Hurry, wait, nevermind, and the H word!

Wow the last week has been a whirlwind for us.  It is amazing how quickly God can bring you back to the center of His focus.  Since Monday we have been preparing for our trip to Michigan for Jordan's eye surgery.  Jordan has a retinal detachment.  According to his eye doctor and all the research I have done on my own, the only way to "fix" or "heal" a detachment is to perform surgery to reseal the retina to the back of the eye.  We have been told that Jordan needs this surgery so that it can prevent his retina from getting worse.  It doesn't even guarantee that he will have vision out of that part of his eye but it stops the detachment from moving into a more serious zone and location.  So, after hearing this news, we have spent all week on the normal "hurry and wait" status of the military.  Orders needed to be made, referrals verified, accepting physicians communicated with, insurance accepted, travel plans arranged and booked, and bags packed.  Although it took a lot of back and forth, we eventually were 100% prepared and just waiting on the call telling us when we were leaving.

Yesterday, I did get a call.  But it was not the one I was expecting.  Jordan's doctor called me right after lunch and wanted to update me on the transport. He told me that Jordan had an eye exam this morning and he wanted to discuss those results.  What the eye doctor saw was not something that any of us were expecting.  It appears that the retina is actually getting better and repairing on its own.  Like I said before, this doesn't happen.  From what the eye doctor saw, the retina looked like it was closer to the back of his eye and even smaller of a detachment area than before.  What a miracle!!  Right after his eye exam, the eye doctor called the specialist in Michigan to relay what he was seeing and both agreed that the best course of action would be to postpone transfer and recheck Jordan's eyes on Monday.  If the retina is indeed healing itself, then there is no need to put him through another surgery.  So now, we wait.  We will stop the transfer process as of now and wait for the results of Monday's check.  If Monday's check shows any improvements at all, we will continue to delay surgery.  Please pray with us that Jordan's eye would be completely healed so that no surgery is needed.

We are very happy about the possibility of no surgery.  Surgeries are very scary and stressful for me.  Its hard to watch my baby be prepped and prepared to endure so much.  He is so little and I want to protect him from harm.  He has already been through so much.  No surgery is a huge blessing to not have to endure.  The doctors were definitely shocked by this news.  After preparing so much, they found themselves asking the eye doctor...are you sure?!  The eye doctor was pretty confident in his decision though.

So whats next?  Well, if Monday shows that Jordan does not need surgery right away or even at all, then there is nothing that is really keeping him from coming home.  That's right...you read that correctly...I said the H word!!  :D  WHEN Monday's check goes smoothly, we will then work toward discharge.  Jordan will be coming home on oxygen.  They will order the oxygen equipment and teach us how to use it.  Jordan will have a "carseat trial" test.  Then I will "room in" for one night at the hospital.  This means I get to do all of his care for the night and day without being bothered unless there is an emergency or I feel like I need assistance.  Once we "room in" we are good to go home.  Oh gosh!! I can't believe we are that close.

Lord I thank you for the miracle of life that you have given us.  Jordan is a precious little boy and we are so blessed to be his parents.  We are so thankful that you have given him the opportunity for life.  Already he has touched the lives of many. We praise you for this miracle that you have given us.  We praise you that healing has been seen in his eye.  We are amazed of your power.  I pray that you would heal his eye completely and give him full and perfect sight.  Allow him to shock the eye doctor on Monday with his progress.  Allow us to move toward the next step of bringing him home.  Lord I thank you for my wonderful family.  I have a wonderful husband, two precious boys, and a special little puppy.  How could I be anymore blessed?!  I thank you Lord.  I ask that you would use our family to be a witness for you Lord.  Lead us where you would have us go and serve.  We are here, send us to do your will.  I ask these things in your name, Amen. 

Holidays, Family, and Travel Plans

We have been quite the busy family the past week.  It seems like the crazy may never end.  We hope that things will settle down shortly but we shall see what God has in store.  Last time I blogged we were getting reacquainted with America.  We are still working on that part but we have a little more of an idea of what we are doing day to day.  We bought a car last week and turned in the rental! Wooohooo! It is so nice to have our own "wheels".  Its a 2006 Kia Sorento.  We wanted something that was practical for the whole family and this fit in our budget plan.  We are still staying at a hotel but we have a contract on a house.  We are hoping to close and move in before Christmas.  The inspection found an allergenic type of mold in the attic so we are currently waiting for the seller to report that it has been professionally cleaned and guaranteed as not harmful.  Finding the mold caused a little bit of a set back in the closing dates but we are starting to learn that God had that planned all along.  Late next week we should be heading to Michigan for Jordan's eye surgery.  Looks like we should come back just in time to close!  Gods plans are perfect!

Besides getting settled, we had a few(okay a lot of) visitors.  My family all came in last weekend to spend the holiday week with us.  Although I didn't get too many cuddles with my boy this week as they were all hogging him, I enjoyed very much being able to share my precious boy with the family.  Jason also had a blast with them here.  He thought it was so much fun to wrestle with grandpa and have the other kids (uncles) around to hang out with.  We spent a lot of time laughing, playing games, and enjoying each others' company.  Not to mention we had an AMAZING Thanksgiving meal! YUM!! I love food.  The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have Jordan home with all of us. 

