Caleb & Della: November 2014

11/08/14: Healing

Della is continuing to heal well! She still has a drain in but that will be out soon. We went to the doctor on Wednesday and Thursday for post-op and he taught me how to care for her so our next appointment is for this Monday. We lived with mom and dad for a bit but with the fleas and cats we decided it would be best to more over to our friends, John and Jordan. We lived with them just before we moved to El Salvador so we are already used to their company. We have now had a chance to unpack and eat at some of the restaurants we missed. Della gets tired easily right now, with all her healing so we haven’t had a chance to make it out too far or do too much. Yesterday, we had lunch with my grandparents which are Charlotte’s great grandparents! Sadly, I never got to meet my great grandparents. Today, Della felt up to doing a little shopping with mom and Leanna while Little Charlotte and I went over to Christina’s house. I replaced the breaks and changed the oil for extra car while Christina watched Charlotte. Now that’s done, Christina said we can borrow that car until we are able to find one we want to buy. I am still working on the job situation… Hopefully I will know something more next week.

Jordan took this picture of Charlotte

My Grandma and Grandpa holding Charlotte

Mom, Dad and Charlotte

Della's Grandma and aunt

Christopher giving Charlotte a bottle

My first attempt at an origami eagle.
I made this as a gift for our surgeon.
Took about 5 hours and the design came from Origami Sequence #4

11/04/14: Surgery

Della wanted a big greasy biscuit so I went to get some breakfast. They took my money and then told me I had to wait ten minutes for it to cook… Della finished eating about 8:00. Then I took care of Charlotte while Della got ready. At 10:30, we left for our appointment with the surgeon. As we were in the waiting room waiting, I could hear the secretary making calls to all of tomorrow’s appointments. To each one she said that the surgeon had an emergency cancer surgery come up for tomorrow and that they would need to reschedule to the next available time which was January 16th! We would have had to wait more than two months if the OBGYN hadn’t called this appointment in for us! We hadn’t waited long before we were called back to the examination room. The office manager came in and took down all the information about Della’s treatment history. Then the surgeon came in and examined Della and said she needed to have surgery ASAP and that he believed he could make time this afternoon! We explained to his office manager that we didn’t have insurance and we needed to have at least an idea of the cost. She then went to work cutting prices and making phone calls. It took several minutes and we prayed hard while we waited. I was changing Charlotte’s diaper when she came back and she told us the cost which, praise God, we can pay. It was12:30 when we left the office so we had just enough time to take Charlotte back to mom and dad’s house for Leanna to babysit her. Our appointment was at 1:30 so I didn’t have time for lunch and thankfully Della had not eaten anything since breakfast. If she had she would not have been able to have to surgery for that reason alone. We arrived on time at the Madison Surgery Center and they took Della back for preparation right away. I read four chapters of Acts while I waited and then they called me back. I was able to visit with her for a few minutes and then they sent me back to the Lobby saying that the operation should take about 45 minutes. I read one more chapter of Acts, and then Pat showed up to visit. She asked me exactly what Della was having done and as soon as I opened my mouth they called me back again. The doctor explained that the surgery had gone well and that it was completely necessary. He said that there was a large pocket that the aspiration could not reach. He said that the surgery was a success and that he was confident that she would not need any future surgeries for this! The doctor then left saying that he had another surgery to go to. I was then shown to where Della was waking up. I made some phone calls to let everyone know and found that Grandpa and Grandma were in the waiting room. I was told that Della would need about an hour before she would be ready to leave. That hour went well and Della felt well enough that she said she wanted me to get Zaxby's on the way home. We ate and then Della went straight to bed. Then Leanna continued to watch Charlotte for us while I went to the pharmacy to get some prescriptions filled for Della. We are so overwhelmed at how awesome God is right now! He has taken care of us so greatly! We are also overwhelmed at how I was able to send out a few emails and we were able to have so many people praying for Della during her surgery.

