The boys are doing great!

Wanted to give you a quick update that dad and Mason are doing great. Dad's blood pressure has evened out a bit. We went to see him today and he was up and walking around. He is looking more like himself and his cough has subsided. Recovery is a slow process for him and therefore we need to continue to pray for patience. He's ready to get life back to normal so keeping him down is going to be a challenge :).
Mason had a general checkup today and he is doing awesome. He is 15.6 pounds and 27 1/2 inches. We continue to praise God for his steady weight gain. We've been trying to reintroduce oral feedings and we've had our ups and downs. Trying not to get discouraged. We go next week to check in with Dr. W our GI doctor. We'll see what he tells us to do about oral feedings. We will also be heading to Shriners on Thursday to see Dr. Garcia about Mason's hands.
Kevin and I are going to begin the process of discussing invetro and figuring out our options. If you could please keep us in your prayers as we seek God's perfect will for our family. In two short months Mason will be 1 year old!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Kevin and I stand in awe at all the amazing things God has taught us this year. God's grace and love is fresh and new everyday. We look forward to the miracles He will continue to perform in Mason's life. Praying that you have a blessed week! Wendy

Dad and Mason Update

Dad is doing much better!!! He is beginning to look better as well. They moved him out of ICU yesterday afternoon. This morning they were able to remove the tubes from his stomach and lungs. He was able to get up and move around this am. Now he would love a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. Hopefully, tonight he can get some. He should be able to go home tuesday or wednesday. Then he will have 24 hour care for a week. Even with all of the pain he has still managed to keep a sense of humor. Many of the negative side effects they warned us about have not seem to bother him. We are praising God for all the blessings that have come from this. Deborah was able to come down from N.C. for a few days. Her employees came together to cover her shifts for Thur. and Fri. Her friend Stephanie (manager w/ her) put everything together w/o her knowing. It meant so much to her and all of us. It's been nice having all of our siblings up at the hospital. It has been a long time since we were all together. We told Dad next time just tell us you want us to get together. No need to go to extreme measures. :)

Mason is doing much better today. It takes him a couple days to get off the anesthesia. One problem we've been having with him is throwing up this brown mucus stuff. While they were putting in the tube yesterday they saw that he developed esophogitus (not sure of the spelling). They've changed his reflux meds to help solve this problem. He was throwing up dried blood so this will hopefully change soon. He's enjoyed hanging out with his Grandpa at the hospital. He feels right at home. All the boys in our family are starting to feel better. Thank you for your continued prayers. We are praying that our lives will be very boring soon and we won't need to visit a hospital for awhile. :) Have a blessed week. I will be posting pics of Mason's new friend Stella in the next couple of days. It is an amazing story that I've waited a long time to tell.

Dad's Surgery

Well it's amazing how a day can have a turn of events. My dad has had heart disease for a number of years. He has had several heart attacks and many stints put in his heart. Today we thought he was going in for another angioplasty and stint. When they went in they saw that all of the previous stints were clogged as well as arteries. Tomorrow morning he will be having triple or quadruple bypass surgery. They are not sure with the fourth ventricle until they open him up. They will be taking veins from his leg and arms to put around his heart. They said that it would be a 4 hour procedure and he will remain in the hospital for the next week. I'm asking that you will please keep him in your prayers. We are shocked as a family and worried. Mason still has his surgery on Friday so this week is a little stressful. You all have been so faithful to pray and we cannot thank you enough. We continue to trust God in all things.

We have been enjoying life outside of the hospital. We've had a couple hiccups with our tube but overall we're seeing amazing progress. Mason is almost at 15 pounds. This is the most weight he's gained since December. We are praising God for all the good things that have come out of our hospital stay. One of the biggest blessings is being able to play with him and move him around. We've seen him make great improvements in therapy since being out. The other day for the first time he reached for my face. This is the first time he has ever reached out for anything. Of course, I was a puddle of tears and just amazed over what God is doing. We go back this Friday to replace his tubing with the button. Not sure what time surgery is but will probably be in the morning. Hopefully, Saturday we can begin to orally feed him again. We also went to an ENT specialist last Friday and we're going to be doing a sinus probe and removing his adenoids on April 20th. This should help with the mucus problem he has been experiencing. We can't believe he is already 9 mths old. Where has the time gone? Thank you again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Have a blessed week!