The Davis Family

And we are home. All of us. Every one of our seven-person Davis family. We had our first family dinner and enjoyed food prepared for us by dear friends. I’m tired, the transition is complicated and Daniel has a feeding tube that has to follow him around 24/7 for an unknown amount of time. He’s not strong enough to move it himself! Anyway, we’re home and adjusting and grateful.

I’m not sure what I’m going to write now… I don’t have a clear “subject” to share. Just… updating our practical situation and maybe a little thinking out loud about how we’re all doing with it.

The flights home
The ER?
Inpatient
Of enemas
looking ahead
Daniel – behavior, emotional state, bonding, development, all that stuff
Family and home

The flights home went really, really well. They were as physically taxing as I expected, not being able to sleep for 24 hours or more, focusing on little Daniel and trying to keep him comfortable, and aching with the desire to be home – in my husband’s arms, in my familiar places, finished with jumping through hoops and in my own home where I make the rules. But… as I watched Daniel sleep on the plane, his face was cast into stark shadows and the sharp lines of his thin face troubled me. That he hadn’t had a bowel movement in almost two weeks troubled me too as well as his bare marginal distance from dehydration.

We had a 2-3 hour drive home from the airport with my family and my emotions were really brittle during that. Thankfully we somehow made it home and tucked everybody into bed. Carrie was estatic to see Daniel at the airport, Anna gave me a big hug and Jordan even smiled a genuine smile for me. My husband’s arms were water on a parched desert. We wanted to settle in as a family and the children had invested in preparing the home for their new little brother. Clean floors since he scoots around and excitement about finally giving him his wheelchair.

But in the morning, we went instead to the ER a the children’s hospital to get help for his constipation. The ER visit was not my favorite… or Daniel’s. With hours of waiting and five pokes before getting blood for tests, and then a suggestion to just go home with Miralax before the GI team heard about us and we were instantly admitted.

Phew, so it’s been Sunday-Wednesday and I now know quite a bit about how this floor operates, about blood draws and Daniel’s veins, about golytely and cleaning out dried up stools. According to the xrays, even Daniel’s small intestine probably had solid stool in it, which is unusual, but possible with the right combination of severe dehydration and constipation. He’s been getting gallons of this stuff poured into him, flushing out all the dry stool. He hasn’t had anything to eat or drink by mouth… surviving on iv fluid that has a little sugar and electrolytes in it.

Daniel slept almost continually for the first 48 hours in the hospital, but yesterday and then this morning, he woke up. He’s not sitting up or scooting about or trying very hard to get at all the wires hooked to him, but he’s alert and playing with some of the old wire leads that were stuck on his chest at some point.

We’ve got a dietitian (or something) carefully planning what to put into his ng tube (through nose to tummy) as soon as he’s cleaned out (hopefully tonight) and we’ll be monitoring through blood draws to make sure he doesn’t refeed. Refeed is a life-threatening resonse of a body that is receiving good nutrition after a significant time of malnutrition or starvation. You have to ease back into it. We also have to be careful to keep his stools soft so that he’s less likely to become constipated again. It’s also on our radar that he may not know how to have a bowel movement without help, such as an enema or suppository, so we may need to help him through that too.

Let’s see – with the xrays and such we found that his diaphram has a fold in it that is likely uninteresting. Also, his lungs show up in the xrays like somebody who has chronic lung issues. So if we ever suspect bad upper respiratory something, we’re supposed to consult pulmonology to be safe. (his lungs sound clear) Hmm… I should ask if that can be caused by frequent aspiration? Maybe that damage was caused by the feeding practices at the orphanage.

Daniel is darling and quiet and easy to love. He permits me to be near to him and I’ve slept in his crib several times. This whole experience is unpredictable for me, and even moreso for him since I can’t explain anything to him. He is coping really well… and I can’t wait to get him home where he can experience the life that is a home and family.

It is hard emotionally on the whole family to hae Daniel’s homecoming suspended like this and to be separated from each other and without a family routine together. It’s going to be great to be home… hopefully this weekend.

Friends and family have stepped up to help and encourage us. My jet lag has been pretty horrendous and I’ve been crawling through navigating all of this. My neighbor washed our laundry for us. My friend took Jordan for an hour and brought me a hug and goodies. My parents watched Daniel so I could nap. Some food is going to be brought to our house to take some pressure off Brian. Speaking of Brian, pray that I’m home this weekend – he has missed a lot of work and there are some things there that are needing his attention.

Okay – without further ado – let me tell the story again with pictures!

In Bulgaria – while waiting for our Embassy appointment we went to the mall where we paid for an hour of climbing time for Maggie.

I don’t know if I needed to, but I felt awkward and defensive having Daniel in public in Bulgaria. I guess I’m working through some emotions about how he was cared for there.

Maggie was awesome and impressed all of us.

I wish there was a climbing place like this near us!

FINALLY. Early. Time to go home. Take note – Bulgarian Air planes are old, uncomfortable and have no entertainment. 🙂

Planes do feel better when you’re small!

Amsterdam! The floors were filty, but Daniel wanted to scoot, so we let him and eventually changed his clotehs.

Our layover was almost 6 hours… we found a cool play area near McDonald’s though!

They are talking to each other on the phone!

I wonder what this little face will look like after nutrition!

Getting a movie in before the “nighttime.”

Sweet son of mine. How I love you.

First family photo. Right after hugs.

The travelers. We made it.

Headed for the car… both my Bulgarian boys together!

He’s just blinking.

Carrie was soooooo excited to see Daniel and give him a hug!

Dream come true.

Staying close to my brave little boy.

Seeing my husband is tricky since this little fella is not a fan of hospitals… or behaving himself really. 😉

We have both been gripped with a heavy fatigue. Today that seems to be lifting a little.

Our room and my tiny four year old.

Daniel weighed 9.1kg at admittance… that’s like 20 pounds?

It’s fun to put the sisters in his crib when they’re here, although Daniel hasn’t been feeling well enough to interact much.

And here we are! Getting ready to start food through his ng tube!

Hi everybody – just a short update to let you know that we took Daniel to the ER early on Sunday and were finally admitted to the GI department in the afternoon. Daniel is getting a medicine called GoLytely, the same stuff you take before a colonoscopy. He has been getting it since 11pm last night and hasn’t had a bowel movement yet. He’s getting fluids, electrolytes and sugar through an IV. He’s been sleeping most of the time and we’re a little concerned about that. His glucose levels were very low (50) yesterday afternoon and he isn’t taking anything by mouth right now. The doctors are concerned about refeeding syndrome so it’s one step at a time as we try to get him stable and on the path to healing. We’re learning for the first time how to juggle hospital stays with Jordan unable to go to a babysitter and the three girls gentle, loving, but bored after awhile. Thank you for praying!

Everybody is home and tucked into bed. The flights went miraculously well. Daniel and Maggie slept. He drank enough that we are not in emergency mode. Thank you Father!
I’m so happy to have all my charges under one roof for the night.
Pray for a good nights rest. We will reevaluate Daniel’s health in the morning.
-Brian

Hi Folks – Rachel and company leave Sofia at 9 tonight our time. We’ll be picking them up in Seattle on Saturday afternoon and then take Daniel to Doernbechers. He’s getting enough fluids for now, but there is concern about dehydration if he stops accepting them. He’s still impacted.
Mama is very tired and they have a gruelling journey ahead. She won’t be posting for a while but I’ll try to update when they get home. Thank you everyone for following and praying for us. Your encouragement is greatly appreciated.
-Brian