After a year off from doctor visits and over two years since Jacob's last surgery, we have returned to Baltimore. As noted in the previous post (Jacob's timeline), he has a bladder stone that has been causing him (we think) to have recurring urinary tract infections. The stone is about 1 cm, which isn't huge, but isn't small. Our doctor in Chattanooga, Dr. Mullins, who also was a resident and fellow at Johns Hopkins, communicated directly with Dr. Gearhart to arrange for the stone to be removed while we were here for the picnic and doctor visits.
After an overnight stop off in Salem, VA (to see Bryan's parents and two grandmothers), we arrived in Baltimore this past Friday night. The annual Bladder Exstrophy picnic was on Saturday and we enjoy reconnecting with our cloacal exstrophy families (five in total - which sounds small until you consider that this birth defect only occurs in about one out of every 300,000 live births). We also celebrated 25 years of Dr. G being the Pediatric Urology Chief at Hopkins and 30 years of the BE Picnic. It was a great time.
Several of the families converged at the hotel (not planned) and hung out for awhile. Sunday, a few of us visited the Baltimore Zoo. Jacob especially enjoyed seeing the giraffes. Sunday night, we connected with Ms. Cathy, who was our long time Manager at The Children's House. It was great seeing her again.
Monday(yesterday), we had an appointment with Dr. Sponseller to check out Jacob's left leg and club foot. His report was generally positive and while we do need to try and bring Jacob's weight down a little, he did not feel like we needed surgery to address his club foot, at least not at this time. He thinks we can consider the serial casting process to try and increase mobility in his foot, but can do this in Chattanooga. It will essentially involve weekly casts that gradually stretch his Achilles tendon. This is not always successful, but would not require surgery. He also said that he didn't think we needed to see Neurology about Jacob's spine at this time. Overall, he seemed pleased and definitely wants to take a conservative approach, especially considering that Jacob will be having bladder surgery.
Today, Jacob had a CT scan at about 10 this morning. Thankfully, it required no sedation or dye and only took about two minutes. As an additional surprise/treat, we got to have lunch with "Kiki" (Karen), one of our most favorite nurses who has taken care of Jacob all the way back to his 2008 surgeries. Thank you, Lord, for these opportunities.
His surgery to remove the bladder stone is tomorrow morning at 9:30. We are to arrive at 8 am (which isn't as early as some of his previous surgeries). We aren't sure how long the surgery will last, but we do expect that Jacob will need to stay one night in the hospital. He, of course, doesn't want to have the surgery or stay in the hospital. He doesn't like the thought of an IV (not sure anyone does) and the general discomfort of coming off of anesthesia. However, we know he hasn't enjoyed the recurring infections and mobility issues that have been affecting him for the past few months.
As we prepare for tomorrow morning, we ask that you all pray for the following:
1. That you will grant the doctors success in accessing and removing the bladder stone.
2. That removing this stone will stop the urinary tract infections.
3. That he will be able to stop taking the daily antibiotics.
4. That his recover will be fast and that we will be able to head back to Chattanooga in the next couple of days. He is supposed to leave the hospital with a tube/catheter/SP tube in that we can have removed in Chattanooga.
5. That the LORD will be glorified through it all.
We also have a few praises:
1. For the encouraging report from Dr. Sponseller concerning his foot and leg.
2. While we were unable to get into the Children's House for the duration of our stay, we were able to get into one of the McElderry Houses, similar to where we stayed in 2008. These are much more reasonable that hotel rooms and are so close to the hospital. It is an entire house, too, so it gives us a feeling of home.
3. For the wonderful time of fellowship we've had with friends and the fantastic doctors, nurses and staff here at Hopkins.
We will try to provide updates throughout the day tomorrow.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
May God be glorified.
Mommy and Daddy
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Something from the "Archives"
Back in 2010, Mommy and Daddy wrote our "Journey with Jacob." It was intended to give everyone a look at Jacob's life between his birth in 2006 up until his two really big surgeries in 2008 (the point at which we really started posting in this blog). We thought this had been lost, but the Lord allowed us to find it at just the right time.
“Journey with Jacob” 2010
Jacob E. Arrington
Born 12/3/06 w/Cloacal Exstrophy
(O.E.I.S)
The Arrington’s - Bryan,
Courtney, James (5) and Jacob (3).
Our
“Journey with Jacob” began in August of 2006.
