Today we ran away

We ran away to the mountains today for a while. A bit to calm the stir-crazy we know is coming as we settle into Shelter in Place.

 Littlest said the water was COLD!!!

We were extremely careful, got near no one, touched nothing except nature, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and warm weather.

We’re seriously moving into protection mode for Anthony. He’s a front-line healthcare worker entering multiple homes on a daily basis. His transplant saved his life 6 years ago and we want to keep him around as long as possible.

Twice a day he takes medicines that suppress his immune system. He has NO way to fight if he gets this virus. He loves his job and will continue to work as long as it’s deemed safe. He doesn’t enter homes of symptomatic patients, wears PPE as needed, and cleans and sanitizes.

But here at home we’re tightening it up. No more visits, separating from neighborhood kids, and my kids haven’t seen the inside of a store in weeks. We’ll do everything we can to protect him and other vulnerable people. 

You do your part. 

#stayhome

Things I Love

I love that Aspen talks like Gollum from Lord of the Rings! She puts -ies on the end of so many things. She says shoesies, handsies, feeties, dinkies (drinks), booksies. It's adorable and I know she will grow out of it soon, so we're trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

I love that my babies love books. Both of them. They just can't get enough. Many times a day I will find them quietly immersed in a book. And MANY times I find them very noisily reciting it! It's something Anthony and I both truly enjoy and I'm so glad to share that passion with them.

I love that my sweet children love each other. They hold hands, read books to each other, play together, share snacks, help each other with problems, try to make the other feel better. They're so loving.

Now, don't get me wrong they FIGHT! Lots! But for the most part they are helpful and caring towards each other. Lincoln is being taught to be Aspen's protector...to take care of her and watch out for her. 

I love that before bed Aspen demands to sing three songs: Jesus Loves the little BooBoos, Jesus Loves the little Children, Jesus Loves Me. They're her favorite and she can be heard singing them throughout the day, no matter where we are. The other day she was singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of her lungs as we went through Target. We didn't have the heart to quiet her!

I love that Lincoln loves Bust'r Bus. He looks forward to going on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he's so glad school has started again. We're back in a routine and schedule. He likes to know what's going to happen next.

I love how much my kids love the Disney channel. That my sound silly but I am so thankful that we watch only Disney around here. When we go to the doctor's office or other places where other channels are playing I just hate it. They're such silly shows. I enjoy Mickey, Sophia, Doc, and Sheriff Callie.

 I love that my parents have a farm!

I love that Lincoln and Aspen can go and play and learn and get dirty. The experiences they have at their house will be things they remember forever. I loved growing up surrounded by animals and such interesting equipment. 

I love that my husband has a new kidney. The change in him, physically and emotionally, is HUGE! He's running, biking, did a triathlon again this year. We've enjoyed more time together without dialysis. We've accomplished more around the house because he's not so tired anymore. (Read: he's never tired and has more energy than he knows what to do with!) Vacations without dialysis are amazing!! His 10 month anniversary is almost upon us. It's truly amazing the goodness of God and his mercies. 

Biopsy

Today we sit here at the hospital again. But thankfully it's our last time!! Today is Anthony's one month check-up and his biopsy on the new kidney. It's a routine check up procedure performed on every transplanted kidney patient. Just checking to make sure the kidney is working properly and is showing no signs of dying tissue or rejection. 

We were admitted around 8:30 this morning and sat doing practically nothing until they came to get him at 11:40. The procedure is quite easy: they use ultrasound to see exactly where they want the needle to puncture. Using a spring-loading needle they insert the needle into the kidney and take a small sample. The whole procedure lasted only about 2 1/2 hours from when they took him away from me and brought him back to his room. He's only got a bandaid to show he had anything done. He's not in any pain, the nurses still have him hopped on some good pain meds. 

He has to lay still for 2 hours and then have another blood panel drawn. Once those results come back and are good we're free to go. Hopefully it won't be too late before we get home. I hate leaving the babies for so long so often. They love spending time with Grammy and Dadaw, and the grandparents love to have them, but I hate that we're not spending the time together. If I was going to spend this much time away from them I'd sure rather be doing something fun, not just sitting at the hospital all day. But we'll all make it through.

