June

The boys will be 7 months old this Friday! Wow...how time flies!!!

The boys are doing wonderful...both are continuing to grow and meet developmental milestones. Kellen is getting much better at sitting up by himself although he has now decided he doesn't want to roll over by himself. He has a mind of his own : ) His first two teeth (on the bottom) have come in...Yay! But this has made him a little crankier and has made taking a bottle even more difficult. The praise is that he does LOVE eating cereal and baby food. I think we have almost made it through ALL the vegetables!

Carson had a follow up appointment with cardiology, surgery, and ENT last Friday. The appointments went well and really not a whole lot had changed. His echocardiogram was 'normal' & unchanged. He does have a PFO (patent foramen ovale), which is a hole between the right and left atria. We were told this is normal until the age of 5 and 25% of the adult population has a PFO. So it is not serious but we do hope it closes on its own. Dr. Yang, his general surgeon, continues to keep an eye on his Gtube as it doesn't look like it is going anywhere soon and it continues to leak at times and develop mucosa (lining of the stomach which comes up to the top) around the stoma. We are attempting to get the stoma to scar down & heal by using silver nitrate. Carson is not requiring as much oxygen now but Dr. Yang and Dr. Costa (ENT) are both a little surprised that Carson is not yet off oxygen. We had a chest X-ray done to look at his lungs and Dr. Costa recommended having a bronchoscopy performed this summer to take a closer look at his airway, nasal passages, and vocal cord. The bronchoscopy is considered a surgery and will require general anesthesia. It is scheduled for July 18th at this time. Please be praying for a smooth procedure as well as continued healing of Carson's lungs and airway. The bronchoscopy will give us further information on the possible timeline for removal of his tracheostomy. I think we are all ready to see some BIG progress but for now we will have to just wait. Carson's sweet smile makes all the waiting worth it! Carson is also doing really well with his head control, sitting up, and rolling over. In fact, he often prefers to lay on his side or stomach : ) Other praises for Carson...he is much happier overall now and no longer screams bloody murder with his bath or when you put him in his carseat. This makes my life MUCH easier and makes the trips to St. Louis less stressful!

Both boys made their first trip to Meme & Papa's house on Memorial Day! They did really well! Yay!

Continued prayer requests...
1. Complete healing for Carson's little body, including his lungs and airway, his suck/swallow function (to improve his ability to eat by mouth), and the G-tube site
2. Guidance for the doctor's to determine the best course of procedures and treatments for Carson.
3. For the nurses, who are such a big part of Carson's care.

I'll try to get more pictures up soon!