Jordan gave us a bit of a scare at the end of last week.  During recovery from his hernia surgery he had two different "episodes".  The day after surgery he had an eye exam.  During the exam he stopped breathing and needed to be bagged to raise his oxygen levels and heart rate.  The next day he was given a pain medication and had an adverse reaction to the medication.  He stopped breathing and had to be bagged again.  I was present for both episodes.  It was very scary.  Later it was decided that the pain medication was the cause of both episodes.  He will not be receiving this medication anymore.  Since then his recovery has been pretty smooth. His intestines were swollen from being handled but after a couple days of bowel rest he started working back up to regular feeds.  He is once again on a very low setting of oxygen and is back on full on-demand feeds.  Praise God for getting us through those episodes.  We were reminded of God's power and strength. 

Next week we will be heading to Royal Oaks, Michigan.  Jordan will be getting at least one eye surgery and possibly two.  We are going to be flying on a medical flight again.  The reason we are being sent to Michigan is because the type of surgery that Jordan needs is only done at this one location in the country.  These eye doctors are the best of the best.  They are the leading doctors in pediatric eye surgery.  The procedure they will do is unique in that they will be taking blood from both Jacob and myself and then spinning it to separate the plasma.   They will be injecting the plasma from our blood into his eye as they re-seal the retina.  This provides advanced results in healing the eye.  I thought this was pretty cool.  If anyone knows anyone in Michigan let us know.  I heard its cold there :/ lol.  If all goes well with his surgery then he has two options.  He can either be discharged from the NICU in Michigan and we will fly commercial back to Seattle; or he can fly medically back to Seattle and be discharged from here.  We will cross that path when we get there.  One step at a time.  It is hard to believe that it has almost been six months since our journey began.  Our precious miracle boy.  Born at 12.3 oz and 9in long.  He is now 6lbs 8oz and 18in long.  Praise God.  What a miracle!!

Tomorrow we are going to try out a new church.  We pray for Gods direction.  

I ask that you keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this last leg of our NICU journey.  We are all anxious to start the next leg with us all home together.  I ask that you pray for:
1. Safe travels to and from Michigan
2. Safe and successful eye surgery
3. Fast and uneventful recovery
4. A smooth closing process on our home
5. That God would lead us in our hunt for a new church family.

We are so blessed to have so many friends and family that care for and love us.  We are even more blessed to be surrounded by God's family.  We hope you all had a great holiday.

Getting re-acquainted with America

Well so far we have had quite the adventure in America.  I have now rented my first car, set up our hotel room as "home", and have even started getting used to driving on the right side of the road.  We have been working on changing our schedules and just getting settled into life here in Washington.  On Wednesday I picked up Jacob and Jason and Lucy from the airport.  It was great to see them!  Jacob says that both Jason and Lucy did excellent on the flight.  I knew my kids were awesome! Everyone was very tired though so I took them straight to our hotel room so they could nap.  If you know how hard my husband is to wake up then you know that I regretted that decision later.  He just would not get out of bed...I finally kicked him out at about 5pm local time.  Then we headed out to the hospital so that Jason could meet his little brother in person for the first time! What a blessing! Jason just adored Jordan and he loved meeting him. He asked if he could touch his head and give him hugs and kisses.  He even helped Jacob hold him.  It was precious to watch my two little boys mingle.  I am looking forward to when they can play together.  My boys are the best! Im serious! ;)

So we are realizing a lot of different changes from America to Japan.  I mean we always knew about these changes but its different when you are living them.  First off, not everyone in America are as friendly as they are in Japan.  That makes me a little sad.  We really gotta work on that.  Especially as Christians.  We should be spreading love.  Also, I have seen quite a few homeless people so far.  I know this is something that happens in Japan also but you don't really see it where we were.  The portion sizes here are HUGE!! Jacob and I were shocked when we went to Olive Garden tonight.  We had to get to-go boxes.  It was super yummy though.  When we finished our sodas and they wanted to bring us a second we were like what?! LOL  Some of the best changes include us being able to understand what is going on anywhere we go because we speak the language.  We could have done better about learning Japanese though. 

One of the best changes is that I get to see my little man so often.  He is 10 minutes away and they are open for visitation 24/7.  This means that if I want to see him in the middle of the night then I can get up and go.  They don't recommend that you sleep there...but you can...haha.  I love being able to cuddle with him more.  All of the nurses so far have been amazed by the treatment and care that he has gotten.  Yes there are parts of his care that are different from Japan to America but look at how much he has accomplished.  He is continuing to amaze others with his success.