Courtney was pregnant with our second child. We went in for a routine visit to find out
whether we were having a boy or a girl.
The technician performing the Ultrasound immediately noticed something
out of the ordinary with our little one.
She called in Courtney’s primary physician and both agreed it had
something to do with the baby’s bladder.
However, they felt that it was serious enough to where we needed to go
see high risk doctors at Erlanger. After
weeks of additional office visits, ultrasounds and opinions, the doctors
determined that our baby had an omphalocele (that is the “O” in the OEIS
designation above. More on the rest of
it later). This is a condition in which
the abdominal wall does not fully form and certain organs are outside of the
body at birth. It is not extremely rare,
occurring once in every 5,000-10,000 live births. During these visits we also determined that
we were having a baby boy. We
immediately began preparing for his birth, surgery and the estimated 4-6 week
stay in the hospital.
Then, about
six weeks prior to his due date, the Lord decided that it was time for Jacob to
come into this world. He was delivered
at Erlanger via C-Section and sent to the NICU.
He weighed 4lbs, 8 oz. The
surgeon on duty evaluated him and then came back to let us know the scoop. She advised that Jacob had something a little
more complex than what we originally thought.
In addition to the Omphalocele, he also had Exstrophy of the bladder
(meaning it was also outside of his body), Imperforate Anus (the plumbing was
not where it should be and his pelvic bones were way out of place due to a
30-40% loss of bone mass and lack of development) and Spina Bifida (O.E.I.S). In addition, he was also born with a clubbed
foot (his left). The surgeon advised
that they had never seen this complex condition before and they determined that
there were only two facilities in the US
that were known for handling it – one was Johns Hopkins and the other was
located in Seattle , WA
(We later discovered that the facility in Seattle Baltimore
With the
diagnosis and determination in place, our journey really began to “ramp” up at
this point. We got to spend 24 hours
with Jacob and then he was flown, via medical helicopter, to Johns
Hopkins. Once again, the Lord was there. The airline required payment in full before
they could transport Jacob. The amount
was large - $15,000.00. We only had
about $9000.00 available on a credit card, but one of our church elders, who
had come to pray with us and visit, had stayed a little longer. He agreed to cover the remaining $6000.00
with his personal credit card and Jacob was on his way. We were able to later reimburse him once we
coordinated with insurance, but that situation was definitely stressful. But He is good and He provides, according to His
good purposes.
Now, one of
us could have ridden with Jacob in the helicopter, but Courtney could not be
released from the hospital, yet, and Bryan
When we
arrived, we immediately went to visit him in the NICU. He was such a little guy and had all of these
tubes, monitors, etc hooked up to him.
Words don’t really do this justice, so we have placed a picture of him
on our blog. We’ll provide that web
address a little later. He had his first
major surgery that Friday (12/9). During
this surgery, they closed up the omphaocele (his intestines) and created an
ostomy (stoma for his poo), but his bladder remained on the outside of his
body. One week later, he had a second
surgery to correct/close a small valve (PDA) near his heart. This was not a huge surgery, but certainly
concerned us because of where it was located.
We did find out that this is not an uncommon procedure, and thankfully,
it went very well. We were also first
introduced to Dr. Gearhart, who, along with several other doctors, have, by
God’s grace, been a true blessing to us.
Jacob remained
in the NICU for a total of three weeks.
He was released right before Christmas and we were able to share
Christmas with some of our extended family there in the Baltimore
Upon
returning home, we had quite a routine to follow. You may recall that his bladder remained
outside of his body, even after the first two surgeries. This required us to keep saline and saran
wrap on his bladder at all times, with a diaper over top of it. His bladder basically “drained”
constantly. With a few weeks of
returning home, he came down with RSV (respiratory virus) and had to be
hospitalized for about a week. He was
not gaining weight, so the doctor put him on a special formula. Thankfully, he liked it pretty well. Since Jacob was born with a shortened colon
that required an ostomy, he did not always absorb his food and nutrients very
well. In addition, whenever he gets
sick, it seems to linger longer than normal.
He also becomes dehydrated much faster than a “normal” child. This formula worked, though, and we are again
thankful that the Lord led us to find it and also provided the means to be able
to get it (it was quite expensive).
Things
gradually improved for us during the next few months. We certainly had a good bit of help from our
family and friends, especially Courtney’s Mom.
