Queen Family Update - Monday, May 31st

Courtney's appointment with the surgeon went very well. He was real pleased at how she looked and how she was recovering. He said that she could start bending now and needed to keep walking each day to build up her strength.

She has had very little pain and is only taking Tylenol sparingly to deal with it. She is bending easier now and has started playing her Wii games again. She has been going on more errands with us and even went shopping with Jennifer this week. She went to her school on Wednesday to visit with her classmates and teachers.

Kelsey has started her summer workouts for school, is working on her online Latin course for school, and performed with the Creative Ministry team (Word in Motion) again this Sunday for the youth at Tulip Grove Baptist.

Today we all went to our friend's house for a Memorial Day pool party. Courtney got into the pool for awhile and really enjoyed it. The water was cold at first, but once you got in and got used to it, it wasn't that bad.

I have been very fortunate over the years to not have many medical problems, but I guess it is my turn now. Courtney has had several EGD procedures, Kelsey had one last year, and now it is my turn. Many of you know that I have had issues swallowing food at times over the last few years, so tomorrow they are going to look down my throat and stretch where necessary if I have narrowing. I will be out of work for the day, but should be fine to return to work on Wednesday.

Thank you for continuing to keep our family in your prayers.

Courtney Update - Monday, May 24th

Courtney has had another good week recovering at home.

She has been working with her Homebound teacher and taking walks around our neighborhood 2 or 3 times a day. She is eating well and just about back to her pre-surgery weight. She has even run a few errands with us this week in the car.

Kelsey has finished school now and quickly informed us that she is growing up and is now "officially" a Senior. I told her not until August is it "official". :-) She has been extremely busy these last 2 weeks. She sang with the DCA Choir at the Graduation ceremony, performed a couple of scenes from their Spring Musical (Singin in the Rain) at the Donelson Senior Center in a Flood Benefit, participated with the DCA Creative Ministry team in leading worship at a local church this past Sunday, volunteered with me at the Tennessee Special Olympics held at Vanderbilt this past Saturday, and worked with the Youth Group from her church to help clean up flood damage at the church and homes of families in their church (including a DCA classmate's home).

Courtney's back is looking great. She goes back to see the surgeon for her follow-up visit tomorrow. I will update with any news or changes in her recovery.

Courtney Update - Tuesday, May 18th

As promised, here are some pictures of Courtney playing school the night we came home. She played in the playroom for about 4 hours and then went to bed. She must have worn herself out because she slept a lot during the day on Wednesday.

We normally celebrate Courtney's birthday on Mother's Day (since that is the day she was born and it is always within a few days). However, since we were still in the hospital this year, we celebrated it at home the next weekend. Both my parents and Jenn's were here, along with my aunt, my sister and her husband, my niece, Jenn's sister and kids, Jenn's cousin with his wife and new baby, and several other friends. She was able to blow out her birthday candles with one try per candle this year, which is the first time she has ever been able to do that (thanks to her throat surgery last year).

When Jenn first asked her what kind of party she wanted this year, she said that she wanted a "Predators party" (how surprised do you think Jenn was??). I was rather pleased. LOL Jenn said that the bakery did not have any Predators supplies and it would take a long time to get them (not sure about that... LOL), so Courtney decided to have a "Princess and the Frog" party. She has watched her new DVD of that movie over and over again the last week. Kelsey even fixed her hair and put a tiara in.

I was looking forward to using my new grill and was concerned about the rain. However, it had not rained in about an hour or so and looked clear outside, so we decided to give it a shot. Guess what happened as soon as I got the grill hot and got the hot dog wiener packages opened? You guessed it, but we grilled in the rain anyway and I advised everyone that they should not complain if their hot dog was not done to their liking. LOL It took some teamwork to avoid getting them soaked, but we made it work.

Courtney had a great time painting, creating bead necklaces and bracelets, playing games, and opening her gifts.

Courtney has been home for a week now and is doing really well. She is getting around much better, her bowels are back to normal, and she is eating normally also. I am not sure if I have mentioned this before or not, but she has gained about 2.5 inches in heighth due to the straightening of her back. She is gaining back some of the weight she lost and her stomach doesn't seem to be having as much problems with distension.