Since he's a month post-transplant I guess it would be nice to just give a general update. Last week he had his PD catheter, stint, and staples removed. He left the hospital a free man! That was our last overnight stay here...and we're glad of that! 

Overall Anthony is doing well. He's had a lot more good days than bad. Sometimes he still has pain and it really gets him down, physically and emotionally. One of his biggest problems has been that his hemoglobin is running low. This makes him tired and exhausts him easily. He's been trying to work up his endurance by walking with the kids up and down the development. He is definitely able to do more around the house like helping to cook, or helping do the dishes. He's playing with the babies more and even changing diapers again!! He still can't pick up anything more than 10 pounds. That makes it difficult on me because it means I have to lift everything, especially Aspen. I have to put her to bed, get her out of bed, put her on the changing table, get her in and out of the high chair. I won't let him carry two gallons of milk, and he's only allowed to take out the trash if it's light enough. 

He's only taking Tylenol for pain now, and that's really more discomfort than anything. He's not sleeping well..having trouble getting comfortable still. We still go back to the doctor twice a week...but since today is his one month mark he's now going to once a week. What a difference that will make! Less time away from the kids, less time driving, less gas. Hooray!

Home Life & Clinic

Well here we are....right where he wanted to be. Home. It truly is where the heart is, and where our babies are. That is the best medicine. Sleeping in your own bed can never be equaled. Neither can the simple act of sleeping all night without someone coming it to check your blood pressure or draw 4 vials of blood at 3am. We're enjoying sleeping together again.

Tuesday, 11/18/13, was our first clinic visit. We will go twice a week for at least a month. He had 4 vials of blood drawn, all his vitals were taken, and we talked a lot. A nurse came in to discuss all his meds and how much he's taking. We also reported his urine output, his liquid intake, and the amount of fluid still coming from his drain. Appetizing, I know. I told you I was going to over share! A doctor who is part of the transplant team talked to us about how he's doing and does he have any questions. The pharmacist came to talk to us about meds as well. To make sure we understood what they were all for and that some of them will be in constant flux. Prograf is the anti-rejection medicine he takes. Every time they draw blood they're testing for the level of Prograf in his system. If it's high they lower the dosage, if it's low they raise it. Simple enough. Thankfully they lowered his prednisone dosage today. He's been complaining of being hot, hot, hot and itchy. He can't wait to be finished with that for good. Hopefully only a few weeks more. 

We have to stay close by until his lab results come back. We don't have to stay in the clinic but we have to be close enough to return should they need to do something else or if he should need to be readmitted to the hospital. We went to Hanes Mall and walked around. I had my first Chick-fil-A peppermint milkshake of the season....Mmmmmmm! It was nice to just be out and about after being cooped up in the hospital for so long. Once we got the call that his labs were good we were free to come home. We met Anna for lunch at Hero House and then were on our way. Because we dilly dallied we didn't get home until about 3, but we could've been home way sooner. Hoping that's the case here on out. I don't want to be stuck in the clinic for longer than we have to be. Plus, when I'm not here someone else is taking my kids to preschool and library story time. Someone else is putting them down for naps and playing ball outside. I know it's their grandmother...but it's not me. I'm so thankful that Anthony's insurance allowed us to go to Baptist hospital. If we had to return to Duke for all these appointments it would probably be two overnight visits a week. That's a LONG drive for one day. That is entirely too much time away from my babies.

We left our clinic visit with about 15 other appointments. Several that take ALL day, and one more overnight stay in the hospital. Yuck. But he has to have his PD catheter removed Dec 3-4. That one he will be admitted on the 3rd and have to stay overnight. Observation I guess, he will be anesthetized only with "sleepy juice" but aware during the procedure. He also has to have a stint removed from his new kidney. Where it's connected to the new entrance to the bladder has to be held open. They have to go in and get that. I won't tell you how that's done. Let's just say he's NOT looking forward to it. At All! He feels like he's in a constant state of recovery. He gets several weeks to recover from the huge ordeal of the transplant then he has another procedure. He recovers from that procedure just long enough to be ready for the next one. More and more down time...on the road to recovery. 

