surgery on thursday

thank you again, to all who have looked at the care calendar link for us. we so appreciate it!

on thursday, james is having a surgery that we are very hopeful will make a huge difference. he will have a small device implanted in his side, called an intrathecal drug pump.

here is what a site online has to say about it:

intrathecal drug delivery, or 'pain pump' is a method of giving medication directly to your spinal cord. the system uses a small pump that is surgically placed under the skin of your abdomen and delivers medication through a catheter to the area around your spinal cord - similar to an epidural that women may have during childbirth. a pain pump may be a treatment option if all other traditional methods have failed to relieve your long-term symptoms. because the medication is delivered directly to the spinal cord, your symptoms can be controlled with a much smaller dose than is needed with oral medication. the goal of a drug pump is to better control your symptoms and to reduce oral medications; thus reducing their assoicated side effects.

so, if it works like it should, it could really make life much better. we are praying that it works and that this would be the beginning of a new phase of 'good' life for james.

the surgery is scheduled for 7am, so we have to get there at 6am. wednesday night the kids will get to stay with gigi and papo, which everyone loves! we shouldn't be there too long, though they will take some time to get the pain medication level correct once the device is implanted.

thank you for praying and for continuing on the journey with us!