So,how does a port look?

Hello Everyone

Sorry its taken so long for me to write a proper up date - its been a very hectic past few days!

Lets start with our great news that Deqlans port is out safely! Our day started with making sure Deqlan ate enough by 8 am and for someone who is not into food at the moment, thats a chalenge in its self, but i got Deqlan to eat a banana muffin and his milk bottle. Last fluid was at 10 am and then i had to take every reminder of his beloved juice out of site.

Then we were off to meet Grandpa and Nanna at home so i could finish up on some work and then Dada, Deqlan and I went off to Morningside. Praying the entire way , watching our soldier sleep peacefully in his car seat , focusing on the beautiful boy he is going to grow up to be, all the things we are going to do together - Deqlans birthday, sliding down his slide on his new jungle gym for his birthday. I was filled with a definite inner peace which can only come from God ...right up until they came to fetch Deqlan for the actual procedure...

We got to Morningside clinic, check our monkey in and went to the same room we were in back in Dec when the residual tumor was removed. We were absolutely delighted to see that Dr Welsh , the anethetist from Dec would once again be taking care of Deqlan - his smiling face, his calm presence, his love for kids clearly showed as he quickly walked towards Deqlan picked him up and said 'HELLO YOUNG MAN, HOW ARE YOU DOING' Unless you have met this amazing man, i cant quite get you to appreciate the amazing person he is. We mentioned Deqlans tonsilitis/thrush episodes and he decided not to use a pipe down Deqlans throat so to limit the chance of spreading the thrush down further. As always, he thoroughly explained everything to us and said he would see us later - what a wonderful man

Then, a warm smile cam through the door, Prof Beale had arrived to check in with our soldier. He was delighted to see how big and strong and healthy Deqlan was looking, and patiently answered all our questions and put our minds and hearts at ease. He then asked us for the photo of Deqlan , from his first round of chemo, where his eye was really really bad, black and blue and protruding - he wants to use Deqlan as a case study in his lectures to his students! We have the utmost respect for Prof Beale - as i have mentioned before - i would let NO ONE ELSE EVER TOUCH DEQLAN AGAIN, except for Prof Beale. His heart is so into helping children, nothing else . If you caught Carte Blanche 2 weeks ago, he was one of the featured surgeons and what he is doing to help other children, especially those who dont have medical aid is amazing. I cant say enough about him . I cant thank him enough for all he has done for us , for Deqlan.

Then a friendly nurse came in to get all of Deqlans medical history - by now, there is quite a bit to give, explanations and details on five previous surgeries takes a while to explain. Then Dada and Nanna did there 'job' of completing the anaesthetist question list while i tried to entertain our Deqlan, who wasnt happy staying inside a room and not being able to roam the halls as he normally would - to many germs float around in a paediatric ward , and we dont have our vaccinations under the belt yet, so rather safe then sorry. We had all of Deqlans favorite things including Dub and Lightning McQueen and all of his dvds to try and keep him busy!

Our army was in full force yesterday, Grandpa and Nanna, Meggie and even Keaton joined in our adventure yesterday - all wearing green! Deqlan was 'decked out' in his FROG CLAMBER CLUB TSHIRT AND OF COURSE HIS CAMO GEAR.Even Dada wore his green irish rugby jersey - but for some reason Deqlan wasnt fond of this top at all and looked very strangely at Dada each time he ran up to him to be picked up! Eventually Dada changed into a black jersey and Deqlan was happier.

After a very long wait, we were eventually called to theatre round 1545, and then the tears and nerves went up a notch for me. No matter how small or big the procedure, no matter how many times we have done this before - it never gets any easier to watch Deqlan walk into the operating theatre with Mark holding him , and then anxiously await Mark to return to me holding Deqlans dummy on his finger - my love i know how hard this is for you, and i cant thank you enough for doing this for both of us - you know that you are Deqlans hero,we both love you so very very much.

And then we wait...and we pray and i take comfort in Mom holding me close telling me everything is going to be ok ...reminding me that just moments before Deqlan was running around the theatre waiting area, in his hospital couture, with his dub cd on his finger , bursting with laughter as he tries to escape and run down every possible corridor ! how he had the security guard, the nurse, dada , nanna and i in stitches of laughter as he ran around laughing .Dr Welsh jumped onto the cot as if it was a skateboard and rode with Dada and Deqlan into the operating room, still telling jokes and making us laugh. I held so tightly onto our rosary and Deqlans dummy.

