I decided to take advantage of the fact my parents (Papaw and Nana) were in town  and get their help in bringing the babies in to work for a visit.

It seemed fitting that these little bundles would get to meet some of their most diligent prayer warriors and faithful fans.  I couldn’t have asked for a better support system, and this crew has been a HUGE part of that.  I’ve laughed here, I’ve cried here, I’ve celebrated here.   This is where I received a pile of cards and hand written notes after a particularly bad appointment.  As a group, this is where they gathered to pray before I left to have the babies.  This is the crew who even now continues to care about every appointment and update, and even brings dinner weekly as I make the transition to work.  These are their babies too.

Here are a few photos…look closely and you may just see someone you know!

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard, impossible is not a word.

We had a follow-up Endocrinology appointment today.  This was our first time seeing the doctor since fairly early on in the NICU days.  In terms of importance, this was a bit lower on the list for our boys.  I am in no way trying to down play the importance of endocrinology issues…but fortunately for our boys…this is one area that has so far come back very normal.   And since growth is one of the indicators for thyroid/pituitary issues, we were feeling thankful for their great growth rates and feeling optimistic about today’s report.

Optimism was the theme.  We see no indication of endocrine issues based on their growth, behavior, or abilities.  Assuming the blood work from today returns normal tomorrow; it would appear their endocrine system is continuing to function normally.

There were other optimistic items worth noting:

The nurse assumed I was 25.  That felt good, until she reacted somewhat strongly about how old 31 is.  🙂

Despite a mix up on location, we were greeted by a very friendly staff, and with lots of assistance from Papaw, we had a successful trip with happy boys.

As I mentioned earlier, this Dr hadn’t seen the boys since the early days.  He clearly remembered us.  He also remembered how negative and gloomy the first two weeks were.  In fact…as we looked at two very adorable, perfectly lovely, and in lots of ways…normal…boys, he asked me today whatever happened to the prognosis…”as I recall it was a very negative outlook”.   When I said they seemed to be remaining conservatively pessimistic until further notice…I also pointed out that I was remaining cautiously…or not too cautiously optimistic.  He seemed to see what I see.  Lots of potential.  Lots of reasons to have hope.  Lots to love.

I wanted to provide an update on L.

Slowly but surely we’re helping him get rid of the pneumonia.

The colds flying around up here this season are long-lasting in the adults as well.  So for poor L, knocking this one out is quite the challenge.

A nurse listened to him on Monday and thought his lungs were crackly all over.  She mentioned having a hard time hearing his heartbeat over the noise in his lungs.   And of course he had a horrible coughing fit in front of her.  She called the DR with what she was seeing and we were asked to rush him there right away.

Gulp.

I had made a conscious decision not to call over the weekend because I felt he was showing signs of progress.

As a reminder, pneumonia is often a cause of death with Lissencephaly.  So…we are NOT taking this lightly.

We’ve seen the nurse 3 times, the Dr once, and the ER twice.  But what if I had overlooked something important and allowed the pneumonia to get worse!

As instructed by the nurse, I rushed L to the doctor immediately.

Luckily, Dr B felt the pneumonia was not worse.  It was definitely different…but mostly because we were finally getting things broken up.  L needs to continue breathing treatments, continue coughing, and we continue to try to pat and suction everything out any chance we get.  But we’re slowly making progress.

We discussed reasons to be encouraged (he’s eating better, opening his eyes more, and breathing comfortably).  The Dr even gave a verbal pat on the back for worrying about the right things, and paying attention to the right cues.

Within an hour I went from worrying I had sentenced him to a serious case of pneumonia…to feeling like we made the right medical call and know him well.  It was a welcome relief.

I carried L back out to the van with a noticeably lighter load on my shoulders.  As I started the van and we pulled out…”Overcomer” played on the radio.

L is an Overcomer indeed.

Thank you for the prayers.