However, we continue to be forever grateful and thankful that he has been given this opportunity. To be able to live his life without dialysis and spend more time with his family is amazing. To know he will be around to see his babies graduate and get married is humbling and amazing. Please continue to pray for Amy. She is recovering well but still also has a long road to go before she's completely well again. She was supposed to return to work today but wrote us to let us know she just couldn't. She had tried to push the envelope and go back quickly, but God had other plans and slowed her down. We are praying for you Amy!! Hope you're back on your feet in no time.

A HUGE thank you to our fabulous friends who have been treating us soo good! Jenn Rice brought dinner on Tuesday night, yummy penne pasta with sauce, garlic bread, salad, and cookies. It was so good Anthony went back for seconds. So did Aspen! Tonight we were blessed by Ellee Wallace. She fixed us ground turkey and black bean tacos. Amazing! Seriously, the best taco filling I've ever eaten! Not only did she bring dinner but she brought lunch and breakfast fixings too. I'm so thankful we have people who are willing to take time out of their busy lives to prepare a meal for my family, to show us they love us, and to support us. It's such a good feeling knowing I don't have to fix dinner at the end of a long day battling the kids and all there still has to be done around here. It truly gives me a sense of peace and allows me to spend more time on what matters most: our family.

Home

Well today has been like a roller coaster. And not one of the good ones that you want to ride over and over...but one that you NEVER want to ride again. Ever. Our day started out fabulous with wonderful reports from the surgical team. All his blood work looked good, his creatanine was continuing to drop, his urine was a nice color of yellow, the doctor removed his foley this morning, and his central line very soon after that. He got to take a shower!!! A real shower! He was feeling mighty fine. The word discharge had already been thrown around and he was sitting pretty. 

Then the big drop...he couldn't pee. At least not enough. He had to pee three times followed by a bladder scan to measure how much urine was left in his bladder. The acceptable number is 100 mL. The first time he went Nurse Debbie measured 173mL. Ok, not too bad. The second time he peed 500 mL and we expected his bladder to be empty. It showed 123 mL. Also, not a bad reading and coming down. The third time he went and the scan was done his number was up to the 200's. Then into the 400's and the 300's. By 4:00 pm Anthony was sure he was going to be stuck in the hospital again. He faded very quickly and began another pity party. He didn't want to eat, didn't want to drink, didn't want to talk. He just wanted to pout, he was so disappointed. Debbie was fabulous and gave us enough information to know what was going on, and encouragement to keep our heads up. She tried paging the doctor several times but no answer or call back. At 6 Anthony tried to get me to come home to the babies. He was sure he was spending another night in Winston. The docs were on shift change and his numbers for his bladder scan were way too high. Even Debbie was resigned to the fact that she thought he was going to need to spend another night there, probably having another catheter of some kind to empty his bladder.

And then.....he peed. 500 mL. It made Debbie happy and she called the docs back to report that his numbers looked good, his output was voluminous, and the color was appropriate. She got the discharge papers ready. Earlier today she went over his meds with me and we put them into his pill container. I'll take a picture of that beautiful thing tomorrow. We were set. Finally, around 6:30pm, good and wonderful news. The doctor on call agreed with Debbie and we were released!! Hooray!!! Within 15 minutes he was wheeled to the parking lot and deposited into my car!

Phew...get me off this ride! I'm ready for a break. I have a feeling that's not going to happen. For quite some time. The babies finally got to see him tonight for the first time in nearly a week...oh how sweet they were. Lincoln is very astute and knows just what was happening and that daddy was getting a new "part." He demanded to see his boo-boo tonight. I told Anthony he might as well. It's not scary or gross and Lincoln sincerely wants to know what's going on. He's also been asking about Amy. Last night when I talked to him on the phone he wanted to know how she was doing, where she was, and how her "part" was. Was she resting? Did she feel OK? Could he see her? That precious boy...God sure has something fabulous in store for him. Great things.

We shall see how the next few days go. I'm assuming Anthony is going to be overly tired and want to rest. He's not allowed to lift more than 10 pounds so he can't really help with the kids, or at least he can't pick them up or change Aspen's diaper, or put her to bed. Lincoln wants to be very close and Aspen is saying nothing but "Daddy!" I think they're going to have to spend lots of time at Grammy and Nana's house as Anthony gets his strength back so he will be able to rest, and I will too. 