We went to see a doctor here in Chattanooga
The summer
of that year (2007), we had gone to Baltimore
for some office visits at Hopkins
Thankfully,
the second time was a charm and the surgery was successful. However, the recovery was quite rough. Jacob developed an infection in his back at
the site where the surgery was performed.
He had to be readmitted to the hospital and ended up being there (at the
hospital or in the area) for a total of 27 days. Even after he returned home, a nurse had to
come in and treat these wounds for several weeks. In the end, though, Jacob was able to walk
and crawl fairly well, although his pelvic bone issues certainly restricted him
a bit.
As the year
2008 arrived, we continued to look forward to the “big” surgery. After speaking with our doctors and some
other families who had been dealt with this condition, we pretty well knew it
was coming, but weren’t sure when. The
surgery would involve both the Orthopedic and Urology physicians. There would actually be two surgeries that
would need to be performed fairly close to each other. The first would involve his pelvic bones and
the second would be for the purpose of closing up his bladder (which was still
outside of his body at that time). The
Orthopedic surgeon generally takes a conservative approach when it comes to
these things and while we were anxious for his bladder to be closed, we also
understood that the longer he was allowed to grow first, the better the chances
for success, especially with the pelvic surgery.
Just prior to the surgeries in July and August of 2008, we
began using a blog to chronicle our Journey from that point forward. For the “rest of the story”, please feel free
to visit our blog (we typically update it only when there is a procedure,
surgery or visit to Johns Hopkins or if an urgent prayer situation
arises). The website address is www.jacobarrington.blogspot.com. While the majority of this journey has
involved our younger son, Jacob, we have also had an adventure with our older
son, James. Just last year in August of
2009, he had two seizures, exactly a week apart. He was diagnosed with epilepsy and has been
on medication since then. Thankfully,
he has not had any significant seizures since that time. In addition, we have finally been able to
secure a visit with an Epilepsy specialist at Johns Hopkins.
In June of this year (2010), we will be returning to Johns
Hopkins for several office visits and a minor (hopefully) procedure for
Jacob. He has developed a concern with his
stoma and so we don’t know if he will end up needing a surgery to correct this
or not. It basically has “prolapsed”,
meaning that it is really protruding out from his body. It still seems to be working properly, but is
definitely a challenge. The biggest
concern right now is that he is going through a lot of colostomy bags,
sometimes 2-3 per day (they used to last 2-3 days or longer between changes).
The Lord truly is merciful and gracious, through all of the
ups and downs. Despite his physical shortcomings,
Jacob has developed a tremendous vocabulary.
He recently was able to “jump” a little and can even jog a little (in
his own special way).
We have included some additional photos and even a
“centerfold” picture of Jacob that appeared in a Johns Hopkins publication back
in 2008.
We thank you all for your continued prayers and this
wonderful demonstration of love that you all have shown to us through your
offer to assist us with our patio.
Through Christ Alone,
The Arrington’s
Jacob's Timeline 2006-2016
It is hard to believe, but we are in the 10th year of our Journey with Jacob. For those who may not know his story (The Lord's story, told through Jacob), or wanted to fill in the gaps, we have prepared the following timeline:
Year 2006 – in the months leading up to Jacob’s birth, things were a whirlwind for us. When we went in for the 20 week ultrasound, the tech knew something looked different. They sent us to the high risk doctors where we had weekly ultrasounds and many different opinions from many different doctors. They essentially were giving us worse case scenarios, but none of them really knew what was going on. The Lord was clearly at work, though, because as they were about perform a fetal surgery on Courtney/Jacob that could have significantly harmed Jacob, our sister-in-law asked for another Ultrasound. Things looked differently this time and they did not move forward with it. After that, Courtney asked to go back to her regular OB and wanted him to deliver this baby.
December – Jacob was born on the 3rd, via C-Section, in Chattanooga, TN at TC Thompson/Erlanger. Six weeks early and weighed 4 lbs, 8 oz. Diagnosed with Cloacal Exstrophy, a severe and rare birth defect affecting only 1 in about 250-400,000 live births. The surgeon on duty at delivery, in conversation with us, determined that Johns Hopkins was a hospital best suited to treat Jacob. By God’s grace, we had family there, too (Courtney’s brother and our aforementioned sister-in-law).
