After a host of goodbyes, we were Guatemala bound!!! It was very tough traveling with such a big crew, but honestly they couldn't have done better. Odie (our dog) immediately started wigging out at the airport so I brought out the acepromezine and gave him a half tablet that my awesome vet had precut for him. Within a half hour, he calmed down. Honestly, he was perfect! That says a lot for anyone who knows Odie. He is always calm and loving with us but completely neurotic when strange men are around. I am very proud to say that both he and Cintia did great. She was Sassy Sally this morning after having little sleep. She told us to put her back to bed 'cause she wasn't going. Needless to say, she changed her mind.
We are absolutely beyond exhausted after less than an hour sleep for me and the big boys and barely more for Kenny and the other kids. We can't even think now. We are going to bed!
I have to voice our frustrations with Delta. I am writing a letter to whoever you write letters to and I have never done that before. There is family friendly and there is Delta....we were appalled by their rudeness and lack of accomodations not only for us but other families. It was almost as rediculous as the price of our tickets!
More later!
Blessings to all!
April
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Whew....all done for now!
We just left the nephrologist where Cintia's blood pressure was 135/98....yes that's high. It came down a bit before we left but we need to watch it in the coming year. Her blood creatine is a bit high for her age. That is also an indication of renal disease. It wasn't horrible but not perfect. Her ultrasound obviously indicated renal disease. She has a urological problem called reflux that causes the urine in her bladder to go backwards when she pees before finally draining out....which can damage the kidneys causing kidney damage. This was the cause of Kenny's kidney failure in childhood. He ended up with a transplant at age 16. His kidney was given by one of my favorite people on the planet...his daddy. We all know that Cintia was abandoned and will not have access to a family member so we pray she will never get there. Anyway, back to the reflux. Treatment for most is prophylactic antibiotics. The nephrologist feels like we can skip that until she has her first UTI at which point it is an immediate necessity. Any fever at all....antibiotics, check her urine, and culture it. She is suppose to limit sodium, drink alot, pee alot, take no ibuprofen, and stay completely decompressed in her intestines. Thanks to our stay in Cincinnati she is good now since she is on total bowel management...prior to Cincinnati, it was just about as bad as you can get and unfortunately had been for the first 3 3/4 years of her life....which is not so good. We can't look back and have to look forward. Anatomically, she has bad intestines (words can't describe what her contrast studies look like). She is still not perfect in that arena but she is as good as she can get. Apparently, constipation causes physical obstruction to the kidneys which is added on top of the reflux she already has compounding the problem. I am sure that is a huge part of this picture.
What do we do now? We were given the go to leave for Guatemala. The sooner she is adopted the better. Everything we have done in the last few weeks is to be repeated if possible in Guatemala in 6 months and for sure next summer here (prayerfully with insurance to cover it). With insurance, the hypertension will be worked up unless resolved before then. Apparently....that is super involved and super expensive for the uninsured...but what isn't, right? If her reflux is still there, she will probably need surgery to correct it. If her blood values look worse, well.....it will be a lifetime of watching kidneys and decreasing damage the best we can. If her blood sugar truly is high and not just a fluke....well, let's just say her daddy said that it will not be a pretty picture for her to have kidney disease and diabetes.
All of this to say that everything is pointing towards renal disease of some sort. It doesn't mean she will lose all kidney function and need a transplant. It just means that we need to watch it. As my Granny would say, "It is what it is." Burying our heads in the sand will not help Cintia but adopting her and giving her full access to the best medical care in the world will. It also is a good indicator that she needs to take care of her body if it is going to take care of her. All of her medical problems traveling into adulthood will not paint a pretty picture....with early intervention, her life will be as good as it can be. None of us have perfect bodies. Kids with congenital birth defects have their own variety of "not perfect." They tend to have "syndromes" meaning that normally if one thing is drastically wrong that other things tend to go along for the ride. For Cintia that is what is happening. All of her problems are related to her time in her mom's tummy between 5 & 7 weeks gestation. Something went wrong and produced abnormal anatomy in several areas. Even her spinal cord lipoma developed during that time....which is the first thing we need to take care of when her adoption completes. It not only impacts her balance and motor development but has massive potential to produce urological problems. One step at a time.....and we will get her to where she needs to be.