Kidney!!

Just saw this picture posted on Amy's facebook page!! I'm SOOOO glad we found it! It may not sound like your idea of fun but I'm so glad to see this! I wanted to know what it looked like and how big it was. I think the writing on the side just shows the personality of the guys and girls in the operating room. Love it!!

Oh happy day!

9:00 am

One of the doctors from the transplant team just came to talk to us. Great news!! She removed his Foley catheter...ouch. He's a little sad about that still. Now he has to pee on his own. He's not looking forward to it. They're going to do another ultrasound on his bladder to make sure he's emptying it on his own. The last thing to go now is his central line. He's been begging to lose that since he left the ICU. Well, since he got to the ICU! The doctor went to put in an order for the central to be removed. He's completely untethered right now. Nothing hooked to anything. He just walked across the room...only holding his hospital gown together in the back so as not to flash anyone! :)

Morning check in

Anthony texted me at 7:15 this morning to tell me the labs they took last night were great! His creatinine levels are like a normal person!!!

His kidney appears to be doing great and he's still outputting tons of urine. It's beginning to clear more and look a little more like strawberry lemonade than cherry limeade. 

He had his ultrasound this morning to check his kidney and look at blood flow and such. The sonographer was awesome and talked to us the whole time. He showed us the "money shot" with all the red and blue lit up on the screen. That's exactly what we want to see. 

The surgical team came in with Dr Rogers a while ago and said everything looks good. His levels are coming down and all we have to think about now is his hemoglobin. But since he lost some blood during surgery they said he's fine. 

His sweet nurse Sara gave him a bath and he feels a lot more like a real person. He's currently sitting in the chair! Hooray!! 

We're just waiting on results from the ultrasound and another round of labs. Then were headed to the 11th floor!!

Recovery

I'm always amazed at who the Lord puts in our path. And how a few simple words can make such an impact on someone. Tonight as we met the new nurses after shift change in the ICU Anthony and I started talking to our charge nurse, Josh. Simple small talk lead to asking where we lived and we discovered that Josh is almost our neighbor!! He lives in a home only a few houses down from Anthony's grandmother's old home. He lives only a mile from our house. Amazing. Crazy. One of his first questions was, "What church do you go to?" We answered that we loved our Whitnel Penticostal Holiness Church family. He said he didn't get the opportunity to go to church because he works a bailor position and works every weekend. Josh only mentioned that he wished he had the time and a church of his own. He was completely amazed by Anthony's kidney journey and has been nothing short of fantastic.  Anthony shared his blog with him and hoped he will read it. I certainly hope that if Josh is wanting a relationship with God he reads Anthony's story and is touched.

Anthony has still been asking, nay, begging for water! Josh also told him no initially. Little did we know he made the effort to call Dr. Rogers to see if he could be allowed some fluids for Anthony's parched throat. Not only did Josh go out of his way to request his liquid diet he walked himself down to the cafeteria and got Anthony a big glass of sweet tea! Such a small act....but SO huge to someone in Anthony's position. It was truly precious. 

Before shift change Anna came back by and took Mom and me to dinner. We headed upstairs to see Amy first. She's doing great! She's sitting on the top floor just resting. She's finally got her ice pack that evidently took an act of congress. Not unlike it took 3 hours to get Anthony a pillow! She's using her own pain pump and doing well. They'll get her out of bed tomorrow as well so she can start moving around. They've estimated that she will get to leave on Saturday. That's amazing to me. She just gave a way a part of her body and now she's about to go home.

There are so many things I want to say to her. I haven't had the strength yet. I'm going to write them all down in a nice long letter and send it to her. I can't get through it in person...if you know me then you know how easily I cry. There's no way she would understand what I was saying. What a selfless gift. What an amazing selfless act.

Dr. Rogers came to check on Anthony a few hours ago. He said he was looking great and was glad all went well. He was also pleased that Anthony is making so much urine. They're pumping him full of fluids...what comes out must go back in. It's the color of a dark strawberry lemonade still. The nurses say the more he goes, the less red it will be. He also has a drain bulb on his side coming from his incision site. Stephanie, our nurse tonight, drained it a while ago. Yum.

