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Sun. 4/27/03 - PreOp

Sunday 4/27/03
Cillia helped Les eat a good breakfast. A little while later Grandma brought Jason back to the hospital and then stayed with Les while Jason and Cillia went out to breakfast. Gammie and Papa Barry arrived while Cillia and Jason were out, so Les had many familiar faces around him.

Cillia and Jason returned with crayons and a Buzz Lightyear activity book, which provided a much needed distraction for Les. He was exhausted still and soon took a 3-hour nap. While napping we had several other visitors. The Frink’s came by with their daughter who had undergone a brain surgery with the same surgeon that Les would have. They were a great encouragement. Rod Whiting came to visit also. He is the worship leader in Sunday School and Les has grown fond of him. Jason and Cillia regret that they did not take Rod back to see Les while he was sleeping. That group of visitors, as well as the grandparents left in the afternoon while Les was still sleeping. Jason and Cillia had a brief time of being alone in the room with Les before the next group of visitors showed up.

It should be noted that God has the Fountain’s social calendar well under control. There was very little communication between them and the outside world, but it seemed that the perfect people showed up at the perfect time.

Chris, Kelsey, Elizabeth and Nathaniel Lick showed up minutes before Les woke from his nap. They are very close family friends. When Les saw Elizabeth, he immediately wanted to show her his “cool bed with a remote control”. The Lick’s visited until after dinner and the entire time Les and Elizabeth were both on the bed playing. It was a wonderful distraction. A little later, Cillia’s cousin Debbie and her husband came by. They live only minutes away from the hospital and are another source of support. Great-Grandma also came by that evening. A surprise visitor Sunday evening was Ellen McConnell. She was the nurse in the ER and wanted to follow up with us. She brought wonderful gifts and much love.

Sunday afternoon, the neurosurgeon came by with results from the MRI scan the day before. There does seem to be a cluster of small spots midway down Les’ spinal column. These spots are inoperable.

Up until Sunday night Les didn’t know about the scheduled surgery. Knowing that he would fret about it, Jason and Cillia chose to wait until the last minute to tell him. They had already informed him that the CaT scan had shown that there was a tumor in his head and that was why he needed to stay in the hospital. Cillia came up with a word picture to be able to simply explain what a tumor was and why it needed to come out. She and Jason shared this with Les on Sunday evening before bedtime. Her analogy was that a tumor is like a weed in a garden (Les has helped plant our family garden at home and is also studying botany at preschool). Cillia explained that a weed is not nice and doesn’t share the nutrients that are in the soil. In order for the good plants to grow, the weed needs to come out. Cillia had drawn a simple picture with crayons and Les helped her draw the roots for each plant. Cillia then drew a small weed plant showing the roots of it overlapping some of the roots of the good plants. They then drew a circle around the weed and crossed it out. His little mind is sharp and he grasped the concept quickly. He was not thrilled when they informed him that he would have and “owie” on the back of his head.

Both Cillia and Jason stayed in the room with Les on Sunday night. Les was awake much of the night and Cillia climbed into bed with him. He voiced his concern about the “owie” and Cillia tried to comfort as much as possible. He eventually fell asleep curled up next to her.