What a wonderful sight it was to see Dr Welsh walk out the theatre doors with a smile on his face to tell us Deqlan was fine and he did great and it feels like the great wall of china is lifted off your shoulders. He handed us a bottle and inside the bottle, the specimen - the port - the device that enabled us to get the 'magic water' , as our friends , the Laceys , call it , into Deqlans body,the device that allowed precious nutrition to nourish Deqlans body when he was recovering from 3 surgeries in 3 weeks, the device that helped save Deqlans life. We were amazed to see that you could even see the pricks of the needles that have gone into the port - i have lost count , and that also brought back so many memories of all the rounds of chemo, all the blood tests ...but its out now, and please Lord never ever to return

Deqlan was still very asleep as i made my way into the recovery room, when we got back to the ward, his oxygen stats were a bit low at 82, so some oxygen was given to help our soldier along. After a while, we checked to see if he could cope without the oxygen, and he held it at 92. As soon as we put one of his praise baby dvds on, he was wide awake, sitting up in the bed and ready to watch. I handed Deqlan a much needed bottle of juice and he gulped it down in 1 go - he then got up and ran around the room and climbed on the bars as if he had woken for a fantastic power nap. Unfortunately the combination of drinking to quickly and just coming out of an anesthetic, caused our check to get sick , but then managed to keep a bit of apple juice down. Prof Beale came past to check in on Deqlan and was very happy how everything went. He stated that today was a day of celebration - that it was!His parting words to Deqlan were ' NOW YOU GROW UP TO BE A BIG STRONG BOY'. Dr Welsh also popped around and gave Deqlan a hug goodbye and told us he never wanted to see us again! We agreed!

We then made our home and our soldier was all to happy to finish some fries from MacDonalds, and quickly fell asleep round 10pm. He slept very well until 830 this morning and enjoyed another nap at Nanna from 1130 - so the effects of the long day and anesthetic still working out of Deqlans system. The wound is covered by a little band aid and looks great from what we can see, trying to keep Deqlan from being to active is impossible - we ooh and oh no everytime he falls or strains that area to much - but it doesn't seem to worry him at all..so the days ahead are going to include recovery, and gearing up for a certain some ones second BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

Thank you Holy and Healing Father for all the miracles you have performed in Deqlans life - thank You for giving us the shoes to walk this journey, for showing us the true meaning of life and whats important and what isnt. Thank you for Healing Deqlan - thank you for bringing us to this part of our journey. We pray Dear Lord Jesus that you continue to heal Deqlan and that he remains NED for all the days of his long and prosperous and healthy life.

Thank you for all the messages, phones calls, post, emails and all the prayers that flooded Deqlans procedure yesterday - please dont ever ever stop praying for Deqlan and his friends!

Thank you Conrad, Meggie & Keaton for the stunning Lightning McQueen balloon and stunning baby Jesus book and for making an enormous effort in being with us yesterday - i know how much effort it takes to get a little monkey as cute a Keaton all the way to Joburg and to be with us for most of the afternoon - you to continue to be with us every step of this journey and i cant thank you enough.

Thank you Grandpa and Nanna - i dont know how to say thank you to the both of you for all you do for us - there are no words - we are blessed beyond anything anyone could imagine. Nothing is to hard or to difficult for you to do for us Dee - nothing is impossible, Deqlan has never ever gone without anything because of you! My Darling Mom - you know exactly what to do to calm Deqlan - watching you yesterday as you sang, and brushed, and held and kissed Deqlan took my breath away at the amount of love and devotion you have for Deqlan .

Please pray for all our warriors to reach this stage of their journeys .

The other long awaited photos are from the weekend - swimming in the jacuzzi with Nanna and Keaton , calling Grandpa to put Deqlan in the jacuzzi, he has learnt that Grandpa is the key into the jacuzzi,playing with Reece at Meggies birthday celebration - Deqlan did have a few great moments with Reece, and they even enjoyed a bath together, well at least moments of it anyway! We look forward to many more playe dates little Reece, you are to cute!

Please let us know how you all are?

Also, update on Ruan - his stem cell transplant did go ahead today and he didnt have any complications praise Our Lord please continue to pray that it is a huge success and that Ruan will be free from leukimia forever

Please continue to pray for Baby Declan , who is now on stronger chemo, which seems to be shrinking the tumor again! What a hero you are baby Declan, we cant wait to meet you , and we promise to continue praying each day for you - see, i told you i was asking for prayers from everyone for you!

May you all have a great week end ahead, thank you for being such an amazing part in Deqlans journey, each and every single one of you - please never stop praying , please always pray for Deqlan to remain ned always - please pray for our friends around the world, and then angels in heaven and their families and friends.

God bless, all our love always

Mark, Samm, Deqlan

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE