Relief at Last!

Well, we met with the surgeon.  Here is what Josh has...get your dictionaries out unless you are into that type of lingo.  He has.."Colonic Inertia" in lamans terms....his colon doesn't work, at all...no if's and or buts.  After the sitzmark study and finding out that we actually took Josh off of all the laxatives so that the information was "real", it only made the "labeling" more correct.  It doesn't work.  I mean seriously, after how many years...I knew he had problems, but having a colon not working is a HUGE problem.  Generally my boys are healthy...or at least that is what I like to think...(not perfect...by any means...temper tantrums included, their different ways of handling problems, eating, cleaning...you know...boys.....) I would have never thought this...Anyways...back to the subject that I know many are waiting to see posted.
This means that they will take out his colon...all of it!  We had two choices of surgery...having Josh get a colonostomy bag or connecting the small intestine to his rectum (TMI).  I really had never seen a "bag" before, so the doctor left and within a few minutes came back with an employee who had one...She happened to be a girl...This is where Doug got a little uncomfortable....she began to lift her skirt, pull her spantz down just a little, or enough to see what color underwear she had and the bag itself.  She then told us how many times she empties it and she has different bags according to what she wears...HOLY COW!  Then she left...I would have never done that for my boss in a million years...so gold star for her.
With Josh, we thought it might not be wise because he might pull at it or something...so we are going with the other surgery.  This procedure will take 3 hours.  He is the first one that is scheduled for the 22nd of November. He will be in the hospital for a little over a week depending on how he heals and his pain.  Since he really can't communicate that, they are taking extra precautions.  The surgery will consist of 4 small holes, plus his belly button and a slit a little lower to take the colon out...So he will be like Jacob in having 5 belly buttons...Don't you feel left out?...
There you have it....It's actually a blessing...Dancesport will be over, Bry's final night for his musical is the same date as the surgery (but it's the last night, no worries there)  Doug and Jacob had furlough days from their school, so Doug has only 1 job to worry about for 2 days, Bry has 2 days of school and then Thanksgiving break.  I think Charlie get's Thanksgiving off and has already said he'd help with dinner.  This will be a great adventure to have the boys cook.  As for traditions, they might be put on hold, or just altered a little.

Doug and I both feel very good about this and can't wait to see the out come that it might have on Josh.