WE ARE HOME - YEAH!!!!!!

Courtney was ready to go early this morning, but there was lots of paperwork to take care of before we could be officially released. We stopped by the pharmacy to get prescriptions filled and found that the pharmacy did not have the pain medicine. I had to go back out to a different pharmacy and then they could only fill the pain medicine and had a call back to Vanderbilt about the others. I got the pain medicine and picked up lunch for all of us and came home.

I will go back out later to get the other medicine and have to pick one of them up at Vandy tomorrow.

Courtney had one spell where her shoulder was hurting her, but once she took her pain medicine, she is doing fine. We have a bed setup in the living room, where she will be staying for awhile. She is lying down talking on the phone and looks like she doesn't have a care in the world. :-) She is very excited about being home on her birthday though, and has told us numerous times that she is not 12 anymore, she is 13.

10:30 PM - Courtney has had a good evening at home. Jenn and I both took a nap late this afternoon while she was napping. Then Courtney ate supper (ate all of it) then wanted to play school. She has been sitting in the play room for several hours now playing school without any pain. She has also been to the bathroom several times and seems to have her bowels working good now. :-)

Hopefully she will have a good night's sleep at home.

Thank you for your continued prayer support.

Courtney Update - Monday, May 10th

9:00 AM - Just a quick update to let you know that we are still in the hospital. Courtney is eating much better, walking more, had some bowel movements that are less loose, and had not thrown up in a few days.

However, to get home we have to make sure she can take in enough nutrition and keep it down. They decided yesterday to try turning off the continuous feeds via her Mic-Key button and try giving her a large amount at one time throughout the day to see how she handles that. They gave her the first one last night at 6:00 PM and then she ate at 8:00 PM and then 15 minutes later she threw it all up. They decided to put her back on continuous feeds last night and talk it over this morning to decide what to do. They may send us home with a feeding pump for a while to make sure she gets the nutrition she needs.

Jennifer came back to the hospital yesterday morning and I went home to stay with Kelsey, thinking we may go back later to pick up Courtney and bring her home. It really was strange not having lots of family together on Mother's Day. With Courtney's birthday falling on that day many times, we usually celebrate her birthday on Mother's Day anyway. That didn't work out, so I am back at work today, Kelsey is in school (at Two Rivers Baptist Church), and Jennifer will let me know if anything changes throughout the morning.

7:30 PM - Courtney has had a very good day. She has been up out of bed most of the day (walking, sitting up coloring, and playing Wii in the Play Room) and is having good bowel movements. She has tolerated her first bowlus feed and if she can handle the next two without any throwup problems, we will go home in the morning and manage her feeding as usual at home. If she has issues during the night, we will have to get a feeding pump and give her some continuous feeds at home until she is back to eating normally.

She is very excited about going home tomorrow, especially since it is her 13th birthday. She misses Kelsey a lot and is looking forward to seeing her tomorrow. Kelsey is studying for her AP Chemistry test that she is taking tomorrow morning. I will be staying at home with her tonight and come back in the morning to bring Courtney home.

Thank you for your prayer support over the last 2 weeks. We will still need it during her continued recovery at home. I will continue to post during her recovery at home, but not every day. I will also post some pictures so that you can see how good she is looking. We unofficially have her getting 2 - 2.5 inches taller after the surgery. :-)

I am leaving soon, so I will post again tomorrow once we are home.

Happy Mother's Day

Thirteen years ago, on Mother's Day, Courtney blessed us with her arrival. She was born at Baptist Hospital, then brought to Vanderbilt by the Angel team. Although her actual birthday is not until Tuesday, the 11th, it is rather ironic to be sitting here at Vanderbilt today on Mother's Day, once again.

We have been in the hospital on at least one occasion for every US holiday. This one however is the one that sticks out the most for me. When I think of all that Jennifer has gone through and what she has done over the last 13 years, I have to stop and thank God that He brought her into my life 27 years ago (we dated for nearly 5 years before getting married). I can't imagine the hurt she experienced after giving birth - then having her child rushed away to another hospital, while she had to stay, not knowing whether or not she would see her before she had open heart surgery the next day.