A couple of things going on with Jordan.  He is doing well for the most part.  His respiratory condition is pretty much the same.  He is just on a low level of oxygen.  They will try to wean him off of it eventually but he still needs it.  One of his biggest things that he has been working on is his feedings.  He needs to be able to take all of his feedings by mouth.  I have been practicing a chin support technique that allows him to get a better suction on the bottle.  Today he drank all of his feedings by mouth.  He is still having some episodes with his feedings though.  Occasionally his heart rate will drop if he gets tired.  When that happens we just take a break and then move on when he is better.  From what I understand, this is just something he has to grow out of.  He will also need to have his hernia surgery before discharge.  It has not been scheduled yet and I don't have a tentative discharge date or anything.  We are still just waiting to see what the future holds.  His head ultrasound came back normal and all of his labs came back normal.  They are tracking his thyroid.  One of his thyroid hormone levels is a little high.  He may or may not need treatment for that.  As of now its not high enough. 

Today I spoke with Jordan's eye doctor.  Jordan has a partially detached retina in one eye.  They call it a 4A detachment.  It is located in a spot that would affect his peripheral vision.  The eye doctor is working with other specialists to decide the best path of treatment.  This is the biggest prayer request right now.  If they decide to do treatment, he will need to be sent to Michigan for the eye surgery.  When that will happen or if it will happen is still undecided.  Of course this was not in our plans at all but we do want the best of the best doctors working on him and those doctors are in Michigan.  We should know more as the week progresses.

Saturday we get to go look at our housing listings.  We are so excited to become home owners!! Jacob signed in to work today.  He is really excited about working at a heavy's base.  He thinks that he will be able to get some of his schooling done while we are here.  He is really looking forward to having more available time for that.  I am looking forward to having more time together as well.  I am so ready to bring my sweet boy home.  I know that it is all in God's timing.  These delays could just mean that Jordan needs to touch other lives for Christ.  Lord I just ask that you give us the strength to keep fighting every day for Jordan's best interests.  Help us to be observant and committed. We ask that you would protect him, heal him, and use him.  Help us to be a light for your word.  Amen.

We made it to America!!

Wooohooooo!!!  Jordan and I safely made it to America.  Let me tell you, that was an experience.  So after several flight time and day changes and unchanges (changing back to beginning plan lol), we ended up loading in an ambulance, waving goodbye to our Japanese NICU staff, and heading to Misawa to load up on a KC-135.  It was hard to leave the Aomori hospital.  Such great staff.  We are so blessed that we were able to work with such awesome people.  They really did become family.  We took tons of pictures and got many cards and gifts.  They really do love our son...and for that we are beyond grateful.  I really hope Jordan can go back to Japan someday to see where his life began. 

We had a really nice transport team for his flight and everyone did their best to make sure both him and I were comfortable and taken care of.  If you have never been on a military flight, it is quite the experience.  So its not climate controlled like a commercial flight.  They have heat on but heat rises so most of the flight my face was hot and my feet were cold.  It is also not made for comfort but it really was not that bad at all.  I was impressed with the smooth ride.  It also helped that I had my little munchkin to keep me occupied.  They opened his flight up for a few space A seats and one family from our church was able to be on the flight.  That was such a blessing to have people I knew on the flight.  I was so thankful that God worked it out like that. 

Jordan did awesome of the flight.  He had to be in the incubator to control the climate and for safety but he was pretty comfy.  He kept his levels stable and even got to wear cute little ear plugs.  Once we arrived in Washington, the medical team started to get him settled in his new home.  They did a lot of transferring of paperwork and medical summaries.  He will need to go through all of the testing again so that they can get a baseline of where he is at physically as far as his development and needs.  Although his medical records were transferred with him, they were in Japanese.  They had a few translated summaries and notes so they are basically working on piecing everything together.

It is now that we start to learn the impacts of the communication barrier.  I learned a lot of cool tricks for feeding him and caring for him.  He definitely got pampered by the nurses in Japan.  Today I have a little bit of an update on Jordan.  First off he has an inguinal hernia.  I did not know this before so it caught me off guard a little.  This is a common ailment of premature male babies and he will need to have it repaired with surgery sometime before he is one.  It is not a major operation and is not causing him any pain it is just there and needs to be fixed.  The doctors also made it a top priority to check his eyes.  The Japanese standards are different than the American ones so the doctors just wanted to make sure they were all on the same page.  His ROP has regressed a lot and is no longer dangerous.  There is a small part of his retina in one eye that is detaching.  Since this is the first time they have looked at his eyes here, they did not know if this was something that was worse before and now getting better or if it is something that is starting to get bad now.  They will recheck him on Thursday to get a stepping stone to work with.  Jordan is also doing really well with his feedings.  So much that they took the feeding tube out and use a resistance technique to help him get better suction on the bottle.  He is so far drinking all his feeds on his own.  Im going to have to practice at the resistance feeding thing....the nurse was great at it though.  Practice makes perfect I suppose. 

Jacobs flight actually got delayed 24 hours so I had to change a bunch of stuff around with plans.  Please pray that things go smoothly for me as I work on getting us settled and then pray for a safe flight for my guys and lucy girl.  So I am definitely exhausted and looking forward to my pillow...again (I took a nap!).  Oh and please pray that I remember that they drive on the RIGHT side of the road here...eeekkkk. 

Thank you for your prayers and support.  Don't we serve and awesome God?  I have been so blessed by how God has everything worked out for me already.  He has things under control.  He knows what is going on and has it planned to perfection.  So blessed! :)