Next blog should be from Guatemala on Wednesday!
Blessings to you all!
April
What do we do now? We were given the go to leave for Guatemala. The sooner she is adopted the better. Everything we have done in the last few weeks is to be repeated if possible in Guatemala in 6 months and for sure next summer here (prayerfully with insurance to cover it). With insurance, the hypertension will be worked up unless resolved before then. Apparently....that is super involved and super expensive for the uninsured...but what isn't, right? If her reflux is still there, she will probably need surgery to correct it. If her blood values look worse, well.....it will be a lifetime of watching kidneys and decreasing damage the best we can. If her blood sugar truly is high and not just a fluke....well, let's just say her daddy said that it will not be a pretty picture for her to have kidney disease and diabetes.
All of this to say that everything is pointing towards renal disease of some sort. It doesn't mean she will lose all kidney function and need a transplant. It just means that we need to watch it. As my Granny would say, "It is what it is." Burying our heads in the sand will not help Cintia but adopting her and giving her full access to the best medical care in the world will. It also is a good indicator that she needs to take care of her body if it is going to take care of her. All of her medical problems traveling into adulthood will not paint a pretty picture....with early intervention, her life will be as good as it can be. None of us have perfect bodies. Kids with congenital birth defects have their own variety of "not perfect." They tend to have "syndromes" meaning that normally if one thing is drastically wrong that other things tend to go along for the ride. For Cintia that is what is happening. All of her problems are related to her time in her mom's tummy between 5 & 7 weeks gestation. Something went wrong and produced abnormal anatomy in several areas. Even her spinal cord lipoma developed during that time....which is the first thing we need to take care of when her adoption completes. It not only impacts her balance and motor development but has massive potential to produce urological problems. One step at a time.....and we will get her to where she needs to be.
Next blog should be from Guatemala on Wednesday!
Blessings to you all!
April
Friday, July 16, 2010
Results are in...sort of
Cintia does have reflux into one of her ureters. It looks like grade 1 which is not horrible but it refluxed all the way up. Before our trip to Cincinnati, I am sure it was much worse. With the abnormal ultrasound, it may mean she has damaged her kidneys but I will know more once we see her doctor. We now get to see the nephrologist again on Monday. He wants us to come in...dang it...and that was to be a home all day packing day. This is obviously more important so it will come first and packing will happen all night long....Mama's gonna be tired! Her lab looked okay but her glucose was high....what's up with that? Don't want to add diabetes into the picture. Hopefully it is something we can just recheck down the road and it will be okay too. Her urine culture was positive but they think it might have been contaminated. They threw out the urine from the cath today so now we get to try again to get a clean catch...next to impossible for her but we will give it a go. We didn't recheck her blood pressure because it would have definitely been high today because she was in a good bit of pain. It took about 6 times to get her cath in...several catheters later, the urologist came down and got it in on his second attempt...yes even he missed the first time. Anatomically, it was a huge challenge but in the end...he got it. She was peeing blood when it was over but at least it was over! Bless her heart, she just has the toughest time it seems. If it's not one thing, it's another.
I will update again on Monday once we have confirmation about where we go from here. I am assuming she will require prophylactic antibiotics. Reflux before age 6 causes most of the damage to the kidneys...which is permanent damage. So if he says antibiotics, we'll give them. I think we will still be good to go for a year but we'll have to wait to make sure on Monday.
Thanks for checking on Cintia!
Blessings to all!
April
I will update again on Monday once we have confirmation about where we go from here. I am assuming she will require prophylactic antibiotics. Reflux before age 6 causes most of the damage to the kidneys...which is permanent damage. So if he says antibiotics, we'll give them. I think we will still be good to go for a year but we'll have to wait to make sure on Monday.
Thanks for checking on Cintia!
Blessings to all!
April
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The Long and Short of it is....