Within 24 hours, he was on a medical helicopter, heading to Johns Hopkins. Mommy and Daddy stayed behind for two days so Mommy could recover enough from c-section to leave. Huge help from our church - $15K had to be paid up front for medical transport. Family in Baltimore checked in with Jacob in the days prior to our arrival.
Three week stay in the NICU at Johns Hopkins. Had omphalocele repair, colostomy bag added and PDA surgeries. Released on 12/23/06, two days before Christmas.
Had bladder exposed (outside of body) for first 18 months of life. We kept it covered with Saline and Saran Wrap.
Year 2007 – this was the year that we really learned a lot about Jacob’s condition. He would have his second major surgery and spend a fair bit of time in the hospital.
January – got RSV and had to spend several days in the hospital (Chattanooga).
February – doctor put Jacob on special formula to try and “fatten him up”. It worked well.
February/March/April – casting procedure on club foot, wore special shoes with bar between them. (ponsetti?), tendon cut, weekly shots with this procedure.
June – while visiting in Baltimore, attending exstrophy picnic, noticed bulge in his lower back. Was referred to and sent to see neurosurgeon, Dr. Jallo, had MRI and determined that he had tethered spinal cord (form of spina bifida) and needed surgery fairly soon.
August – surgery scheduled for tethered cord, at the end of the month, but Jacob got sick just before and surgery was delayed one month.
September – returned to Hopkins for surgery. In the hospital for about a week, but recovery was long due to “packing” the incision points on his back and trying to keep “pee” from spilling from his bladder and around to his lower back. Required that we use a combination of male guards, diapers and women’s pads. Had to bring in a Home Health nurse to assist with packing the incision sites. Recovery took several weeks.
Year 2008 – Jacob recovered nicely from his surgery in 2008 and began to walk a little. We continued to maintain his bladder, still outside of his body, as we had previously (using saran wrap, saline, and cover with diaper). This would be a year remember, though, as he would have two of the most involved surgeries that accompany cloacal exstrophy patients and we would spend approximately over one fourth of the year in the hospital.
June – went to Baltimore for picnic and annual doctor visits. Dr. Sponseller and Dr. Gearhart agreed that it was time for the “Big One” - surgery that is. Our 100 day stay in Baltimore would begin at the end of the followingmonth.
July – arrived at Hopkins for first of two major surgeries. First surgery involved cutting his pelvic bones, inserting a titanium bar with screws, and putting Jacob in a traction style cast with pins inserted in his pelvis. He wore this for approximately 6 weeks.
August – Bladder closure surgery. He remained in the hospital throughout this entire timeframe, which included respiratory illnesses, high fevers that really could not be explained and a lot of separation time for our family.
September – pins removed, but some complications with bladder surgery.
October – Spiked high fever, possibly UTI. Bladder scopes done to see why bladder not draining well. Attempted to cath and resulted in false entrance/opening in his skin. Titanium plate in his pelvis had eroded surgically repaired urethra. Multiple trips to Johns Hopkins ER.
November – headed home to Chattanooga after 100+ days in the hospital. Unable to resolve issue with bladder, so sent Jacob home with SP tube.
Year 2009 – this was a very difficult year for us because the suprapubic (SP) tube had to be changed out monthly and was his only way of peeing. The tube was basically a modified catheter with a “bubble” on the end that was inflated to help keep it in place. It then attached to a urine bag on his leg, that he wore 24/7. Having this in resulted in regular bladder spasms, which were painful for Jacob and required that he take medicine daily. He also took a daily antibiotic to help reduce the chances of urinary tract infection. In addition, his ostomy (for poop) was very tight, resulting in us having the dilate it (basically stab/insert) it daily. This was one of the most difficult things that Mommy and Daddy had to do, because we know it was very painful. Even with medicine, Jacob would awake multiple times each night, as result of spasms, gas/colostomy issues or both. Meds were Sulfatrim and Ditropan.
January – doctor visit with Dr. G and Dr. Lau. SP tube to stay in and must be changed monthly in Chattanooga by Ped Urologist here. Very painful for Jacob.
February – stoma revision attempt scheduled, but decided that it was better to wait. Must continue to dilate with metal rod. Continued to do this and get SP tube changed out monthly throughout 2009 and into early 2010.
July – after playing outside on a slip and slide,
August – James has two seizures a week apart. Starts meds shortly after that. Kepra. Two ER visits.
Year 2010 – after a difficult year, the Lord gave us some rest in 2010. Jacob would have his fourth major surgery at Hopkins.