She then spent the next 6 months by Courtney's bedside every day at Vanderbilt and then go home at night to try to make Kelsey's life as normal as possible. Then once we finally got home, she became Courtney's primary caregiver (nurse, respiratory therapist, teacher, etc) and loving Mom. She had/has a wonderful boss, who convinced her (well before Courtney was born or even knew what problems we would have) not to totally quit his company to open her own business, but instead take on a different role with the company and he would send business to her if people needed custom software written. He paid Jennifer maternity leave for many years while she was not able to do any or little work due the time it took to care for Courtney.

If it were not for Jennifer, I know that Courtney would not be where she is today, and possibly not with us at all. She has sacrificed so much to help care for her, but has also been blessed beyond belief in some ways as well. It is no surprise that she cares so much for Courtney, because she has a loving mother as well. Her mother has made decisions concerning her own life based on how she could continue to help not only both of our girls, but her other grandchildren for years. She always seems to put others first, and I am lucky to have her as a mother-in-law. I know that one day, Kelsey will have these same characteristics with her children as well. She also has had to sacrifice time with both Jennifer and I through the years while we cared for Courtney. Although I know there are times that she has felt like she was less loved or cared about, she has always loved Courtney and is a very big influence in what Courtney loves to do. Courtney loves her big sister and tries to do whatever she sees Kelsey doing.

I certainly don't want to leave out my Mom, who definitely played a big part in who I am today. Little did I know 30 years (or so) ago, that when she allowed me to stay at home by myself if I would clean up the house, that it would benefit me so much today. Because of Courtney's medical history and our care for her, we had to split responsibilities around the house and I began to take care of much of the cleaning. Jenn did the cooking (we would have been in big trouble if it was left up to me) and caring for Courtney during the day. I love my Mom very much and wish that we could have visited more over the last 13 years, but have been limited in our travels. That however, does not stop her from visiting with Courtney on the phone. She will talk with her as long as Courtney wants to, if we don't step in.

So, even though I am at Vanderbilt on Mother's Day, I can't help but stop and thank God for the wonderful women he has put in my life. I am very lucky to be surrounded by 3 beautiful girls and have so many others in my life. I don't want to slight any of them by trying to name each of them, but they include my sister, sister-in law, and numerous aunts, grandmothers, and friends.

Take time today to thank all the wonderful women in your life and especially your Mothers. God bless and continue to keep us in your prayers.

Courtney Update - Saturday, May 8th

3:30 PM - We are still in the hospital and will be here again tonight. :-( Still no bowel movement.

She is feeling good and eating well (with no throwing up in a few days). She has been up several times today to go to the bathroom, to sit up and play on the computer, and also took a wheelchair ride downstairs to see the fish, the trains, and the butterflies in the chapel.

Keep praying for a bowel movement that will get rid of this hardened stool.

Jenn's parents are staying with Courtney so that we can both go to Kelsey's Choir & Drama Banquet. She is part of the skit that the juniors do imitating the seniors , and she and a friend are singing a tribute duet (For Good - from Wicked) to the seniors.

11:45 - Had a great time at Kelsey's banquet tonight. It did not end until about 10:30. The skit was good, the duet was beautiful (they had to hold back tears though), and Kelsey won an award for Best Showmanship (or something like that) for her presence on the stage with the choirs. We dropped her off at the after banquet party at a local gymnastics building that one of the seniors' Mom runs. I came back to the hospital to spend the night with Courtney and let Jenn's parents head home. Jennifer stayed at home with Kelsey tonight. When Kelsey leaves for church in the morning, Jenn will head over here to the hospital. Unless we get word that we can go home, I will leave and try to be at home when Kelsey gets back from church. She has to study for her AP Chemistry test on Monday.

Continue to pray that we can somehow figure out what needs to be done to clear out her bowels and get us out of the hospital. Thank you for your support.