We get to have more tests! The nephrologist was not overwhelmed with the ultrasound report if everything else checks out....if it does, we are good for a year at which time we will redo the ultrasound and labs. Her blood pressure was high today but he thinks it is may be rebounding from some medication she is taking. She has already been without it for 2 days and he wants her off a few more to see if it comes down. Blood pressure and renal function go together. Bad kidneys produce high blood pressure and high blood pressure damages kidneys. So we will follow that. If it is the same or still a little high, we will probably still be able to watch it for another year. God gives us just what we need....a year ought to do it!
Today she had a list of blood work...everything you want to know about kidney health...and a urine culture. She is scheduled for a VCG (voiding cystourethrogram) on Friday which will check for reflux into the kidneys. If she passes the tests, we are good for the year. If she fails any of the above, I don't know what we will have to do. We will cross that bridge when we get there. If she has mild reflux, she will probably do prophylactic antibiotics until she doesn't have it anymore. If she has significant reflux, she will probably require surgery to correct it....prayerfully waiting until next summer. He definitely thinks the spinal cord issue needs to be taken care of. One more confirmation of "Neurosurgery...here we come and we need to come soon!" It is probably contributing to many issues. He was very happy to know she had lost somewhere between 4 and 6 pounds in the last month. She was down to 34 pounds which he says is still above her height on the growth chart so she could still lose a little and be okay.
He agrees that she needs to keep her weight down...it would not help her blood pressure or kidneys...or anything else for that matter. He saw the huge dilemma we are facing with absolutely no family history. Abandoned kids don't have access to that unfortunately...and she never will. Many of her issues are much easier to diagnose with a family history but we will just have to feel our way through it.
Tomorrow she has 3 medical appointments and a final one on Friday. Prayerfully, that will wrap it up US side of things. I will update again on Friday after her test and blood pressure check. Her labs ought to be back too so we should have answers at that time.
Blessings!
April
Today she had a list of blood work...everything you want to know about kidney health...and a urine culture. She is scheduled for a VCG (voiding cystourethrogram) on Friday which will check for reflux into the kidneys. If she passes the tests, we are good for the year. If she fails any of the above, I don't know what we will have to do. We will cross that bridge when we get there. If she has mild reflux, she will probably do prophylactic antibiotics until she doesn't have it anymore. If she has significant reflux, she will probably require surgery to correct it....prayerfully waiting until next summer. He definitely thinks the spinal cord issue needs to be taken care of. One more confirmation of "Neurosurgery...here we come and we need to come soon!" It is probably contributing to many issues. He was very happy to know she had lost somewhere between 4 and 6 pounds in the last month. She was down to 34 pounds which he says is still above her height on the growth chart so she could still lose a little and be okay.
He agrees that she needs to keep her weight down...it would not help her blood pressure or kidneys...or anything else for that matter. He saw the huge dilemma we are facing with absolutely no family history. Abandoned kids don't have access to that unfortunately...and she never will. Many of her issues are much easier to diagnose with a family history but we will just have to feel our way through it.
Tomorrow she has 3 medical appointments and a final one on Friday. Prayerfully, that will wrap it up US side of things. I will update again on Friday after her test and blood pressure check. Her labs ought to be back too so we should have answers at that time.
Blessings!
April
One week to go!
In one week from today, we will arrive as a family in Guatemala. The kids are excited. Cintia and Odie (our dog) are stressed beyond measure with all the changes. Kenny and I are taking it minute by minute.
My friend Stanley flew in from Guatemala last week and left on Friday with our mini-van loaded with therapy equipment for Cintia and a few other things we fit in. He left on Friday and was at the border of Texas and Mexico last night. Prayerfully, he will cross the border this morning and be on his way so that he will arrive in Guatemala in time to pick us up at the airport. Please pray for his safety. It is a very dangerous trip...one that he takes often, bu nevertheless very dangerous. He means much more to me than the car although it would be nice for my car to arrive safely too. He has two borders to cross and has to deal with taxes so please pray for mercy and that the folks holding their hand out for money are reasonable. Many times they are not. So please pray for Stanley as he travels.
