Daddy holding CJ before surgery..............CJ 1 hr after surgery..........Daddy CJ & Ducky after surgery

Colostomy Free at last Video

June 11, 2006 Maurice, CJ and mommie arrived at the hospital for the closure of end on his colostomy. Victor remained at home with his grandmother. Tension was all over us including CJ. We were all tense yet happy at the same time. Once we were in a room, CJ quickly started to be himself. He crossed his legs and let them lean on the rails of the bed. Go-lightly was ordered (A laxative) for CJ to clean out his system for his surgery and it would go until 12am on June 12th Once we were settled in, Maurice returned back home to be with Victor. After a few hours of the laxative, I gave CJ his sponge bath.

A phlebotomist came in and drew his blood. Not even five minutes later, he was stuck for an iv. CJ did really awful until about 10pm with the IV. The nurses game him a nick name of “Hoodini” because he went through arm wraps, socks and other things that they thought of to keep him from pulling out his IV. After calling them at least 10 times to come and restrain him they finally listened to me. “CJ has to be tied down” I said, he is in one of those moods that he will not give up until you do. CJ was restrained to the bed for his own protection. He quickly went to sleep. The game was over. He enjoyed all the attention from the nurses during this time. He would smile and laugh at each and every one of them.

June 12, 2006, The morning of the surgery CJ and I woke up at 6:15am. CJ had another blood draw. His blood was drawn again at 8:30am because the last draw clotted. He got a finger prick a few hours after this and it was a waste of blood because a finger prick was not acceptable so he had yet another blood draw. What a trooper he was every time.

We went into surgery 1 hour earlier than expected. My mom stated to Maurice and I that the Lord spoke to her and to expect great news from the surgery. The surgery was for about 2 ½ hours. Everything was a great success. The surgeons were extremely happy with the outcome. Dr. Parker; his main surgeon referred to CJ as “Humpty Dumpty”. He stated that CJ had been put back together again. We were told that a baby on TPN as long as CJ was usually had a green and hard liver and CJ’s was healthy looking and not hard at all. We were also told that CJ was doing well and that he had more intestines than expected. The surgery was just successful. This was obvious from looking at Dr. Parkers smiling face. I think that we were all just so happy to hear the great news. Even Victor cheered with us.

During his first few hours of recovery, CJ came to the room and just whined a little and looked at television as usual. Shortly afterwards he was sound asleep. He had a suction ng and was on oxygen. He looked so comfortable once the room was quiet. I was very fortunate to see the head nurse at the hospital that patched CJ up after his very first surgery only 10 days after birth. .Ms. Middlebrooks reminded me that CJ was at deaths door during the first surgery and that his wounds were so bad that she did not think he would make it but had given it all up to the Lord when she was trying to patch him up.

June 12th, CJ had a really rough night. He was shaking and crying every two hours. It brought me to tears to see CJ in such pain. He was on morphine and toridal for pain. June 13th 6:00am on the next morning he woke up like nothing was wrong with him. He was given meds about every 4 hours now and was doing pretty well. At 10:30am, Dr. Parker came in and changed CJs dressing on his incision, It really looked great. I could see the hole from the stoma which was pretty deep. Maurice came and relieved me from the hospital so that I could go home to get a little rest. My mom cooked dinner which was a great treat. June 14th, CJ was in a great mood. He was getting better each day. June 15th, CJ had a lot of blood output from the suction ng. He was still being given morphine during this time. We got the great news from my mom who had relieved me from the hospital that CJ had passed gas. This was the best news ever. He was showing signs of healing pretty quickly. June 16th, after returning from home on a quick break, I went back to the hospital and ate dinner that Maurice cooked especially for my mom. It was so very good. I think that my mom was really surprised also. We can never do too much for my mom. We honestly do not know what we would have done with out her and my dad. Around 6:00pm CJ was put back on TPN so that he could get his nutrients. At around 9:00pm, I was adjusting CJ in his bad and caught a whiff of POOP. I yelled “you smell” “I smell you” I was smiling from cheek to cheek. “Did you poop sweety?” I said to CJ. IT WAS POOP! I was so very happy. We had been waiting for this for at least four days. Dr. Parker came into CJ's room and congratulated us. I thought that I was going to cry. I was so happy. I felt like running up and down the hallway and saying “ we've got poop people!” What a day to remember. I called Maurice and he was just too happy. June 17th, Everyone tried to give CJ pedialyte and he just turned up his nose and held his lips tight. I was able to stay at home for one night to rest. Maurice relieved me from the hospital after a long few days at work. It had been a long week for me as well. I finally got to get a good nights rest. My mom took care of Victor of course and allowed me to sleep. June 18th, Fathers Day. I took quite a few pictures of Maurice and CJ at the hospital. Maurice went home to a big meal that my mom had prepared for him and my dad. I started to try and give CJ some water and he did pretty well but not enough not to insert the ng back in. CJ was started on Benedryl for the itching from the surgery. CJ was now pooping pretty regularly and it was always a joy to see. June 19th, CJ’s auntie Lisa came to visit him. He had a lot of fun with her. I enjoyed the company as well. He was started back on his feeds at 20cc and 8 hours later was up to 40cc. June 20th, His feeds went from 40cc to 50cc. We were ready to go home. It was absolutely a long day. CJ was released from the hospital at 9:00pm. Once Maurice and I got in the car to go home, I began to just cry tears of joy to see my little man riding in the back seat of the car and looking like nothing ever happened to him. All I could do was just thank the Lord for all that he had brought us all through. The song below is what we played when CJ returned home.

We surprised my mom at the door and she just ran over to CJ when she realized that we were home to stay. My mom comforted him and held him close and just showered him with kisses. CJ slept pretty well on his first day back home. The boys woke up at around 3:00am and Victor saw his brother and gave him a big kiss and just kept kissing him.

The next morning it was back to the routine of taking care of the twins. Thank goodness my mom was here to help me. CJ is doing very well. I think that he is having a few uneasy moments from being off of the morphine but is handling it well. Victor is just happy to see his brother and keeps smiling and laughing with him. Its great to see the family back together again.

Artist: Yolanda Adams

Song: The Battle is the Lords
Written by michael mckay

There is no pain jesus can't feel
No hurt he can not heal
All things work according to his perfect will
No matter what you're going through
Remember god is using you
For the battle is not yours
It's the lord's

There's no sadness jesus can't feel
And there is no sorrow
That he can not heal
For all things work
According to the master's holy will
No matter what you're going through
Remember that god is only using you
For the battle is not yours
It's the lord's

It's the lord's
Yes it's the lord's
Hold your head up high
Don't you fright
It's the lord's
It's the lord's
Yes it's the lord's

No matter what
You're going through
Remember that god
Only wants to use you
For the battle is not yours
It's the lord's

No matter what
You happen to go through right now

Remember that in the midst of it all
God only wants to use you
No matter what you're going through
For the battle is not yours
It's the lord's

No matter what it is
That you're going through
Hold your head up, stick your chest out
And remember he's using you
No matter what you're going through
God is only using you

For this battle is not yours alone
This battle is not yours, no
You can not handle it all by yourself
No, no, no, no, no, no
It's not yours
This battle is not yours
It's the lord's, not yours

This battle is not yours
The lord is the only one who can fight it
He wants to use you as his vessel
So be open to him
It's not yours
No it's not yours
It's the lord's, not yours

The battle is not your's
It's the lord's

Thanks to all of your support for this family. We finally made it to this great milestone. There is a whole new world for all of us. God Bless all of you.

The Barnes Family