contest

Okay...so we entered another contest! I helped my sister Dana create some artwork so she could win tickets to see Rascal Flatts backstage...whom she loves! So if you would like to vote we'd appreciate it. You do need to create an account to be able to vote and it looks like you can only vote once! Thanks! We are contestant #5 (picture 6). We'll see how we do!

http://www.b93.com/pages/broadway.html

Follow Up Appointment

Well we met with the ENT today. We didn't learn too much knew. We have our next follow up appointment for Feb. 24. That is 4 weeks from today to see if the infection is gone. Our ENT prefers to do an exam at this point after he is off the antibiotic for 1 week rather than doing a sinus scan first. A sinus scan at this age requires anesthetic. He did put him on reflux medicine again (previcid this time). Elliot was on this as a baby the first 3-4 months and he's thinking he could still be having trouble with it...not so much that he is uncomfortable anymore with it but that it is causing irritation in the throat thus the mucus glands kick in to create more mucus as a protect ant...so we're going to try this and see if it cuts down some of the mucus he seems to have so much of. We are going to continue to keep him off milk at this time and switch to soy milk instead of vit. d as he approaches 1 year old. This will be one less factor to consider in the mix. So we're just waiting now to see if his infection will clear. We really appreciate so many of you praying and following all the updates with Elliot. We'll continue to keep you updated!

Back to the Doctor

Well we headed back to the doctor yesterday. Elliot still has a sinus infection. Now we knew the surgery wouldn't solve this problem, it would only help prevent new sinus infections from appearing. What seems to be the problem is that his infection (from Sept) has never gone away completely. Every time we take him off an antibiotic it shows back up in 2-3 days...that's what happened this week...its still there. We have switched antibiotics a ton to find one to work..and hopefully this one will work...he just needs it longer. They want us to be on this on for 3 weeks. Then before 3 weeks is up they need to assess whether the infection is gone or not...to do this we may need to do a sinus scan to see if his sinus cavities are empty of the infection. If they are not..then we'll start doing other tests to see what the cause is. Our doctor is calling or ENT today to discuss Elliot's case. They are going to come up with a plan as to how to solve this mystery. Guess he is a rare case! Nice! At least our doctor is trying to get this solved for us. He knows we're not happy about putting him on antibiotics so much but at his age there are very few options we can proceed with until he gets older. So they are trying to get us through this winter till he gets older and we can start looking into other solutions (ie: allergies, immune system, scrape his sinus, etc). There biggest concern right now is getting rid of the infection in his body. Everything we've tried so far has just not worked. We meet with the ENT on Monday to discuss this further. Please pray we can find some answers together with the doctors and get this mystery solved. Elliot is really uncomfortable today and its so hard to watch him when he just doesn't feel well. He sneezed this morning and a big green glob about the size of a golf ball came out of his nose. He just has a ton of goo! I can't imagine what his head feels like ....and he can't tell us either! Hopefully we can just get him comfortable here shortly and wait till the infection clears. If you could also pray for direction with Jon and I. We are discussing other options of what to do about this and would appreciate your prayer for wisdom. This time of uncertainty and waiting is hard but we know God is faithful and HE will see us through it. Thanks!

various shots

Last night the kids had fun in the snow again!

Sweet boy! Happy!

Kiddos helping me open gifts for my birthday!

snow fun!

Jon took the kids out on Saturday in the snow..Elliot and I watched from the window! They all had a blast.

love the breath marks on the window.

not too bad of pictures from inside the house.

down the hill they go

"hair" do

One night when my parents were over Madi and Papa were being silly..she decided to give him a new "hair" do! This reminds me so much of when I was little..we used to do this to my dad all the time when he was asleep!



then papa got her back...you see by her expression she was happy!

then Isaac wanted his turn!

tooth

Madi lost her first tooth on New Years Eve....and then a second one right next to it on January 2! She is so excited and tells everyone. Grandma P even made her a pillow to put the teeth in so the tooth fairy knows exactly where to put the cash! Madi is so excited about it!

Pictures from surgery

Here is our happy guy at 6:15....he did so good waiting for a bottle..never once asked for one!

just about asleep...he feel asleep on us about 10 mins before the doctors took him back for surgery...good cuddle time.

His little toe...

passed out on mommy.

This was after he his breathing finally was better...he had some really big coughs to clear his lungs and then just slept on me...these little whimpers are too precious.

Out of Surgery

Well, we’re glad to be home. Elliot is doing well an resting in his bed. Everything this morning seemed to go fairly well. Here is a recap of this morning if you are interested.

We got to the hospital by 6:15. I took Elliot into the restroom to be changed and noticed some hives on his legs and belly. When we saw the nurse we showed her and she said it was fine, they’d just monitor it throughout the morning. He still has some now but they don’t seem to be a concern, so we’ll just give him some Benadryl and see if that helps them go down. Maybe he knew more than we thought what was going to happen today! Before surgery started we talked to the doctor about his ears as well. So far he had had 2 ear infections in December. I thought he had another one this morning and was right. So while he was in srugery they put tubes in his ear as well. We were very thankful for this so we didn't have to go back again in a couple of weeks. But the surgery lasted a little over a half an hour. When we finally got back to see him and he was crying pretty hard. It took us over an hour and several rounds of morphine to calm him down. They also gave him some medicine for the nausea. During surgery his breathing dropped really low so they couldn’t use as many narcotics as normal to help with his pain without risking putting him on the ventilator…so it just took longer than normal to get him comfortable after he woke up. They did monitor his breathing somewhat after surgery. He was very raspy and his right long seemed to crackle quite a bit but in time he finally coughed a lot of that up and it really cleared up his breathing. The nurse even heard him breathing so loud out in the hall..but is oxygen levels were always good so they said it would just take time. It reminded me of when the kids were first born and they kept making that snorting noise to clear out their lungs. After recovery we spent some time back in outpatient letting him sleep some and continue to work of the anesthesia. Now we are home and just letting him rest. I think the hardest part of the day was trying to calm him while he was so uncomfortable. I just wanted to take his pain away. We are so grateful for some many emails, posts and calls to check on Elliot. Thank you all so much for your support.

We appreciate it!

Jonathan & Kelly

Surgery

Well tomorrow morning is Elliots surgery. He is scheduled to go in at 8:15. The procedure should take about a half an hour. We'd appreciate all your prayers for him. We'll give you an update when we return home. Thanks so much for all your love and prayers thus far. We're very greatful for such great friends and family lifting us and Elliot up!

Back to the doctor

Well we took Elliot back in today....go figure! He sneezed this morning and green came from deep within! His antibiotic was set to be done tomorrow anyway..so we needed to get a new one anyway to get us till Monday...no we have a stronger dosage...this is getting crazy! I also wanted to go in because he was still wheezing. It really has improved a lot but they told me to check back in if it was still here after a week...which it was. So we have to continue is inhaler till the Friday after surgery. The biggest concern is that the anesthesia will make his breathing worse so we need to make sure this wheezing is under control. If it gets worse between now and Monday that may postpone the surgery. This wheezing is a completely separate issue from all the adenoid infections. They think this is more related to asthma (mild form right now). So they are just trying to control if with milder medications for now. Poor man....I feel horrible for him. Lets just pray this surgery will help him to finally get over this infection in his body!