Cintia had a perfect dental checkup yesterday. Praise God! A baby who drank chocolate milk in a bottle and juices too numerous to count, probably didn't have her teeth brushed prior to my "gotcha" day with her, and still drinks no milk....has absolutely perfect teeth! Yeah!!!!
We have hit a major bump for Cintia. In order to save time because I have less than zero minutes to spare and 4 medical visits in the next two days plus the potential for many more after today's visit, I will simply cut and past from an email to Granny Hayman regarding Cintia's new health issue (not really new but we just found out about it).
"Not to worry you, but Cintia had a renal ultrasound done on Wednesday. I learned a lot in Cincinnati and one thing was in regards to renal function. Many of these kids end up in renal failure needing transplants and never know it until their teens. Her doc had requested the ultrasound and we thought she was fine having had a normal ultrasound 2 yrs prior. After the trip and having witnessed several families of little ones get bad news on their kids regarding kidney health, we decided to get an ultrasound. We were going to do it in Guatemala and send it back but due to a day where she screamed and couldn't pee (probably a spasm) we took her in. The pediatrician said he would like to do the scan here and have Dr. Burton read it (....the best radiologist around for reading peds US). Well, the long and short of it is she looks to have renal disease. Not severe at this point but not what we wanted to hear. Soooo, we are seeing a peds nephrologist next week. I will call you with the results of that visit. We don't expect to have to do much now unless it is medication. We may just need to keep an eye on it. Good news is that there are good nephrologists in Guate (some US trained) and they even do transplants...although we would never consider doing that there nor is she in need of one. I'm just saying that this is something we can follow there with good doctors and get on with her adoption rather than wait..... because this baby needs insurance and she needs to be a US citizen ASAP! I am also going to ask her judge to write another letter to the embassy to keep her health visa open in case we need to bring her out should things change for her medically. Even if it requires putting the adoption on hold for a few weeks, it will give us the peace of mind to know we could get her out should she get sick. I think it is something that everyone including her judge will agree on. "
That's sort of it in a nutshell. We know nothing except she has kidneys that appear abnormal...both of them indicating some kind of intrinsic renal disease. We see the nephrologist today and will get the "where do we go from here" talk and hopefully walk out reassured once more that God has revealed this in His perfect timing and life will move forward. We also got a call from Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. My pediatrician called every major hospital within 150 miles (I do believe) because getting a consult with a specialists with a 1 1/2 week time span seemed undoable. He explained the crisis and we were able to get into a pediatric nephrologist here in Chattanooga. Vanderbilt also agreed to work her in. They were super on the phone and said if Dr. Subterli needs to refer her on to them (meaning it is something severe that can't be managed in Chattanooga) that they will work her in. God is good!
Gotta go...but I will post the results of the visit today. It will probably be a cut and paste from an email to grandparents who are eagerly awaiting the results...but at least I will post something. Because after today and tomorrows medical visits and 2 full days and evenings of swim meets, the Haymans are in mad packing mode. Computers, electronic devices, and phones will shut off in order to pack for our move and trying to plan for what we will need in the coming year.
One last request...please pray for our parents and my grandmother. This is super tough on them and I can't stay strong when people are sad...particularly when there are tears. We have more to do than can get done and need to focus on the task of getting to Guatemala next week and can't stop long enough to love on our family and friends as much as we want too. (In the middle of typing this, Kenny called and said Payton needs 2 fillings and they wanted to do them next Tuesday. I said no. Today or tomorrow or we must wait.....they are not decay just crevices that can cause decay if they are not filled.) Oh boy...one more thing....oh one more thing....oh one more thing....that keeps happening! Pray that we start working our way down to one less thing....one less thing. That would be great! (Excuse all rambling and errors in grammar...no time to edit today!)
Blessings!
April
My friend Stanley flew in from Guatemala last week and left on Friday with our mini-van loaded with therapy equipment for Cintia and a few other things we fit in. He left on Friday and was at the border of Texas and Mexico last night. Prayerfully, he will cross the border this morning and be on his way so that he will arrive in Guatemala in time to pick us up at the airport. Please pray for his safety. It is a very dangerous trip...one that he takes often, bu nevertheless very dangerous. He means much more to me than the car although it would be nice for my car to arrive safely too. He has two borders to cross and has to deal with taxes so please pray for mercy and that the folks holding their hand out for money are reasonable. Many times they are not. So please pray for Stanley as he travels.
