Let the cathing begin

Jacob has now been using the catheter for about 24 hours. He "caths" every two hours and also has to be diligent in drinking lots of fluids. At night, we hook him back up to the SP tube and a bag.

It is certainly a unique challenge for both us and him. He wants to do it himself, but there is a point during the cath process where he still needs our help.

As you continue to pray, please give thanks that the cath process has been going well so far. There are several potentially challenging situations that can arise as we enter this new phase. The main concern is the development of bladder stones. The best way to avoid these is to drink lots of water, cath regularly and also flush/irrigate periodically.

Another huge praise is his colostomy - it has been working beautifully and the bag changes take less than half the time they did before the revision.

So what's next? We will continue to cath every two hours during the day and hook him up to a bag at night. With every cath, we must measure the output from the cath and then the SP tube. The goal is to have nearly all of the "liquid gold" coming from the cath and none left in the bladder to drain out the SP tube.

Beginning tomorrow, if the output is good, we will try to spread the intervals out a little further to 2.5 hours. If things continue to go well, by Monday, we might extend to three hour intervals.

We may look to have the SP tube removed as early as 12/30, but that is still up in the air.

Thank you for your diligent and faithful prayers.

"Let mine eyes see Jesus only. Let my lips speak forth his praise."

Mommy and Daddy