January/February – Re-do of urethra and titanium bar surgery, this time successful (Thank you, Lord). Also a stoma revision. Spent about 7 weeks in the hospital/at Johns Hopkins.
March – Stoma prolapsed, to the point where nearly 12 inches of bowel were “hanging out” of Jacob, in his colostomy bag. Bag changes required daily, sometimes more often, and very difficult to change, cumbersome for Jacob.
James was able to see eye/seizure specialist at Hopkins and thankfully advised that he was 95% sure that James would grow out of these before he turned 12. Thankfully, he hasn’t had a seizure since April 2010.
June – appointment with doctors, another stoma revision scheduled. Daddy BA shared Jacob’s story and God’s grace at the annual exstrophy picnic.
July – stoma revision surgery. One week in the hospital. Surgery did not take, so stoma again prolapsed.
Years 2011/2012-these two years were fairly low key for us, comparatively speaking. Jacob continued to grow, albeit slowly at times, and we continued to deal with the challenges of the prolapsed stoma. He also started school (kindergarten). Doctor visits were mostly limited to office visits, although Jacob did have to go to the ER several times due to dehydration. Because of his short gut/bowel, he isn’t able to absorb water and nutrients as well and is therefore more susceptible to dehydration, especially from colds and viruses.
Year 2013 – during the summer between kindergarten and first grade, Jacob began to mention how he would like to be dry, like the other kids his age. Up to this point, he wore a pull-up all of the time because his pee would just constantly drain out of the urethra that was surgically created for him in 2010. We knew that the next major surgery for Jacob would most likely be a “bladder augmentation” surgery where Jacob would have a continence stoma added and then be able to use a catheter to pee. While visiting the doctors at Hopkins this summer, we told Jacob that HE needed to tell Dr. Gearhart that he wanted the surgery, not just have us tell him. So God gave Jacob the words and he told Dr. G – “I’m not leaving Baltimore until I have this surgery”. While it couldn’t be scheduled right then and there, it was scheduled for November.
November 2013-January 2014 – continence stoma/bladder augmentation surgery. Spent about one week in the hospital, but 60 days total in Baltimore for healing, removal of kidney stints, SP tube and training Jacob how to cath. He also had a successful stoma revision surgery and no more pro-lapsed stoma. **Lots of great detail and pics on our blog from this surgery.
Years 2014/2015 – once Jacob recovered from his continence surgery, he was almost like a new boy. No more diapers/pull-ups. Jacob learned to cath by himself and several times asked why we didn’t schedule this surgery sooner. But we know God’s timing is perfect and that Jacob likely would have struggled if it had been any sooner.
Jacob truly had a great year in 2014. He was able to do so much more without the restrictions of wearing pull-ups and having 10 inches of bowel hanging out in his colostomy bag.
We knew, however, that there was still one aspect of his condition that we had put on hold. That was his club foot. The doctor recommended that we think about addressing it in 2014/2015, but we knew how much Jacob was enjoying his new freedom, so we held off.
During the summer of 2015, Jacob started getting semi-regular urinary tract infections. We were thinking that they might have been the result of swimming because they almost always seemed to follow right after he was in a pool.
Year 2016
As time went on, however, and as we began 2016, he started to lose mobility whenever he would have an infection. For approximately three weeks in March of this year, he could barely walk and complained of dizziness.
We thought for sure that his tethered spinal cord was “coming back” (it is always there, but once his mobility goes down, it can reach a point where surgery is needed again).
In March, we had an MRI, followed by an X-Ray. The neurosurgeon at Hopkins reviewed it and advised that his spine looked stable, when compared to his last MRI in 2013.
Our focus then shifted back to the urinary tract infections. An ultrasound was performed and reviewed by Dr. Mullins, an adult urologist here in Chattanooga who actually was a resident and fellow, under Dr. Gearhart, at Hopkins. Oh how the Lord works in amazing ways.
With the recurring infections, the thought was that Jacob might have a bladder stone. An ultrasound was done and initially, and while they didn’t see a stone, they did see a lot of mucus and other “stuff”.
In April of this year, Dr. Mullins performed a procedure to clean out Jacob’s bladder. In the process, though, he did find a small stone. We will be having another ultrasound in June and then plan from there. Dr. Gearhart, at Hopkins, advised that we should wait on it for now.