Cintia had a perfect dental checkup yesterday. Praise God! A baby who drank chocolate milk in a bottle and juices too numerous to count, probably didn't have her teeth brushed prior to my "gotcha" day with her, and still drinks no milk....has absolutely perfect teeth! Yeah!!!!
We have hit a major bump for Cintia. In order to save time because I have less than zero minutes to spare and 4 medical visits in the next two days plus the potential for many more after today's visit, I will simply cut and past from an email to Granny Hayman regarding Cintia's new health issue (not really new but we just found out about it).
"Not to worry you, but Cintia had a renal ultrasound done on Wednesday. I learned a lot in Cincinnati and one thing was in regards to renal function. Many of these kids end up in renal failure needing transplants and never know it until their teens. Her doc had requested the ultrasound and we thought she was fine having had a normal ultrasound 2 yrs prior. After the trip and having witnessed several families of little ones get bad news on their kids regarding kidney health, we decided to get an ultrasound. We were going to do it in Guatemala and send it back but due to a day where she screamed and couldn't pee (probably a spasm) we took her in. The pediatrician said he would like to do the scan here and have Dr. Burton read it (....the best radiologist around for reading peds US). Well, the long and short of it is she looks to have renal disease. Not severe at this point but not what we wanted to hear. Soooo, we are seeing a peds nephrologist next week. I will call you with the results of that visit. We don't expect to have to do much now unless it is medication. We may just need to keep an eye on it. Good news is that there are good nephrologists in Guate (some US trained) and they even do transplants...although we would never consider doing that there nor is she in need of one. I'm just saying that this is something we can follow there with good doctors and get on with her adoption rather than wait..... because this baby needs insurance and she needs to be a US citizen ASAP! I am also going to ask her judge to write another letter to the embassy to keep her health visa open in case we need to bring her out should things change for her medically. Even if it requires putting the adoption on hold for a few weeks, it will give us the peace of mind to know we could get her out should she get sick. I think it is something that everyone including her judge will agree on. "
That's sort of it in a nutshell. We know nothing except she has kidneys that appear abnormal...both of them indicating some kind of intrinsic renal disease. We see the nephrologist today and will get the "where do we go from here" talk and hopefully walk out reassured once more that God has revealed this in His perfect timing and life will move forward. We also got a call from Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. My pediatrician called every major hospital within 150 miles (I do believe) because getting a consult with a specialists with a 1 1/2 week time span seemed undoable. He explained the crisis and we were able to get into a pediatric nephrologist here in Chattanooga. Vanderbilt also agreed to work her in. They were super on the phone and said if Dr. Subterli needs to refer her on to them (meaning it is something severe that can't be managed in Chattanooga) that they will work her in. God is good!
Gotta go...but I will post the results of the visit today. It will probably be a cut and paste from an email to grandparents who are eagerly awaiting the results...but at least I will post something. Because after today and tomorrows medical visits and 2 full days and evenings of swim meets, the Haymans are in mad packing mode. Computers, electronic devices, and phones will shut off in order to pack for our move and trying to plan for what we will need in the coming year.
One last request...please pray for our parents and my grandmother. This is super tough on them and I can't stay strong when people are sad...particularly when there are tears. We have more to do than can get done and need to focus on the task of getting to Guatemala next week and can't stop long enough to love on our family and friends as much as we want too. (In the middle of typing this, Kenny called and said Payton needs 2 fillings and they wanted to do them next Tuesday. I said no. Today or tomorrow or we must wait.....they are not decay just crevices that can cause decay if they are not filled.) Oh boy...one more thing....oh one more thing....oh one more thing....that keeps happening! Pray that we start working our way down to one less thing....one less thing. That would be great! (Excuse all rambling and errors in grammar...no time to edit today!)
Blessings!
April
Monday, June 21, 2010
Oh my word!
