"Perfectly clean..."

Life has not slowed down in the least since returning from our Minnesota vacay. There have been moments, hours even when iced teas were sipped in the sweltering afternoon sun while the boys rode through the neighborhood on their bikes but those have been few and far between as we have continued on from one thing to the next!! But it's all good things. Trust me. For this post, I'll keep focus on the more recent "good thing" and save the camping pics, house painting pics, summering pics for another update (hopefully in the near future).

This one is all about Carson.

The fact that his story continues, and God penned His best chapter yet! As far as we're concerned anyway. Oh I know, Carson is only 8...and there is a lot of chapters yet to be written (God-willing), but this was a good one. Our favorite to date.

Carson in the foyer/entry way of University of Salt Lake Hospital

I won't recap for the sake that I know many of you already know the cumbersome/joyful/trying/tiring/faithful/vague/frustrating details of the road we've walked with Carson and his hearing, or lack thereof. Surgery number 5 was set for this summer and we made the trek to Salt Lake City once again, hopes high that this would finally be the surgery to start the healing and restoring. Pre-op was Tuesday afternoon and there is so much that hinges on those first 30 seconds when Dr. Shelton reclines that chair which is holding Carson, the scope with the camera on the end points into the ear canal and you hold your breath waiting to hear what words will escape the doctor's mouth as we all watch the screen on the wall. Dr. Shelton continues his talks of MN lakes and his experience flying into Minneapolis and all we want to hear is what exactly he sees....or doesn't see. And then it's finally out there---'no growth'. Tomorrow's surgery will consist of the doctor checking 2 places for any cholesteatoma but the plan is for the prosthesis to be put in place. *sigh...inward squeal....sideways happy glance to the hubby....*  

We practically skip our way down the hallway as we talk about what this means. I've never seen Carson so happy the day before a surgery! I mean, I've never seen Andy or I more happy/excited the day before a surgery!! Relief at it's finest. Time to have a fun evening together. And fun we had. :)

One final swim!!

one of many crazy jumps by this crazy boy!

movie time!!

Carson just chillin' with the Peanuts gang ;)

Then came the morning. Oh that anxious morning. I know many of you know exactly what I'm talking about--the hours are drawn out like never before, mindless reading isn't even mindless because you're mind is whirling. But you have to keep calm in front of your child, even when those anxious/nervous/scared tears start to fall on his face because you've talked to death with nurses and those who are trying to 'help' exactly what it's like when your son comes out of the anesthesia. And he's heard every word and remembers like it was yesterday. Ugh. That was hard. Tears escaped. We prayed. We consoled. I kissed his damp cheek. We hugged. I reaffirmed God was right there with him. But we had to leave him. Walking out of pre-op was harder than ever before. Our brave boy, who had just given a thumbs-up about heading into surgery, was suddenly worried about the aftermath. But the waiting room beckoned and so we headed that direction...to which I nearly immediately headed for the Starbucks. Then began that dreaded wait. We got 'the call' when surgery started...(keep in mind, this is a rather large, and absolutely fantastic hospital, so updates are regular as we can watch his progress on a board & get phone calls from the front desk right outside the OR) ...and hearing that he went to sleep ok and the doctor was beginning the procedure was a bit of a relief.....but there was still the unknown of what exactly would be found once he "got in there." Then began the Bible verse reading, praying, coffee-sipping, mindless reading....and repeat. For about 3 hours.

hopefully this will be the last 'pre-surgery picture' for a while!!!

Thumbs-up for surgery!! Prosthesis time!!

And then came the call over the intercom from that front desk "Kendra.....patient last name Anderson..." and I'm pretty sure I was standing when the word "Kend" was heard. Dr. Shelton was on the other line as I picked up the phone. His first words were: "Surgery went really well. There was zero regrowth and his ear was perfectly clean". Let me repeat that one more time. Perfectly. Clean. He continued on by saying the prosthesis went in as planned and it was a really smooth surgery! I asked a few questions, he talked just a bit more, and with that, it was a matter of waiting until our son was in recovery and we could go back and see him. To hear those words, "perfectly clean" was something that has been 8 years in the making. Carson has always had a bit of that tumor, that cholesteatoma regrowth in his ear, since the day he was born, so to hear that was the epitome of music to our ears!!! I couldn't even contain my tears as Andy and I rejoiced in our seats right there in that waiting room, giving God the glory for a journey that we've sought to travel persistently patient, yet always honoring Him. The waiting continued as we watched anxiously for someone to come & retrieve us so we could head back into recovery. It was quite a while, longer than ever before, but finally he came and I went back first....and this time, I couldn't believe my eyes. Again, many of you know the hard battles we've had with Carson waking up from anesthesia (and the lack of caring nurses a time or two) but this time, I think I may have stopped for a half a second to make sure I wasn't seeing things. He was sleeping. As in, lying still....not pulling at his I.V. or crying or coughing. I reached his bedside and a minute later, his eyes opened, accompanied with a half smile to which he shifted his right hand toward me, and muttering "hold my hand"...so I did. Off and on all afternoon. A quick 15 minutes later and we were all brought to our private recovery room to where Carson reclined on my lap for the next 3 hours working through that anesthesia, coughing just ever so slightly (different), feeling nauseous but never actually getting sick (different), sleeping off and on (different), finishing off 4 purple popsicles (different), and finally after a long nap, woke up ready to go! He cried for his brothers off and on (be still this mama's heart!) and was still quite disoriented and groggy, but this was by far the easiest time of waking up post-surgery we've ever had to grow through!! Another detail that we couldn't praise God enough for!!! The wheelchair arrived and it was all smiles as we make our way to the van.

working on a popsicle

sleeping deeply and peacefully :)



and he's awake and ready to go! (the dark lips compliments of that grape popsicle)

My favorite picture of the day!! Carson is ready to go home!! ALL SMILES!!!

After a good sleep, our boy is ready to go!! :)

If I were to list the details of God's faithfulness throughout all of this, even in just this past week, well, it would be quite lengthy. I'll save that for our faith journal. ;) Carson is on the road to recovery, healing quite nicely and having minimal pain. We won't know how much hearing is restored for a while--it could be anywhere from a month to 6 months, maybe even longer. We'll be back in SLC for his post-op, along with our list of questions, in a few weeks. To say thank you for all your prayers, texts, phone calls, messages, cards, etc. doesn't seem like enough...but for now, I can only say thank you. We are humbly blessed. And we serve a God who is so much bigger than any choloesteatoma tumor and is definitely still in the miracle business. :)

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty, I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust' " 
Psalm 91:1-2