NEVER A DULL MOMENT...

It's been a tad busy here since Isaiah had his hand surgery in April. Thankfully, his hand is healing nicely. The surgeon told us that he wouldn't have any movement in that thumb until 6-8 weeks after the surgery. Well, at 4 1/2 weeks, Isaiah moved the tip of the thumb, and then at 5 weeks, moved the whole thumb. We are just so excited to see another miracle happen in his little body. Thank you all for praying.

We saw the surgeon, Dr. Chang, May 27th for another follow-up and he gave us a schedule to follow for therapy. We need to see an OT specialist twice a week for quite awhile until Isaiah gains full use of his hand. Dr. Chang was completely excited to see how well Isaiah is doing. I was able to tell him that Isaiah is healing quickly because of everyone's faithful praying.

We've hit a few bumps in the road this past month. On May 12th, Isaiah ended up in the ER for severe abdominal pain. We were afraid that his intestines had twisted. The pain lasted for about 2 hours, and then resolved. Thankfully, the x-rays were negative. We saw the GI specialist the following week, and she felt he may have had intusseseption, when the bowel folds back on itself like a telescope. The only way to verify this is to have an ultrasound done at the time of acute pain. We are hoping it doesn't happen again. The other reason could be kidney/urologically related, so we are to revisit his urology specialist.

Then, on May 22nd, Isaiah went back to the ER at CHOP with difficulty breathing, a severe cough, and a fever of 104.7. He was diagnosed with croup, given steroids and breathing treatments, and sent home even though the x-ray showed possible pneumonia. We thought he was passed the worse since he didn't have a recurring fever since Sunday morning. But, on May 25th he crashed again and we went back to his primary physician. Isaiah was started on steroids, antibiotics, and albuterol breathing treatments to treat both croup and pneumonia. Please pray for a quick and full recovery.

I'll admit, I am a bit tired of running back and forth to the doctors. The doctors still have not found the source of Isaiah's lack of appetite, intermittent vomiting, weight loss, and now diarrhea for the past 3-4 weeks. They also do not know why he is having a harder and harder time recovering from anesthesia. We now have to see 3 new specialists and 1 previous one that had signed off a year ago. They are pulmonology, allergy, diagnostic, and urology. Please pray that somehow the doctors find some resolution to some of Isaiah's issues.

Just a few days ago, we received Isaiah's apnea monitor reading. Up until this point, all of his readings were within normal limits. Unfortunately, this last reading showed his heart rate is resting at 50-60 beats per minute. This is low for a baby. We now have to revisit cardiology to see if there is any underlying problem that was missed before.

Blessings the past few months:
1. Isaiah is moving his new thumb
2. Chris and I celebrated our 6th anniversary
3. My brother, Doug, was able to share Isaiah's story on TV down in South Carolina in conjunction with a Ronald McDonald House Fundraiser. He did a great job (see the following video)
4. Josiah is learning to potty train---pray he learns quickly, for my sanity!)

Prayer Requests:
1. For all the new specialists (cardiology, pulmonology, diagnostic, urology, and allergist) that need to examine Isaiah. Pray that we get some resolution to some of his issues.
2. That Isaiah quailifies for nursing home health care and for some adaptive aides for walking. It would be nice to have some additional help.
3. Pray for Chris' grandfather. He is struggling with Cardiac and eating problems and is not doing well. This has been very difficult on his whole family.

Thank you again for all you do for us!!!!!