Scope is scheduled for 8:45 am ET Friday

Carson's bronchoscopy is scheduled for 8:45 am ET on Friday. We will head up there tomorrow (Thursday) so we are having lots of fun today, especially since we got a break in the rain. Plus, rain means more puddles for the boys to play in and ride their bikes through : ) We are carving our pumpkins this afternoon. We will be ready to have this surgery behind us, hopefully with good news, and then back home for Halloween. Carson and Kellen (& Ellie) are going to be different pups from the Paw Patrol show on Nickelodeon.

Amazing!!

We are home! We actually got to come home on Friday... a wonderful surprise to us! The doctors said his airway looked really good. There was little bleeding and inflammation when removing the stent which is why we got to come home early. However, as they reminded us, we won't truly know the success until this coming Friday, when they will do another scope. We got home late Friday but it was so nice to be home! Carson has bounced back wonderfully (much better than me...I feel like I'm still recovering from the emotional journey ; ) It is the most amazing thing to hear his voice again! I can't really put it into words but it is wonderful! His voice is actually clearer than it was which I believe is because his airway is more open and more air can move through his voicebox. I often just catch myself smiling or staring at Carson in wonder as he goes on and on about this thought or that. To hear the boys talking to each other again is the most beautiful gift!! Thank you God!!

I'm not sure why I have such a hard time giving all my worries and anxiety over to God because I know his plan is good and better than anything I could every dream but I continue to catch myself venturing into the future, into the unknowns, and finding things to become anxious about. Right after surgery, when I was so excited to hear Carson's voice, Carson continued to only whisper or mouth the words without any voice. I found myself starting to worry that somehow by opening his airway, his vocal cords no longer could touch and hence no vibration or voice. "What if I never hear him again?" ...but praise the Lord, we can and it is even better than before. If only I can remember to give all my worries to the Lord, I might hear him better...  Be still...let me show you my wonderful works.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Lots of laughter during the last hour of our trip trying to get the big trucks to honk their horns...

Playing at the Ronald McDonald House's playground when we got there

The boys LOVE this Ronald!!

Waiting for surgery...

And a visit with cousins (& the chipmunks) before we headed home! What a fun surprise!

Surgery time

Surgery is scheduled for 9:20 am ET. Hopefully all will be on schedule. The OR is only schedule for 60 minutes...so a relatively short surgery : )

5 weeks, already

Well, we've almost made it those LONG, 5 weeks without hearing Carson's sweet voice. YAY! He has really accommodated well and although, I'm sure there were many thoughts/ideas that we didn't get to hear, he still was able to share a lot through gestures and mouthing words. I'm so very thankful for his resilience and amazing attitude! We head back this Thursday for surgery on Friday, Oct 23rd (not sure the time yet). They will be doing a bronchoscopy (to look at his airway) and removing the stent (what prevents him from making noise & what is holding his airway open while the grafts heal). This should only take about 30 minutes. While, they will be able to see the grafts, which were placed last month, we won't fully know the success of the reconstructive surgery until October 30th when the stent will have been out for a week and Carson has another bronchoscopy. My mom and Kellen will be coming with us for this first trip. Carson will stay overnight after the surgery but then we should be headed back home on Saturday.

I am so incredibly thankful for all of you, family and friends, that have prayed along with us. I continue to learn a lot about trusting God and embracing EACH moment as it comes. My mom called this morning with the news that one of my brother's friends passed away yesterday. None of us are promised tomorrow, so it is so important we find joy in the moments, keep our minds focused on the positives and try to make each day count. Carson is SO good at this...just this morning, as I was getting ready to start some medications for these upcoming surgeries, I was explaining to Carson  that we would be starting these medications, one of which is drops that go in his trach and then I have to plug his trach (with my finger) to make him cough, forcing the medicine up above his trach to the graft sites. There is a prayer request in and of itself. We have to do it 30x total (3x for 10 days). Two down, 28 to go. Carson hates it! One, because it makes him cough (sometimes throw up), two, when I plug his trach, it is scary because he can't breathe, and three, it just isn't fun! Anyways...I told him we would be going back to Cincinnati this week for surgery, staying at the Ronald McDonald House, etc. And after it all, he said, 'Oh yea, they have lots of bikes there and a Thomas!' He was talking about the Ronald McDonald House. Always looking on the bright side! I continue to work on finding the positives in all this crud he has to go through...I could learn a thing or two from him : ) Life was never promised to be easy, in fact, sometimes the suffering makes the fun that much sweeter and thank goodness we have other people to walk through the hard stuff with us! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

For those of you that didn't know, we had a small hiccup in the plans. After Kellen had finally been fever free for about a week, Carson was spared the fever : ), through some major work in keeping the two separated from each other. Keeping them separated was the hardest part! We then hit a bump in the road for Carson...We made an unplanned trip back to Cincinnati the beginning of October because the incision above Carson's trach swelled up. I'm not sure anyone actually knew WHAT happened or WHY but they opened the incision and packed it for 24 hours. That must have done the trick because it is healing well now. It wasn't infected which was good. And the surgeons said it wouldn't effect anything that had already been done or they were planning to do. Praise the Lord! Carson was in the hospital for two nights. He was poked and prodded, put through some unpleasant stuff but he handled it all in stride (like he usually does). Hopefully that was the only hiccup!

Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again, Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Too much...Flowers (weeds) they picked on their bike ride!

DQ stop on our surprise trip to Cincinnati!

Ellie came to visit!

We finally got our hammock up! : )

S'more fun with cousins!!

These boys love airplanes, jets, helicopters!!!