During this same timeframe, we also began making plans to address Jacob’s club foot. A doctor here in Chattanooga, who works in pediatric orthopedics, advised that we should see a specialist at Sinai Medical in Baltimore, next time we are there. He said if he was treating him, he would do a weekly cast for two months, then perform a transfer surgery. Our plan for now is to see Dr. Sponseller, Jacob’s ortho doc at Hopkins, when we go in June. While minor compared to some of Jacob’s other surgeries, it does appear that correcting the issues with his club foot and left leg may be more complicated than we originally thought.
But through it all, the LORD has it all.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Watch out for yellow snow
Jacob and Sophie worked so hard and came so far that we just had to let them pee in the snow. Our babies have suffered through things that most of us can't even imagine. So God gave me an idea to help them to focus, not on the pain and discomfort, but on the outcome - or better yet, the output. Jacob and I talked about what he could do when he starts cathing. My first thought was fruit loops in the toilet. His was, "I want to pee in the cat liter". Sometimes the things our kids say and come up with just blows my mind. I do love their creativity and imagination.
Heading down to find some snow - cath in hand
Found some
What a proud mommy I am
thank you God for snow...they will never forget this.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Back Home
We arrived safely back home late Wednesday night. We are thankful for a successful surgery and recovery period. Now, it is back to the "normal" routine - school, work and everything else. The boys did go back to school today for a few hours, but it is definitely a little overwhelming for them, especially after being away for so long.
Jacob continues to remind us each day how nice it is not to wear pull-ups any longer. He loves being able to wear regular clothes without all of the added bulk. And we, as parents, also rejoice with him each time he mentions it. Praise God for the great things He has done.
On a separate, but related note, we wanted to take a moment to thank all of our friends and family, and even those we do not know, for faithfully holding us up in prayer throughout this journey (and beyond). We can boldly testify that God used these prayers to bring glory to His name and to hold us up during the most challenging times.
In addition, we also want to throw out a special thanks to four groups of people, whose financial generosity continues to leave us in awe. They are a school nurse, a school teacher and her extended family, a Sunday School class, a member of our church family and our anonymous "angel" (who supplied our wonderful van).
We will continue to (try to) provide periodic updates, espcially if something changes prior to our next visit to Hopkins. As of today, that will take place in June/July, when we plan to follow-up with each of his doctors and attend the annual exstrophy picnic.
We also hope that you all will continue to pray for us. Please pray that the cathing continues to get easier and that he will not get bladder stones, spasms or infections. Please pray that he will be able to get caught back up in school and that his nurse and other school staff will be able to adjust to the new cathing process. Please pray that he will gain some weight back. He lost about 8 pounds while away, which for him is a noticable amount. Please pray for the other aspects of his condition that we are currently monitoring - the tethered cord, spinal column, tip-toe walking, club foot, colostomy and continence stoma.
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen"
Monday, January 6, 2014
The last tube - out and gone
After about seven weeks of tubes, we got the last one out today. Nurse Karen did the honors and even though Jacob screamed quite loudly as it was coming out, within a few minutes, he felt a lot better. No more SP tube. He was ready to hit the slide here a the Children's House. Praise the Lord that we've reached this particular milestone. Barring anything unforeseen, Jacob should not need any major urology work/surgery done until he is a full blown teenager. Just annual check-ups and ultrasounds. Praise the Lord for brining us through to this particular milestone. We would ask for your continued prayers with regard to cathing, bladder stones and fluid intake.
We now shift our focus to a couple of other areas of concern, that being the tethered cord and the toe walking. We were able to see Dr. Jallo this morning and while the MRI from last year looks "stable", he is concerned about the toe walking. We also wonder, though, if having the SP tube in has affected his walking as well. With this in mind, we will be monitoring him for the next couple of weeks to see if there is any improvement, now that his SP tube is out. If needed, we will return later this year for a tethered cord surgery. We do pray that perhaps he will not need this surgery just yet. In addition, we will also be looking to address the club foot with the casting and shoes here in the coming months.
So now what? Our plan is to start packing our things and hopefully begin the journey back to Chattanooga on Wednesday. We would probably start tomorrow if not for the frigid forecast. We are very excited at the prospect of getting everyone back to Chattanooga.
"For I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand"
Mommy and Daddy
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Jacob's casting before
Jacob when he was a few days old
Precious foot right before his procedure and cast
Jacob at 3 months getting his first cast
And the shoes with the bars
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