Della, ready for surgery

Della waking up from surgery

11/03/14: Visiting the Doc

Charlotte didn’t sleep much at all again last night…We spent most of the morning resting. My computer finally arrived around lunch time but I didn’t have time to hook it up before it was time to leave. Our appointment today was for the nurse practitioner of the OBGYN. The appointment was made so recently that the OBGYN didn’t have time to see us. When we got there, we explained our situation to the clerk and she told us how much it would cost. The wait was not too long and Della had to spend the whole time filling out papers. Della explained that she had been on three different antibiotics and about the procedure she had had last Thursday to the practitioner. Then the practitioner examined Della and said this was pretty serious and she needed time to think. When she came back she had the OBGYN with her, who was super nice. She explained that the clock was ticking on Della. She recommended that Della have surgery and said Della needed to see the Ultrasound specialist ASAP. So she called downstairs to the Brest Center and they said they could see Della right now and then she said not to worry about the cost! Della spent several hours at the Brest Center and when they aspirated her they found that there was a strong mixture of blood and milk more than pus. I am afraid that the procedure Della had done in El Salvador last Thursday was a mistake. They just do not have the equipment there needed to carefully complete such a procedure. Della’s appointment to see the surgeon is tomorrow at 11:00. Then we went to Encore Furniture to visit mom and get our phones set up. Christina came by and she brought us a gift. The gift was a wet-wipe warmer! We got home at 7:00 and Jim came over around 7:30. Jim shared his wisdom and encouragement and assured us that Central was going to help with the medical and travel expenses. Today went better than we had hoped. We were amazed at God and his provisions for us. Della is still in a lot of pain but we are hopeful.

Me and Charlotte at Encore

Me, Charlotte and my mom at Encore

Our family at Encore

11/02/14: Reunion

Charlotte, despite being exhausted from the travels, didn’t sleep much at all. But Della said that she thought she was well enough to go to church and see everyone. We managed to get there at 9:30 and we went to our old young and marrieds class. The class was packed and everyone was surprised to see us. I said a sentence or two and then Alan taught the class continuing their series on doctrines. We hugged lots of people and shook lots of hands on the way to the main assembly. Then I asked if I could have an opportunity to say a couple of words and they said I could do the Lord’s Supper. For the bread, I talked about the body and how much it has meant to me to have to depend on it and how generous and supporting everyone has been. Then for the wine, I talked a little about the birth of Charlotte. Then for offering, I talked about how there is so much more that we have received from here and there then just money. Rodney then gave the sermon. Afterword we visited with as many as possible and then went to lunch at Newks with a lot of our friends. Della and I were exhausted by the time we got home. After resting for a bit, Bradley picked me up to go over to Jamie’s house to watch The Walking Dead. It felt just like old times. We are overwhelmed to be back and are so happy to see everyone again. Della has felt pretty rough today but we are hopeful that the doctor visits will go well tomorrow.

Charlotte and Dad

Charlotte and Dad with his cool smile

Just about to leave for our first day at church together

In front of Central church of Christ!

11/1/14: Day 243: Travels

We woke up at 4:00 to finish our packing. Mom woke up and cooked a huge breakfast with all the leftovers. Then Fernando, Samuel, and Osvaldo arrived and helped us load our bags. We managed to leave the house pretty close to on time and I said my final goodbye to Fernand. Samuel gave me a gift that had Proverbs 18:24 wood-burned on the back. Then we left and Samuel drove our car while Osvaldo drove a van. I rode in the van with mom, Christina, and Dan and made good time for the getting to the airport. Everything seemed a blur, today and yesterday. We pulled up to the unloading area and got our luggage out but there wasn’t any time to waste because of where they were parked. We got a few last photos in and then they were gone. We had so many bags that we had to get two carts to get them all to the check-in. Everything went smoothly and no one had anything confiscated as we went through security. Thankfully, Della is feeling a good bit better today; I guess she just needed a day to recuperate from the operation she had Thursday. She was able to hold Charlotte while I carried all the carry-on bags throughout the day of travels. I read most of The Great Divorce while I was on the plane and it turned out to be a different book than I thought it would be. After our first flight I witnessed a small group of people that were in great distress for having missed their flight. I was standing in line to check the ticket situation for Charlotte and they were in the same line. They asked if they could cut in front of me and I asked if I could pray for them. Then after our last flight, I noticed the pilot was letting some kids sit in the cockpit now that the plane was landed. We went down to the baggage claim and looked all over for dad because he said that he would be there. Then I realized that he was probably in another area and sure enough there he was, waiting where he thought we would be. It was great to hug dad for the first time in eight months. I showed him where everyone else was and got some pictures of him holding his first granddaughter for the first time. Then we pulled the bags off the line while dad went to get the van. Sure enough, all our bags except for one made it. Apparently it was left in Houston and they said they would deliver it to the house tomorrow. The ride home from Birmingham was long and Charlotte cried most of the way because she was hungry. It was 40 degrees Fahrenheit here which is a good bit colder than we were used to. We arrived at mom and dad’s house around midnight and tried to sleep but Charlotte had a difficult time. I guess she is just as overwhelmed as we are.