The real Timothy is starting to return, but this entry would have been different if I had written it early this morning.Monday night in the hospital was easy.  The lack of sleep for Laura and me was our own fault, with an assist from the piece of toast sofa bed.  But Timothy was an angel.Maybe it was the full moon last night, but if Monday was the Good Ship Lollipop, Tuesday night was the Titanic.We felt horrible for Timothy because he was clearly uncomfortable and in pain and possibly hungry.  He spent the night trying to sleep, but waking right up and thrashing his legs and arms wildly.  The nurses put socks on his hands, but the Incredible Hulk ripped those off.  They put plastic protectors to restrict his arms, but he tore those off.  He ripped the feeding tube out of his nose, which then had to be rethreaded into his stomach.  (I warned the young boy that he’d pay if we lost our room deposit)

It causes one to ask, ‘Where were the boy’s parents during all of this?’ and that’s the thing — Laura and I took turns with him throughout the night, helplessly trying to figure out how to make him more comfortable.

In the end, we knew that his colon surgery was major surgery, and that he would need time to recover.  But late Tuesday afternoon, he seemed pretty good and like he was on the path for a quick comeback.  It’ll just take a little more time for him to recover.  And the most important thing remains that the surgeries went very well.  Eye on the prize.

There were also a few bright spots last night…

As Timothy kicked his legs around in his crib in the dark room, with a bright lit up oxygen monitor on his left toe, it looked like a kid waving a sparkler on the Fourth of July.

And last night, as we gazed at Timothy, something seemed different, and Laura realized that in order to remove the IV from his head, the surgeons/ stylists had cut Timothy’s hair.  He’s not exactly GI Joe, but the middle of his hair – what his sisters call his ‘comb over’ – was definitely trimmed up.  So baby got his ears and colon fixed, and his first haircut to boot.

Who says Americans don’t get much for their healthcare dollar?

Fortunately, by late morning today, Timothy was resting much better and was looking at us and interacting with us and was much more himself, and he’s continued to progress during the afternoon.  It’s good to see him again.

So we just wait for signs that the plumbing is working – ie, some poop and/or gas – and then we can work on feeding him more and start on our way out, probably this weekend.

Grateful for the return of the TRBL we know,

The Lees