On cloud 9

"This was the BEST night of my life!"..........................

Caed's words as I was tucking him into bed last night. Now, you might be thinking we made another quick trip to Disney World or something along that caliber. Nope. Caed played the drums in front of 75+ teenagers last night at church. He has been wanting to do this for several months. Another time he asked us if he could do it, but got "freaked out" at the last minute. ha But, last night was different. He asked me right as we were leaving for Awanas. He grabbed his handbook and drumsticks and was set! And kept telling me....."Mommy, please don't forget to come get me out of class!!!" He did great! And in fact......wasn't too thrilled when Daddy made him stop. He would have kept playing the whole night if we would have let him. This morning he told me he dreamed about it all night. ha!

I tried to get it on video, but of course right as he got up on stage, my camera starting blinking CHANGE BATTERIES! He thinks he's going to do it every Wed. night......although Daddy is trying to explain to him that maybe he should just come on special occasions. He really is a good little drummer and definitely has some natural ability.....was able to keep a nice beat with bass pedal, snare, and cymbal.....and also threw in a little filler at the end. ha! This certainly seems to be his passion right now. Can't wait to see how he grows.........

*I will try to get a video of him playing (in his room). However, I have been having trouble uploading them to Blogger lately. (that's why you haven't seen any more Reagan Hollingsworth episodes) ha! Just call it "technical difficulties."

PRAISE!

Just wanted to share a praise with you all. Devin (the little 6 yr. old boy I posted about several weeks ago) has made an astounding recovery....and is OFF TO SCHOOL today!!! The drs. are completely amazed at his progress. However....we know the real reason for this miracle.

THANK YOU all for praying for him!! The Lord IS faithful!

Fall Festival

Buzz Lightyear


Jessie


and Woody!























Nana & Grandaddy

Omaha Zoo

What a GREAT visit we had to Nebraska!!!!!!!

Day 3

We began today thoroughly expecting another 7 hr. (x ray) day. We even talked to Caed and reminded him of what it was like back in April. He didn't like the idea, but was being very cooperative. They injected the barium into his g-tube around 9:00, and within 45 MINUTES it was looking as though it was through the small bowel!! We were shocked! I just couldn't believe what was "supposed to take 7 hrs"......was almost done in under 1!!!

However, we soon fell back into our normal routine with an x-ray.....walk around hospital 15-30 minutes.....x-ray.....walk......and on and on. They felt like the barium had reached the colon, but weren't sure where the small and large connected. (remember Caed lost his illeum....the connecting part) They also were wanting to double check on the narrowing portion of bowel we saw back in April. Therefore.....we had to go another 3 hrs! It was ok though. We made the time go by fast and the radiology team was wonderful. Caed told them story after story after story. They patiently listened and really grew to love him. We don't know any results from today's test, but our IRP team will be in contact once we get back home.

Once they gave us the green light to leave, we headed over to the Children's Museum. Caed had lots of fun....and Mommy and Daddy desperately tried to keep up and stay awake. (we are exhausted) Our flight leaves Omaha at 6:15 in the morning, so we better get to bed at a decent hour tonight.

Again we want to say a special THANK YOU to 4 very generous people who helped make this trip possible for us. Wayne and Kendall.....for everything you do to get us from OMA to DAL (and back again!) You have NO idea what a HUGE blessing this is for our family. To Carol and Cordell (our NE family).....thank you for offering up one of your vehicles for us to use this week. Again....a HUGE blessing! Thank you also for your continued warm hospitality. You truly have become our family and we love you so very much! (Sunday lunch with all our NE friends was so fun! Just makes us smile thinking how God put you all into our lives) And lastly...thank you to everyone who prayed for us (particularly Caed-man) this week! We felt them and God showed His faithfulness once again!

only 4 hrs!!





waiting....waiting....waiting in between x rays (such beautiful fall colors here!)


getting some school work done......in between x rays


finally FREE to go to Children's Museum

Day 2.....

.....has been cut short! We had an awesome dr. visit, and they decided to cancel the scheduled scope this afternoon. HUGE praise!!! We never look forward to those since they have to put him under. They basically said, "....since he's doing SO well, we hate to put him through it (since there are always risks)." Our next steps are:

-gradually wean 1 hr./month off night feeds (until we get to around 4-5hrs.) Then, we will see how he is doing, and take him off TOTALLY for a few months before ultimately REMOVING THE G-TUBE!!!! (can't believe I'm typing those words.....thank you GOD!) This could happen possibly by summer!

-continue monthly labs

-get a longer g-tube

-next NE appt. scheduled for summer

We are thrilled with today's news. NO scope.....and an excellent review from drs!! The main test will be in the morning (small bowel series). The look at his colon yesterday was great! (no issues) However, tomorrow's test will be the biggie. They did tell us that even IF his sm. bowel shows dilated loops.....they will not consider the lengthening surgery right now. He is just doing TOO GOOD to mess with. "If it aint broke....don't fix it!" I am still nervous about tomorrow's testing because it does give a more accurate look at his bowel (and its abnormality). They kept reminding us that Caed had a healthy bowel for 4 yrs. (it is not diseased unlike the majority of short gut kids) Again....ANOTHER praise!

THANK YOU to everyone who has prayed for Caed and specifically for this trip!

GREAT is His faithfulness!

Day 1....down

This morning started off rough, but fortunately the day ended sweet.

First on the list was radiology (barium enema). Caed had never had one of these, so much of the crying was due to simple fear. He didn't understand what they were doing, nor whether to believe them when they said "it wouldn't hurt too bad." He has TOO many memories of times in which it DID hurt! I don't blame him for crying, but it made the procedure a little more difficult at first. Finally, he calmed down...and it went very quickly. One hour down in radiology is a breeze. (unlike the small bowel series set for Wed.) This picture was taken after it was over.....and all the tears were gone.

Next on the agenda was his routine monthly blood draw.....or so he thought. When we come to NE they want lots more blood to check vitamin levels, etc.... (things we don't normally do back at home). He did GREAT!.....until his little vein collapsed, and they had to then move on to arm #2 with a much bigger needle. This again was a little traumatic for him, but he handled it fine. That's when we began talking up the zoo!


Once we got back up to the room, he started hurting pretty badly. He sat on the potty and cried and cried. His face was so pale, and we knew he was worn out! He kept telling us his lower abdomen was hurting. I remember when he was in the hospital, every time they did a contrast study....he would have pretty bad cramping afterwards. Fortunately, the pain only lasted 20-30 minutes this time. He rested on his bed awhile, but soon was up and at 'em...and we could tell he was back to his old self. He is still one of the bravest little boys I know!!!


That was our cue to head off to the zoo! It was SUCH a beautiful day, and we were practically the only ones there. I have lots of great pictures from this afternoon, but it will have to wait until we get home. We are all exhausted.......and we still have 2 more days to go. (tomorrow we meet with his drs.)

Mrs. Smith's class.......we got LOTS of great pictures of bats and spiders (since you are studying them this month). Caed is excited to show them to you!

Thanks for the prayers........