The one week countdown

In 7 days Tomas goes in for his surgery. He is having a morgagni (liver) hernia repaired, hiatal (stomach) hernia repaired, nissen (using a piece of the stomach to wrap around and tighten the esophagus to prevent reflux) redone, gallbladder removed, and bowel hernias & adhesions repaired. It is a 4 hour operation with 2 surgeons, post-op to PICU and expected hospital stay of a week.
I keep prepping myself and was ready last month before it was cancelled. It is time to get ready again. This is the hard part. When we were taking Victoria through the halls to the OR we bumped into Tomas' surgeon. He told my husband he was losing hair just thinking about the surgery. I know he was trying to be compassionate and letting us know he takes it as seriously as we do, but it still pops into my head every now and then.
I have been praying for some down time before we have to head back into the trenches and yesterday my prayers were answered. Victoria perked up quite a bit and we headed out to the library and the girl's choir practice - she didn't sing but it was nice to see friends and just listen to the other kids. Today she is sliding backwards a bit but I hope every day brings a little more stamina for them both. I am hoping the mono is behind us as well.
I got a call from Tomas' pulm the other night and she asked how he was doing. That is never good. When the doc calls out of the blue to check on your kids you know something is up. She had run a culture a few days before when he was really congested and was calling with the results. He was (and is) still coughing and sounds congested, but all upper resp. stuff. She told me he is growing strep pneumonia and moraxcella, 2 of the 3 most common sinus infection/pnuemonia bacteria. So he started on antibiotics and we are praying like crazy his chest is clear for next week. It is also probably why Victoria had such a hard time recovering until she started on antibiotics herself.
My mother in law is arriving tomorrow and staying for 3 weeks and then Mike's Aunt will arrive for 2 more weeks, so I will have house and meals covered, hopefully for long after I will need them. They are life savers. Mike is taking a week off, and I am trying to gather some fun stuff for the girls to do when they come to visit at the hospital. Thankfully, flu season is over so they are allowed on the floors again (but not PICU - I will tag team with Mike and one of us will stay while the other goes to the family waiting with them).
Please pray for him, for us, for his medical team, the nurses and staff. In theory this could be his last surgery. Knowing that you all lift us up in prayer is a comfort I can not describe. It is my most fervent wish to one day be able to pay forward the goodness that has come into our lives since Tomas was born.