My Happily Ever After: Germ Avoidance

Operation - "Avoid all Germs" is in full swing.

Gavin is scheduled for his spine surgery on November 4. That means our one primary goal is to keep him healthy. Sick Gavin means no surgery, and that means starting from square one on blood/urine test. So on strict orders from Surgeon's nurse, we are implementing extra hand washing, sanitizing phones, and staying home whenever possible. It will take an act of God to keep him healthy - kid always has his hands in his mouth! Prayers are welcomed!

Some of you following our journey remember the vertebrae anomaly in his lower spine. The technical name for it is a semi-segmented hemi-vertebrae (say that 10 times fast). Impressed with my medical terminology? Don't be - I had to practice saying it so many times - it was borderline OCD.

The surgery will be 3 hours long - and they will completely remove the extra 1/2 vertebrae in his lower back. Thankfully our sweet surgeon said this procedure is his favorite to do, and that kids Gavin's age heal like gang-busters.

We will be in the hospital for 5 days. The first 24-48 hours he will be in ICU - the nurse told me to warn family/friends that if they hear "ICU", not to be alarmed. It is normal protocol for patients to go straight to ICU - so consider yourselves warned.

Prayer specifics -

That God would be glorified in all we say/do, and that Gavin's journey would be one that we can look at and see God's finger prints everywhere.
For health before surgery and after surgery.
For the surgeon (Dr. Polly - sweet, sweet man)/anesthesiologist (Dr. Castro-our favorite...yes we have a favorite)/nurses - that they would handle Gavin as if he was their own. That God would guide their hands as they work with my sweet little boy. {pause for tears}
Patience. For Gavin before the surgery - no food is never a good thing for him. Patience. For us while we wait to get him back in our arms. Patience. For Gavin & us during our stay. One room - hooked to an IV pole - with lots of nurse checks (night and day)...it can make one weary. I am going to see what I can find for "new" exciting toys to bring with us...new seems to be better when it comes to keeping his attention.
Healing. Pray against infection in the incision and pray that he heals quickly. The incision will be below the diaper line, so you can imagine the risk for infection.

We can't thank you all enough for the encouragement that we have received so far on this journey.