So much has happened since my last post! My trip to Guatemala got delayed a couple of days due to nothing less than a volcanic eruption! Ash covered the city and airplanes couldn't land nor take off. Following the eruption were several small earthquakes, a tropical storm that took out much of the infrastructure of the country, and yet another eruption by Volcan Pacaya! I hiked that volcano once with Trey...didn't like it then and definitely don't like it now!
I arrived late and behind schedule to a house covered by black ash and filth. The outside had been semi-cleaned but the inside was unbelievably filthy! I soon discovered a 3 ft by 2 ft. metal door in my basement/garage floor that leads to nothing other than....get this and definitely hold your breath... an underground cistern.... yes that is an underground or rather under my floor well!!!! Yes a water well under the garage with a freely opening hinged door that any 2 yr old could open.....and I have Cintia....a child who ignores all boundaries! I honestly had my melt-down "What the heck am I doing" moment about that time. Overwhelmed and not dealing well with 2 days of no sleep, I finally found sheets to cover up with and crawled into a bed. I literally left it all with the Lord that night...telling Him that He promises that joy will come in the morning and I was counting on it! Sure enough, in the morning I began to deal with the house as I have with everything else concerning the last two years...one baby step at a time. By the end of my stay, my horrible "how can I live here" house became my home. It truly will be in one month from today because that is when our family will arrive there. Home is where your heart is and my heart belongs to a special 6-pack (ages 3 to 16) and a special husband of 19 yrs. Grandparents and parents hold the remaining piece so my home is to be spread out for the next year. (Needless to say, blogging during that trip was not an option. I never stopped moving long enough to type!)
Now our house is furnished and our tickets are purchased for July 21 (for all 8 of us and the dog). It looks like we will not get to visit home for the coming year. It is just too expensive. Tickets were almost $900 a piece and since the return trip can be extended until the middle of June 2011, we will wait and return then with the kids. I will have to go back to Guatemala and close down house (assuming we are ready to come home). If we still need to stay in Guatemala longer, we will make a visit home then and purchase new tickets to return. One of us will be going off to college so would not need a return ticket either way. Can't believe my oldest baby will graduate next May! Soooooo.....Christmas will be celebrated in Guatemala for 2010. I am sure it will be great!
That brings us up to where we are now..... currently in Cincinnati (Cintia, McKenna, and myself) and we are at the place our girl needs to be....Cincinnati Children's Hospital! Having said that, it has been an unbelievably difficult and hard to face part of this journey for each of us. Cintia has had a rough go and honestly it has been equally as rough for me. Our week and a half stay is probably going to be extended because we are offered an unusual treatment option by Dr. Pena who is the ultimate specialist in his field. I think he realizes the implications of Cintia not being able to return for some time and is letting us move on to phase two after a quick phase one...knowing that if we fail with phase two, we can fall back to phase one immediately. Normally, it is mandatory to have a minimum of 6 months in phase one before progressing. Don't get me wrong, both phases are brutal but phase two seems better for Cintia. It was time to move forward and one phase or the other is necessary if that is going to happen. God doesn't promise that life willl be easy but He does promise to go through each and every step with us. Good news of the week is that we were given encouraging reports for Cintia's longterm prognosis and were told she has a perfect surgical repair! We knew that already...Dr. Angel is the best...but isn't it encouraging to hear a world renowned expert confirm that. I can't wait to see Dr. A and tell him. We were also advised that little missy needs a small surgical procedure before we leave for Guatemala. We are going to confirm with another specialist before we leave Cincinnati but it is something Dr. Angel can do for Cintia in Knoxville.
Well, that's it for now. I will try to do better with blogging.....I've said that before, haven't I?
Blessings!
