has never been put to sleep before, he was out with the pre-meds. I got funny pictures of him, like he asked, so he could go back and look at them.

We were sitting the room during the procedure and the lights went out in the hospital. TWICE! They came to check on us and I thought, “Don’t worry about US, I’m worried about my child!” They called from the GI Lab and said they were working off a generator and he was fine. They had to cancel the rest of the surgeries for the day. We were very lucky that they had already started on Collin or he would not have been able to have the procedure done.

Dr. Farooq was in our room within 45 minutes! His pancreas looked great, he said. He took biopsies of his bile duct area, duodenum, stomach, and esophagus. He said that he saw some abnormality in his esophagus and we will know more when the biopsy comes back. The biggest relief was seeing a normal pancreas at this point for a baseline endoscopy.

Our schedule has been changed a little and we will spend all day at St. Jude next Monday when Collin will have his MRI. They will take so many slices (pictures) during the MRI that they will need to put him to sleep for this. We will be there all day and are not scheduled to see Dr. Federico till 5 p.m. and his MRI is at 8 a.m. As they say, not our first rodeo. But we know to take things to do. And definitely know our way around.

Collin wasn’t feeling very well yesterday. It took about four hours to get him awake to the point that they would let us go home after the procedure. His throat was very sore. I got him a large blast from Sonic Monday night and it has taken him two days to eat it. He tried to go to school yesterday and that’s all we asked him to do was try. He ended up coming home around 10:30, which was okay with me. I don’t bounce back after procedures the day after either. He ended up sleeping with me last night, which is VERY rare. We crashed about 8 p.m.

Please continue to pray for Collin as we spend next week at St. Jude. With everything he is facing and dealing with, I personally have decided to not make school something that he hates. He is so down on himself about school because he is not doing well in any of his major subjects. I just want us to get through this year and know that he will bounce back once the enormity of what we have faced has somewhat faded into the back of his mind. I can’t imagine handling everything he is trying to handle at age 13.

One other request, if you do not live in Memphis, you might not have seen the news. Ron Hardin who works in the medicine room at St. Jude had his bag stolen out of his car. Ron collected the bracelets from the kids of St. Jude. Trey gave him one of his Pray for Trey bracelets and it was stolen. I am working on trying to replace some of his bracelets. If you know of someone who has a St. Jude patient with their own bracelet that they could mail to me, please send them to me at 130 N. Court, Memphis, TN 38103. I have told Ron that I will work as best I can to replace as many as I can to help with the memories of the families that invested in his life and all the families HE invested in.

Thank you for being a prayer warrior for my family. Days have been rough lately. I had a very bad day Sunday and all I could do was cry. Jay asked me what triggered it and it was just looking at Trey’s picture and knowing on Monday I was going to walk into a hospital with my baby to go down the path again. I know that God has a purpose and with all things he can turn a situation for good. We just have to be willing to be the open vessel. I have to always remember, I am a sinner saved by grace and that sometimes my mourning can turn to pity and I need to snap out of it! Some days are better than others. Without my husband, I’m telling you, I do not know what I would do without Jay. Some situations like this pull people so far apart. Not us. I’m not saying we don’t have bad days, but he is always there for me for a good hug. I love his hugs. And if there is anything I miss about Trey, it’s his hugs that his daddy taught him. Teach your children how to hug. Even if you are playing around. They will one day give comfort to someone in need and might save them from something that they will never know about.

1 Peter 3:17-18
“For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that HE might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. . .”

P.S.  I’m going to post a picture of Jay and Trey.  This is while we were waiting in the Clinic at St. Jude on day.  Some days it can drive you crazy – the waiting.  I think they expressed their feelings very well.  I think I have a right to say this as many times as I like.  I sure miss my boy.  I miss his smile and how he made me laugh and made others smile.  He showed Jesus.