Surgery Date is Set

 

For those of you who know our family very well, you are very aware of all the "health" problems we have had with Josiah from the time he was born. It almost seems like every system of his body has had some sort of issue. When he was born he was jaundiced and had a very low platelet count which no one ever knew what the real cause was. At the age of 2 months all his blood counts went whacko and there was concern he could have Aplastic Anemia or even some sort of cancer attacking his bone marrow. Thank the Lord for the hematoligist at CHLA who examined Josiah and his blood and came to the conclusion that what he had was benign neutropenia or basically no real diagnosis but a mystery that only the Lord knows. Then we had the mystery of his "big" head which an MRI at 9 months showed a completely normal brain. He had tubes in his ears at 23 months and then had to have them surgically removed a year later because of the narrow ear canals he has. At the age of 3 years his pediatrician heard a heart murmur. After a consult with a pediatric cardiologist we found out he had a small hole in his heart. Thankfully time would close the little hole and it did. When Josiah was about 6 months we noticed that his left eye wandered a little. His pediatrician referred us to an opthamologist and we were told it was a normal physical feature........like a mole. We followed up with this opthamologist for 3 years and every time we were told the same thing. Last year my pediatrician became concerned that his eye wasn't improving so he urged me to take him to a pediatric opthamologist. It only took the pediatric opthamologist a few seconds to tell me that his eye wasn't normal and that he had been born with this condition and that over time his eye had incurred some damage. Dr. Friedman went on to tell me that he required surgery, that it wasn't an emergency but that as soon as we returned from Russia in April this year that he wanted to perform the surgery. He also gave us a 90% success rate after the surgery. I think the thing that finally urged me to listen to my pediatrician and take him to Dr. Friedman is that last summer a little boy asked if Josiah's eye was broken! Praise God that this can be repaired. Praise God that all of Josiah's health issues have never turned into anything more serious. But I can say one thing. All these health trials have been a constant test from the Lord to me. When Josiah was in the ICU as a newborn someone told me this great truth and I have clung to it for the last 5 1/2 years. This friend told me that God loves Josiah more than I will ever be able to and that He knew what would be the best for him. So, back to the surgery date. He will have his eye surgery on April 15. It is a 20 minute procedure and he'll come home with us the same day.