April
I arrived late and behind schedule to a house covered by black ash and filth. The outside had been semi-cleaned but the inside was unbelievably filthy! I soon discovered a 3 ft by 2 ft. metal door in my basement/garage floor that leads to nothing other than....get this and definitely hold your breath... an underground cistern.... yes that is an underground or rather under my floor well!!!! Yes a water well under the garage with a freely opening hinged door that any 2 yr old could open.....and I have Cintia....a child who ignores all boundaries! I honestly had my melt-down "What the heck am I doing" moment about that time. Overwhelmed and not dealing well with 2 days of no sleep, I finally found sheets to cover up with and crawled into a bed. I literally left it all with the Lord that night...telling Him that He promises that joy will come in the morning and I was counting on it! Sure enough, in the morning I began to deal with the house as I have with everything else concerning the last two years...one baby step at a time. By the end of my stay, my horrible "how can I live here" house became my home. It truly will be in one month from today because that is when our family will arrive there. Home is where your heart is and my heart belongs to a special 6-pack (ages 3 to 16) and a special husband of 19 yrs. Grandparents and parents hold the remaining piece so my home is to be spread out for the next year. (Needless to say, blogging during that trip was not an option. I never stopped moving long enough to type!)
Now our house is furnished and our tickets are purchased for July 21 (for all 8 of us and the dog). It looks like we will not get to visit home for the coming year. It is just too expensive. Tickets were almost $900 a piece and since the return trip can be extended until the middle of June 2011, we will wait and return then with the kids. I will have to go back to Guatemala and close down house (assuming we are ready to come home). If we still need to stay in Guatemala longer, we will make a visit home then and purchase new tickets to return. One of us will be going off to college so would not need a return ticket either way. Can't believe my oldest baby will graduate next May! Soooooo.....Christmas will be celebrated in Guatemala for 2010. I am sure it will be great!
That brings us up to where we are now..... currently in Cincinnati (Cintia, McKenna, and myself) and we are at the place our girl needs to be....Cincinnati Children's Hospital! Having said that, it has been an unbelievably difficult and hard to face part of this journey for each of us. Cintia has had a rough go and honestly it has been equally as rough for me. Our week and a half stay is probably going to be extended because we are offered an unusual treatment option by Dr. Pena who is the ultimate specialist in his field. I think he realizes the implications of Cintia not being able to return for some time and is letting us move on to phase two after a quick phase one...knowing that if we fail with phase two, we can fall back to phase one immediately. Normally, it is mandatory to have a minimum of 6 months in phase one before progressing. Don't get me wrong, both phases are brutal but phase two seems better for Cintia. It was time to move forward and one phase or the other is necessary if that is going to happen. God doesn't promise that life willl be easy but He does promise to go through each and every step with us. Good news of the week is that we were given encouraging reports for Cintia's longterm prognosis and were told she has a perfect surgical repair! We knew that already...Dr. Angel is the best...but isn't it encouraging to hear a world renowned expert confirm that. I can't wait to see Dr. A and tell him. We were also advised that little missy needs a small surgical procedure before we leave for Guatemala. We are going to confirm with another specialist before we leave Cincinnati but it is something Dr. Angel can do for Cintia in Knoxville.
Well, that's it for now. I will try to do better with blogging.....I've said that before, haven't I?
Blessings!
April
Friday, May 7, 2010
I'm back!
I am getting ready for a trip to Guatemala in 3 weeks to move in our new home! I have to furnish said house (see above picture) including purchasing appliances, sheets, blankets, towels, eating utensils, and on and on.....) in preparation to bring the kids in July for the Big Move! I am very excited yet a little concerned....not worried...about how it will all get done. We have had a busy month and June will be busier with me in Guatemala the first part and in Cincinnatti through the end of the month. Cintia is going to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for their total bowel management program...they are experts in cases like Cintia's. She has several procedures scheduled when we arrive then daily clinic for 8 days. This will let us know more about what we are dealing with in the long term and how we can manage it now. It will not be a fun trip for any of us but we will make the most of it.
My next post will be longer and hopefully will occur within the week (but don't hold your breath)! Once in Guatemala on June 2, I will post daily if I have internet....and I should have it. I will be traveling alone and staying in our new home alone (well, technically God is there as He always is) so prayers for safety would be appreciated.
Blessings!
April
PS If you are still there reading this, could you leave a quick "still here" comment so I can see who is still checking? I may need to email friends and family to let them know I am back on the blog. Many things coming up that we can sure use prayers for!
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