I expect that you all may be tiring of my updates.  

Do you feel like you're on this up and down, topsy-turvy, motion-sickness-inducing ride with us yet?

I completely understand ... it IS nauseating.

I only just posted 24 hours ago.  

Rees got discharged from the hospital.  All was well. 

We had a quiet, relaxing evening and tucked our little guy in bed propped with his blue donut on pillows.  

When I woke up this morning to check on him, I was immediately gripped by serious panic and fear.  

Rees was covered in blood around his head and face, as well as the donut, pillow cases and sheets.  

I NEVER saw so much blood in all my life.  

I. WAS. FRANTIC.

He was awake but he was just laying there as if he couldn't move.

I began making phone calls ...

... left sketchy messages 

struggled to get dressed ... 

ohhhh ... I am rather disappointed with how much I struggled.

Fast-forward through all the details that I can't share with you via photos (as I normally would), my good friend and I got to the hospital with Rees and all the evidence in bags.  

Rees wasn't actively bleeding any longer but I was really concerned that he would need to be given blood.  He had lost so much that he was wobbly and threw up a few times.  I assumed that the blood had come from the location of where the distractor rods were.  He had oozed and bled from those spots while in the hospital, but NOTHING like this.  

The surgeon came to see Rees and after some discussion, he asked whether or not I had "turned" the rods this morning, to which I replied, "NO WAY!"  He said that the turning was necessary and I said, "Be my guest," and gave him the key.  He made the turn on one rod and Rees howled and began to jerk in the chair we had him in and when the Dr. went to turn the second rod, blood spurted everywhere and Rees screamed like crazy.

So, best we can figure is that Rees possibly turned his head during the night and perhaps the rod was jostled nicking a nearby vein.  Pressure was immediately applied with a gauze sponge and after a few minutes the bleeding stopped, as did Rees' screaming.  

The sensitivity of this child's situation is really a detriment and hindrance to normal healing expectations.  

Frustrating is ... once we got back home with him, he began oozing from the rod that was turned at the hospital.  That was almost eight hours ago and he is still oozing.  We have changed the gauze several times.  He seems to be comfortable and not in any pain as long as we don't over-touch.  But this is worrying ... 

... PLEASE PRAY WITH US! 

And we'll watch for our LORD to take over and do what needs to be done.  

... UPDATE: later, we learned that the oozing was NORMAL because of the residual blood inside his head that was being "pushed" out as the distractors did their job of pushing Rees' forehead forward.  Ohhh ... okay, well that makes sense. After two days, the oozing completely stopped.  Hooray!!