Anthony's pain pump is full of Delodid and he is enjoying it. Though he's being a big stubborn about using it. He doesn't want to over use it and then regret it tomorrow when they take it away. He said his current pain level is Pi. His throat seems to hurt more than his side for now. When Josh got his liquid diet approved they showed up with a tray full of beef broth, sweet tea, and a lemon Italian Ice. That certainly made his day better and he thoroughly enjoyed his ice. (Picture to come tomorrow!)

The plan for tomorrow is to have an ultrasound on the abdomen to check the kidney and surrounding area to make sure all is well. They'll look for excess fluid or bleeding. As long as his night goes well and his ultrasound is good he will be released from ICU to be put into a regular room up on the 11th floor with Amy. Those rooms are SOOO nice and I'm looking forward to have a place to settle. They will also send PT for him tomorrow to get him up and moving. He's already looking forward to that. He wants to make sure all is well with himself and get everything working again. 

It's 10 pm and I'm back at the hotel...being up so early and having so many emotions mixed with adrenaline means I am exhausted. He's in very capable hands for the evening and he needs to rest too. I'll make my way back over to him in the morning for another fun day at the hospital. Maybe our friend, Tori, will even come visit!! (hint, hint) I also have a super funny video of Anthony begging for water and making deals with the nurses Anna and Melissa when he first got to the ICU. I'll work on posting that here as well!!

Branching

11:00 am

Just got another call from the OR. They successfully removed Amy's kidney and are branching it. That means they're cleaning up the arteries and veins to prepare them for Anthony. He's doing well. The nurse even commented it was a really good sized kidney. 

They have already begun stitching Amy up and have come to talk to her family. They will get to see her in about an hour. 

More updates as they come. 

Incision

I got a call at 9:10 am that they had officially made the first incision on Anthony. We're sitting in the HUGE surgical waiting room with tons of other people who are waiting patiently for news of their loved one. 

I am surrounded by love and prayers. My company: Anna, Mom, Anthony's parents: Carroll & Toni, one of our pastors: Gray Williams. 

I kissed him goodbye from the anesthesia holding room at about 8:00. I requested they give him the "loopy" medicine so I could make fun of him before he left....it didn't work out that way. :)

They said the entire process should take until about 1 or 2 pm. That sure is a long time to wait. 

The hardest part is not having a "home." There's nowhere for us to leave our stuff or Anthony's stuff. We have to just keep it here with us. Thankfully we're all here together and can take turns going to the restroom or grabbing food. 

The OR will call us again around 10:30 to give another update. They make an announcement on a loud speaker for Anthony Vance's family and all we have to do is pick up a phone to talk to them. I think that's really awesome. They called Amy's family up at the same time they called us at 9:10 to say they were about to remove her kidney for him. 

What an amazing act of kindness. 

Almost K-Day

Well here we are...we checked into the hospital this morning. We reported to Baptist Hospital around 9 this morning and Anthony was admitted to the day hospital for a full body work up. 

Pretty much as soon as we got here the vampires came to visit! Beth & Jackie took 17 vials of blood this morning...at least they were lots of fun to hang out with! 

About an hour later he had a EKG to check on his heart. Gotta make sure it's kicking strong!

Shortly after that he had a chest X-Ray. I guess to make sure there was no infection or anything.

I really think that part of Anthony's reason for having a kidney transplant was revealed to me today. He is touching everyone he comes in contact with. In a positive way. No one comes into our room or takes him somewhere for testing that he doesn't make smile. He truly has a personality that everyone loves and he makes a point to talk to everyone and treat them well. Everyone who helped us today kept telling us they wanted to come back and check on us, to make sure he was doing OK. They said they would miss him if they didn't see him tomorrow. I know there are tons of patients who aren't very easy to be around but Anthony is not one of them. He's so charming and such a blessing in everyone's lives. You can truly see God's love through him as he reaches out to everyone.

