Well last night was....interesting. I'll try to be delicate in explaining what happened but you need to know some of it to know about the possible miracle. Yesterday they started her meds through her NG tube at about 1:00. As the day went on, and on, and on her stomach started to really get big and rumbly but nothing was happening. By 7:30 or so I tried to get her to go to sleep but she just couldn't. I imagine she wasn't exactly comfortable. Finally at 9:00 we started to get some results. And by results I mean the floodgates opened! Once I figured out that it was not stopping I stuck her on the potty and she proceeded to spend 2 solid hours from 9-11 pooping on the potty....non-stop. This from the child who had never done it! With the meds she couldn't control it so she had no choice. By 10:30 she was going down hill fast. This is a girl who needs her 6:30 bed time. She started to say "I don't ever want to do this again. I just want to go to bed." I couldn't let her up becuase it literally wasn't stopping. I did my best to entertain her and even fed her jello while she was sitting there to keep her mind off of her exhaustion. Finally at 11:00 I realized that things were slowing down so I got her up. I figured even if it was only for 10 minutes that was 10 minutes she could relax and lay down. Right at that time her meds ended (yes that was 10 hours of continuous meds) so they unhooked the bag from her NG tube and she crashed. The nurse came in for a vitals check at midnight and 4 but Oksana barely moved. Finally at about 7:30 she woke up and she was.....well....covered in it. The nurse and I got her all cleaned up and back on the potty again for just a short time. The doctor checked her out and gave the OK for her to go home so by 10am we were on the road.
 |
| She loved it when I climbed in her bed with her. I thought 24 hours stuck in a room with her pooping would be a nightmare but we actually had a good time together! |
 |
| Liquid diet. The closest thing she could have to food was orange jello. She was so sick of that by the end! |
 |
| I only ate things she didn't like and I ate them hiding in a corner :). |
 |
| They put 2 1/2 bags of this in her. This was the very end of it. It was a relief to see that gone! |
 |
| Breakfast!!! NG tube and IV free, she could finally eat food. She chose a gluten free blueberry muffin and a banana. She expressed her joy through the whole thing :). |
Here is where the miracle kicks in. She got home and I said "If you feel like you need to go to the bathroom I want you to yell 'POOP' and try your best to hold it until I get you on the potty." Low and behold she has done it all day long! At one point she was still going every 15 minutes or so and she would leak some but she would tell me every time and go on the potty. I still can't believe it! The reason it is a miracle is that after 8 years of hard core psych related poop issues she is pooping on the potty after only 24 hours in the hospital. The reason it is a "possible" miracle is that I'm still not willing to bank on the fact that this is going to stick and we are through this. After everything we've been through in the last 3 years with this issue I am having a hard time letting myself believe it is really going to all be over that fast.
I went to the store and grabbed a few little rewards to sweeten the deal. If she can go a whole day without pooping in her pants she can choose a reward. This NEVER would have worked before today but now that she is doing it and willing we can start to to use some reward systems to keep her motivated and make sure we stay on track. I really, really want this to be the end of these issues.
In other news, today I learned that 5 families submitted homestudies for the boy. We are the only ones that haven't been through the adoption portion of the training so they are rushing to figure out how to get us through that so we can be ready to move forward. I have to be honest. My heart sunk when I learned this. When we first learned about this boy I was nervous. I felt confident that God had told us to move forward but his needs were extensive. I remember thinking to myself that if they didn't choose us it would be OK. Since then I have researched more, learned more, and started to imagine life with him as one of us. I spend my days thinking "What would it be like if he was here?" I didn't realize how much I had grown to love the idea of having him here until I got that email. My heart sunk. I know that we could still be chosen but I feel like I need to prepare myself for the fact that we won't so I won't be too heart broken. With the training issue and the fact that we have 4 kids, 2 with special needs, it seems logical that they might choose a family who is ready and can give him more focused attention. If they don't choose us I will have myself a tiny pity party and move on. Really, I will. I know this is where God wants us and I know the best family will be chosen for him. That is truly what I want, and so it's OK, but I'll be sad for awhile before I focus back on foster care. Just waiting now.....again.
7 comments:
Wow! What a hospital experience! I hope she continues to use the potty at home -- how wonderful that would be! I know how you feel waiting to hear news on the little boy. I remember waiting and wondering and going from it will be ok if someone else is chosen to the place where I just felt like we "had" to be chosen. I will keep you in my prayers.
Wow, what an intense time. It seems like Oksana has kept pretty good spirits about the issue? Do you think continuously pooping for several hours will have released her from trauma? Does it seem like she has an awareness of it?
Calamity Anna, these are many of the same questions I am asking myself. I don't really have answers, I'm just hoping that whatever happened worked! I will say that she has kept very good spirits. The only time I saw her start to break was at 10:30 when she was exhausted and had been on the toilet for an hour and a half. I would have lost my good spirits really fast in that situation too! I will say that a long time ago we had to give her an enema and put her on the potty. She did poop because she couldn't stop it but she cried through the whole thing. This time she just said "Look, I'm pooping on the potty". It wasn't upsetting to her at all so I hope that alone shows that she is ready to move on.
That's great!! I know, I thought the same thing while reading it -- "gee, if it was me, I wouldn't have lasted that long, go Oksana!" and then wondered about the response from a super-traumatized kid. I'm happy for this breakthrough and will keep Oksana in my prayers.
Three cheers for Oksana!!! Does she feel a ton better?
I don't think she feels any different, to tell you the truth. No poop today because she is EMPTY but she tried so hard to go so she could get a prize :). I assured her she would go again soon!
Yay!! So awesome. This is a wound earful breakthrough, but if she's anything like my kiddo she is going to need daily encouragement too keep it up... The consistency pays off. She is doing great and that's a wonderful way to start. My kids have to drink an enormous amount of water daily ... Flax, mirilax, chia seeds, calm, a daily toilet time, some incentives, etc.. This is three years in. I hope it goes easier for your child.
Post a Comment