This is a photo taken a few days ago of Joshua feeding himself some banana pudding. By God's grace, Joshua is eating and drinking by mouth. Though he still has the ng tube , he can eat, which is a big win. Not to mention breathing on his own with no tracheotomy!!
Today we had a hearing to dicuss my ability to get more visitation hours with my son. Im praying that the judge will rule mercifully and grant Joshua to have me by his side. He is in a very precarious and even dangerous situation at the hospital without having a parent advocate by his side especially since hes non verbal much of the time. Right now Joshua is frustrated and fed up with the situation and probably doesn't understand where his mom is... This is incredibly heart breaking to me and to my son.
And to make matters worse they brought in a psychiatric consult and they are recommendeding psych meds to quel his frustration. These drugs would make him more passive so he can continue enduring staying in bed 24 hrs a day. However he has no mental health conditions for which he'd legitimately need these medications. He was supposed to already be at a rehabilitation facility and be fully rehabbed by now. Obviously he doesn't want or need to stay in bed but because of dss involvement and red tape he's stuck there to his detriment.
So if you are a person of faith, I implore you to keep praying for Joshua to gain his family back by his side and that he's freed from these over reaching and over bearing organizations i.e. Duke Hospital and ACDSS. Though we are grateful for the treatment of Joshua’s tumor, yet very disappointed that we don't currently have any freedom of choice regarding our son's medical treatment. This should not be.
Though there are many unjust and painful things occurring, we are still hopeful that Joshua will be home soon. right where he wants to be and where he belongs 🙏