We also met with his surgical team today. Dr. Rogers is his name and we really like him. He just has a likable personality and he's really easy to talk to. He's saying that Anthony should have a super easy surgery and a relatively quick and easy recovery. He's feeding Anthony's unhealthy desire to leave the hospital early. He's already asking when he can leave...and when he can ride his bike. Ugh. Dr. Rogers said it's not unusual for healthy people to leave the hospital within 3-4 days. We shall see. I won't let him leave until I know I can take care of him at home...and his pain meds are working well!

We talked to anesthesiology today too. He signed several waivers...the usual stuff. 

Anna came over to say hi at lunch and hung out with us for a while. She just left, actually. Thankfully we have a friendly face nearby who knows her way around here so she can show us where we need to go. She's coming back tomorrow morning to be with us, too.

I checked in at the Holiday Inn that's literally across the street from the hospital so I have a comfy place to stay. My mom is coming in tonight so she doesn't have to be here super early. 

Tomorrow's plan is early. They are going to take Amy down for surgery prep at 7 am. Anthony will follow shortly after that around 7:45 or 8. They're hooking him up with some great meds in the morning so hopefully some funny videos will be captured! :)

The whole surgical process will take roughly 6-7 hours. The surgery itself only lasts about 3-4 of those hours. The rest of the time accounts for anesthesiology, putting in a central line, a catheter, and all the closing up and waking up process. I'll be sure to post updates as it goes. 

I love knowing they're going to be in side-by-side operating rooms..Amy in 12 and An

thony in 13. Dr. Rogers said they will actually take it out of Amy, walk through the door and hand it off to him to insert into Anthony. 13 is Anthony's favorite number so it's only fitting! They're taking Amy's left kidney and putting it in Anthony's left side. It will be inserted "backwards" or facing the opposite way from usual so it will be more protected from any impacts or falls. They both have marks written on them to show the side where the kidney will be removed or inserted. 

We met Amy today. I cried. How do I say thank you to someone for willingly donating a part of her body to save my husband? To save my family? To keep us together forever? To let Anthony walk Aspen down the aisle? To be there when our children graduate college...or when our grandchildren are born?

Amazing. God is so good. We are so blessed. 

18 Months & Updates

  

I can't believe it's here...my baby is officially one and a half. It just doesn't seem possible. Here are her 18 month check up stats:

Weight: 24 lbs, 14 ozs (60th percentile)

Height: 32.5 inches (80th percentile)

They measured her head but didn't write it down for me...bummer. 

She is doing everything just fine, Kate says she looks great. 

She has 14 teeth and is about to cut the top two canines. She's chewing on everything! I hope her amber teething necklace really works and gets us though this!

What she's wearing:

12-18 month clothes fit perfectly

We're buying 18-24 month for the fall/winter but they're a little big still

Size 4 disposable diapers, but we do cloth most of the time

Size 6 1/2 shoe!!

We went into Our Hearts and Sole, a kid's shoe store in Hickory, with Aspen wearing a size 5 in Stride Rite. We walked out in a 6 1/2. What a moment of mommy failure! I had no idea her shoes were so small! Mom of the Year. Right here.

What she's "saying"

Aspen can sign

help

outside

more

cup

water

milk

eat

all done

bear

dog

bird

duck

sleep

music

hat

yogurt

daddy

bath

diaper
airplane

She can actually say

mommy

daddy

baby

Every once in a while she tries to say

nana

dadaw

buhbuh (brother)

Overall she's still pretty quiet. She makes jibberish noises and acts like she's talking to herself alot. Kate said she scored a 25 on communication skills and she had to score a minimum of 15. They don't refer for speech until 2 1/2, but she said Aspen doesn't have a problem with speech. She has a problem with verbalizing, she can communicate fine. We're working with her to get her to speak more, but she just doesn't seem interested. She will not try to repeat what you say like Lincoln did. Lincoln made every sound you made, like a parrot. She doesn't have any desire to do that. So I hear mommy and baby about a million times every day!!

