Thursday afternoon I received a phone call from my Daddy telling me that he and my Mom were on their way to Children's Hospital with my little brother. Earlier that day, Cody had two small seizures at school. After much debate, they decided to go ahead and take him to the ER just to get him checked out. You see, Cody has Cerebral Palsy and having small seizures every now and then is not uncommon for him. However, he just hadn't been acted like his normal self which made my parents go ahead and let someone check him out.
Thankfully, my good friend Kendra was available to watch my sweet babies so I could go be with my brother and parents at the hospital. I arrived at the ER to see my baby brother on oxygen and very groggy. On oxygen, his levels were only staying around 93. Which is way too low! The Doctor discovered via an x-ray that Cody had a small pocket of pneumonia. However, it was not enough to be causing all the symptoms he had been experiencing. They decided to keep him over night and over the weekend. The plan was to have a few test ran on Monday and if his oxygen level came up and held it's own - he's be home by Tuesday.
Well, earlier today Cody began throwing up things that he shouldn't have been throwing up. They did a x-ray and what they saw was what they thought were his intestines blocked. They immediately said he needs to go into surgery, today! I was pulling into the parking garage at Children's when I received the crying phone call from my Mom. I then called Scott and told him he needed to be there. I immediately began to think the worst. I honestly didn't know if Cody would pull through the surgery or not. I was worried because of how his oxygen level had been so low and didn't know if he could handle the anesthesia. I prayed all the way up to room 342 for God to give me strength to hold it together for my parents. Praying for wisdom for the Doctors who were about to do surgery on my precious baby brother. Praying that God would give grace and strength to my parents. The doctors talked about things urgently and with authority. They weren't really sure of what they were getting into. I could not imagine hearing the news my parents had just heard about my own children. Scott called our Associate Pastor, Nathan, and he sent out a phone call to our church body to ask for prayers for Cody. Prayers is what he needed!
Prayer is a funny thing. You may not hear everyone's prayer for you but you can always feel it. With the family all gathered at Cody's bedside we had a moment of family prayer. Tears were shed. Souls were put at peace. We even shared a few laughs afterwards when little man looked up and smiled at us all. He knew he was going to be just fine! One of the greatest things about prayer is that no words have to be spoken because my God knows our hearts! He knows are wants, our fears, our desires. I am so thankful for an all-knowing and an all-powerful Savior.
Many prayers were asked for my baby brother and they were definitely felt. As we gathered in the surgery waiting room there was a sense of peace in the room. We were able to share some laughs and have some peace. The surgeons told us that Cody's surgery would last anywhere between 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Well, Cody was out in about an hour. Because of so many prayers - Cody's intestines were fine. In fact, all of his organs looked great. The only problem was that his pancreas was a little firm and there was some fluid inside his tummy that they were able to suck out. They sent that fluid off to see if it was an infection. Cody came out of surgery fine and immediately woke up from his anesthesia. We didn't get any answers to what was causing him to throw up - but, praise the Lord the surgery is over and for right now all is well.
We are still awaiting some tests results and some more tests will be done in the next few days. But, tonight my baby brother is resting comfortably in 342 (not in ICU like anticipated) and my God is great! He is good and I am so thankful He answers prayers.
I love how God works things out and even prepares us for certain things. Candice had just said this morning in Sunday School isn't it great that we can lean on God when things get hard. That when we are desperate He knows our hearts and knows what we need. Well, today the Gaylors were desperate and our Lord heard our cry. He knew what we needed and He took care of my precious Cody. I could not imagine not having the Lord to lean on in times of trouble.
God is good! I am so thankful He has given me some great friends to help me with my children during these crazy days. I am so thankful for all of you that offered to watch them and who offered your prayers to us. Please continue to pray for Cody. He has a long road ahead of him. Please pray for my parents. They need strength and comfort. My mom, who is a dialysis patient, is doing exceptionally well with everything considered. Mom suffers from extreme panic attacks but remarkably hasn't had too much problem with it during Cody's stay in the hospital. Kendra said it best this evening, "That is what prayer does. Gives us strength we never knew we had!"
I just wanted to take some time to catch everyone up and brag on my Jesus for a bit. So, glad He's all we need!
Special thanks to our family for waiting with us during surgery, Rachel & Jeff for watching my babies this afternoon, Kendra & Andrew for watching my kids this evening, Ben & Nathan for visiting us at the hospital, the nurses and doctors of Children's Hospital, and all of our friends for praying for Cody today!
PS - If you had photos made in the past few days, please be patient with me to get them edited. I'll be going to the hospital often this week but will get your photos finished as soon as I can! Thank-you so much for understanding.
