Finally home

Just wanted to update and thank everyone for their prayers!

We were discharged on Sat night and were able to come HOME!! Josiah was so excited that he was waving and saying thank you all the way out of the hospital :)

He does still have some swelling so it sounds like he is snoring while he is awake but doing better. Slowly taking a few bites of food but still not wanting to eating much. The cookie in the picture was just for show, he wanted to show you what His Aunt Karen, Aunt Kathy and his Pa, brought him. He loved having them come visit. They also had some visitors in the hospital of his Aunt Rooney and Uncle Darrell, he showed more excitement when they were here and it was so sweet.

He was up a lot last night and we are still dealing with Pain management but he loves being home and actually wants to try to walk around and even tried to stand by himself (doesn't work to well). The more we are home the better he will be, it is just going to take some time.

So thankful for all the encouragement and prayers for our family and especially for our sweet boy. He is a trooper!  The Lord was in so many of the details of this I could make a really long post but I won't :)  I do want to share one story with ya'll..

Had to share... We needed a certain wheel chair to be able to bring Josiah home. All the equipment places are closed on the weekend and said they could bring it to our home on Monday. We really needed it most sooner than later. The Nurse said she would set it up for Monday but ended up getting it yesterday for our trip home. The nurse came in and was so shocked. She said that she had to hide it from the other patients because they would ask where their's was. She just kept saying " I have no idea how you got this, I am completely amazed, things like this don't just happen.. ya'll must be blessed"! ~Yes, indeed we are very blessed!!

post op update

Update on Josiah: It has been a long 48 hours. Josiah is in a regular room and only on blow by oxygen a little when he sleeps. Still struggling with a little pain and he hasn't been able to keep anything down yet. I think if he could eat a little and keep it down they would let us go home. Please pray that his stomach settles and he can keep something down. 

We have seen the Lords hand in all this and I know He will carry us home too! Thank you all for your prayers!

Recovery

4-23-2015
9 PM

Surgery went well. We are back in recovery with Josiah now. Please continue to pray as he is swollen in his airway area and can't swallow. They have to suction him every so often and have him on forced oxygen. He is doing good, but it will be a long night. Thank all of you for your prayers!!!

4-24-15
6 AM


The night has gone well. They have given Josiah a breathing treatment and he has rested good and is alert this morning. We hope to get the air machine off soon. He is already wanting to get a drink and get down and walk, which is a good sign. Continue to keep him in your prayers as he recovers today.

Surgery .. please pray + Update

*** UPDATE>> Praise the Lord! They woke him up and he moved just fine!!!! Surgery is a go (starting now for at least the next 5 hours), please continue your prayers.. thank you!!!******


Please continue to pray for Josiah and also for wisdom for the doctors. We were just updated by the doctor and they have not started the surgery yet. As they were preping Josiah, they were unable to get a read on his brain signal that controls his arms and legs. They have been able to position him in a way to get the signal, however they are going to wake him up to make sure he can still move. At this point they are not sure if the surgery will be done today or not. We need much prayer, wisdom and peace!

Surgey Thursday

James and Josiah at the Zoo

"People who don't have a special needs brother or sister, doesn't know what they are missing."
         This is what my oldest daughter mentioned last night when Josiah was going around giving goodnight kisses to everyone.  It does a mothers heart good to know that his siblings love him so much. Truly, if you know him he is very lovable. He is a little person who isn't perfect but he is probably the most caring, joyful and loving person in our family.  I guess the Lord has given us many opportunities to realize how blessed we are. Every time we are reminded of his earthly fate we thank the Lord for putting him in our family and so thankful for him.

So, here we are on the eve of another surgery, thanking the Lord for every minute we have with him and it puts it in perspective how short our lives are... our lives are as a vapor (as in James 4:14). The Lord keeps putting this before me to help me realize that our time is precious, not just with Josiah but with each of my children and everyone around us.  I know that the Lord is in control of our days and am so thankful for the peace that passes all understanding to get us through the next few days.

In a nutshell, Josiah will be having surgery on Thursday morning at Vanderbilt in Nashville. This is not going to include the back surgery because the Doctors decided both the surgeries are so crucial that putting them together would be to much. So for this one they are going to be fusing the top two vertebrae at the top of his spine with screws. This will help with the underdeveloped or "Broken" bone in his neck. They will also be taking bone from his hip and using that to graph them together. Then they will take what Jim calls a Dremel tool :) to clean around his spinal cord to make extra room since the swelling is so severe. This is all going to be done under sedation obviously and will take several hours. We should only be in the hospital for about 2 days (but it falls on a weekend so it probably won't be till Monday). He will be discharged with a neck brace (if all goes well) and will have to wear it for at least 6 weeks.

We are so thankful that you check in on our little guy and for your prayers. Over the years, the prayers of family, friends and even strangers has been the most comforting to our family. I will try to keep an update posted when I get a chance.

James 4:14 

whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Surgery needed, please be in prayer.

I know it's been over a year since I posted... but all I have time for right now is a *quick update*.

We had another appointment at Vanderbilt yesterday. Josiah has broken a bone in the vertebra in his neck that we never realized. They found this when they were looking at how extensive the surgery is going to be to fuse bones in his neck due to inflammation around the spinal cord.This bone moves every time Josiah moves his head down and could puncture his spinal cord. So he will have to have surgery for both the broken bone and the fusing of the neck soon. They are trying to coordinate these surgery's with the surgery for his back.

His spine has gotten worse in the last year and will take an extensive surgery to fix just that. The Doctors are getting together in the next week to see our next step and figure out how much they think Josiah's little body can handle at one time.  
Josiah's legs have also started hurting him lately and is making it harder for him to get around. That surgery will be after the above mentioned. His spirit is still High and he is a trooper, but please pray for wisdom, peace and Healing. Thank you!

Doing Great!

Hello Everyone!  Sorry, again for how long it has been but no news is good news in my case. Just wanted to update everyone who still follows (thank you!!!).

Health wise I am doing well. Although, last night my ear did start to bleed but the ENT just called in some drops so it was no big deal. As for upcoming surgeries, I don't have anything scheduled for right now and it doesn't look like any in the near future either... doing pretty good. Praise the Lord!

I am working on school which I don't like very much.  My mom is homeschooling me and my siblings and I like the fun and games, crafts and projects but not working on my writing or talking. I am site reading and signing lots of words and that helps me to communicate but some people still don't understand me so I don't go to a regular school. I do do some therapy's but if you ask me I could skip those too.

This last weekend My family and I got to take a trip to my Uncle Josh, Aunt Lindsey and cousin Dylan's house in IL. It was so much fun!  We got to go through a corn maze, play with water, see animals, pick pumpkins, go on walks and many more fun activities. It was so much fun. I really liked playing with my cousin Dylan who just turned 1 !

Hope your fall is going great. Just wanted to say HI!

Blessings to all,
Josiah and family