She LOVES music and makes the sign every time she hears it and starts dancing with a big smile on her face. She plants her feet apart and swings her hips. Precious! Her current favorite toy is her Cabbage Patch Aspen doll. Anna Fitzwater got it for her when she was born. It's a specially made doll named Aspen Ensley, so we call her Little Aspen! Aspen carries her everywhere she goes and always needs a baby. She also likes Lincoln's cars, trucks, and trains. The little house/door play center that Anna also gave to us is one of her favorite things to do in the house. She loves pushing the buttons and listening to the music. If I'm working on Thirty-One business at the table she wants to sit with me and draw. She loves making doodles on the paper. She's also the only one at the table when we eat out that colors. Lincoln only has eyes for his trucks! She can blow her nose, and tells us when her diaper is stinky. She's very interested in the potty and likes to sit on it. Let's hope potty training goes quickly!

What Lincoln is wearing

2T-3T shorts (3T only if they have adjustable waist, some are even 24 months!!)

3T-4T pants (adjustable waist, needs 4T for length this fall)

3T-4T shirts - we are buying 4T for fall/winter

Size 10 shoes

Lincoln is still very much in love with the Cars movies. He has all the cars at home and plays with them every day. He still loves music and dances all the time. You'll often hear him singing or humming to himself while he plays. He sings songs from Cars movies, Sunday School, Mickey's Sing Along, and the Disney Movies we watch all the time. Right now it appears that The Little Mermaid is his favorite. With Tarzan or The Little Engine that Could being very close runners up. We got him his very first "big boy bike" with training wheels last month. He LOVES it!! He would ride it all day, every day if we would let him!! It's a Schwinn, and very nice! I hope Aspen likes it, she'll probably be riding it too!

Lincoln started Pre-School this month!! He is on Bust'r Bus, a free mobile pre-k program for Burke County. He goes Tuesday and Thursday from 10:15-12. The first day he went he screamed the ENTIRE ride there, "I don't want to go to Bust'r Bus! I don't want to get on the bus!!" He screamed the entire way up the stairs of the bus and was still crying when I walked away. Aspen and I went to the Food Lion just around the corner so we'd be close if they  had to call us to come get him. Fortunately, he made it through with no problems! His teachers said he didn't cry for more than 5 minutes and then was just fine and played with everyone. Phew. We've been back twice now and he's seemed to enjoy it. No more crying or tears. Here is our first day...soo sad! Notice the tears on his shirt!

We visited with mamaw a few weeks ago, a BIG surprise for her as Mom didn't tell her we were coming! We played in the creek and everyone got deliciously dirty!

Anthony was in the Soldier's Reunion parade in Newton for Carolina Orthopaedic Sepcialists. I had the joy of wrangling both kids while we watched the LONGEST PARADE OF MY LIFE! 

On the kidney front there is no news. Just continuing to do dialysis manually 4 times a day, sucking away 2 hours of our lives. No one else has been tested as a living donor, all the others who turned in paperwork were refused for one reason or another. We don't know why, and wouldn't know they were refused without them telling us. Unfortunately, the living donor coordinator at Baptist has left and there is a new girl in her place. That means that poor girl is trying to catch up, figure things out, and take over. When Anthony called a few weeks ago to check up on his possible donors she seemed very frazzled and not entire sure she knew what she was doing. There is one woman from Anthony's mom's church who was a potential donor and was called in to be tested, the week before Thanksgiving. She declined that appointment because of the holiday. They took that as dismissal entirely and shelved her info and didn't call her for a repeat appointment. So she is now filling out paperwork again and hopefully she will be allowed to be tested this time. Everything just feels like "hurry up and wait."

As of August Anthony has officially been on the transplant list for a year. The average for Baptist's wait list is 2-3 years. Hopefully we're getting close. I'm not sure how ready I am to take care of a patient recovering from a kidney transplant, but I'm ready for Anthony to be back to his old self again without dialysis sucking away his time.

On a sadder note, my grandmother, Moppy, is at Hospice. She's been home with hospice care for several months now and she continues to go downhill. She is in congestive heart failure and every single breath is a struggle. She is swelling from the fluids and needs constant oxygen.  I went to visit her at Hospice House yesterday and it made me very sad. She was heavily drugged and couldn't even make it through a sentence without falling asleep. I took her SweetFrog yogurt as a treat, but she could only eat a few bites. After talking with Mom last night she told me they had given her a new antibiotic for her kidney infection and had reacted poorly, that's why she was so swollen and out of it when I visited yesterday. Hopefully she will be well enough to come home again, but I fear she won't be around to see another Christmas.