Hangin' With the Stars

We were out in DC this weekend and ran into some famous people.

Here's me and Johnny.  He was trying to look intimidating for the picture, but he was actually quite glad to see me.

Tabitha had a nice conversation with Julia Roberts.

Jesse got a few pointers from Tiger.

Will didn't have time to talk, but he did pose for a quick picture for us.

This one was a re-enact ment.  Obviously we didn't really go to the moon.

OK, OK. We didn't really meet any of these people. (Did I fool anyone though? Even for a second or two?) Michael (my brother) is working in DC this month, so we went to see him Saturday, and he took us to the wax museum. It was really amazing! They all looked so real! It was almost creepy!

Here are a few more pictures from our travels back in time.

Very fun time.  I'd highly recommend it!  It's a rare museum that actually lets you photograph anything, let alone touch everything!  Lots of fun.  =)

We've Been Matched!!!

Monday night we did in fact get a referral from our agency!  And today we officially accepted it!!  We can't post any identifying information yet, but I CAN say that she's a cutie!!  God sure answered our prayers this week..

Our prayer that we'd be able to schedule Tabitha's surgery before the adoption:  The scheduler is trying to get us there in June, or possibly July!  That's a lot better than we were expecting and made it much easier to accept this referral!

Our prayer for guidance on the referral decision:  We both feel at peace accepting this referral.  Even though we have some unanswered questions, it looks like everything is OK with her.  And we are very excited!

We can post her picture as soon as we get our pre-approval (hopefully within the next week or two).  Check back here soon!

Log In Date!

Our dossier is officially logged in to China's Center for Adoption Affairs!  Our log in date (LID) is February 18, 2011.  A new list of waiting children comes out on Monday!

If there's a child our agency thinks fits our requests they will let us know, and we will have 72 hours to decide.  If we are matched with a child from this list travel could be as soon as August!  But we don't know when Tabitha's big surgery is going to be, and it sounds like it could be late summer/early fall.  So now we're wondering if we should even accept a match from this list or wait until the next one.  We would definitely prefer to have Tabitha's surgery finished before we go to China for our new daughter.

It seems impossible, but if we could get Tabitha's surgery dates on Monday it would make the decision a lot easier!  Please pray with us for great wisdom in all of this.  Thanks!

Final Day

We're going home today!  As I type this Heath and Ethan are lugging all the suitcases to the van.  :)

We were supposed to have our final appointment today, but Dr. Levitt was going to be out of town so he met with us yesterday, and we are done!  We've had a good time here, but it'll be so good to get home!

Yesterday we went to the zoo and then to an indoor waterpark, where the kids had a blast!  We did manage to make this trip a vacation with some hospital visits thrown in.  It turned out to be a lot of fun for all of us.

So, here's the medical summary for Tabitha: 

The surgeons in China repaired the colorectal side of things (though not perfectly), but didn't do anything for the gynecology and urology problems.  The good news according to Dr. Alam the urologist is that since they did nothing he's starting fresh and doesn't have to undo anything.  The bad news is that she still needs extensive surgery.  She also has kidney reflux and mild kidney disease which (if I understand correctly) cannot be reversed but shouldn't get any worse if we're very careful with her bladder/kidneys.

Right now she'll be taking one new medication for her bladder, along with the antibiotic she's been taking, to keep bladder and kidneys as healthy as possible.  We'll continue cathing every 4 hours (with a slightly bigger catheter which will make it a little bit quicker procedure), and we need to keep track of a week's worth of urine amounts to make sure that the timing of cathing is correct.  She had protein in her urine, so they want us to see a local nephrologist right away.  I'm not sure what to expect there. 

We'll be giving her an enema every day to clear out her bowels.  This is a big pain, BUT she has been totally clean in between which means she can now wear underwear and no more diapers!!!  Hallelujah!!!!

As soon as it can be scheduled, Tabitha will have her major surgery to reposition the anus to line up with the right muscles, fix her prolapse, probably fix the scar on her belly, and move/create her necessary female parts.  (They're all in there, just not connected with the outside.)  This surgery will require anywhere from 4-10 days in the hospital and probably 2 weeks total time in Cincinnati.  She may have to have a colostomy for a couple months afterwards, but they won't know that until they actually do the surgery.  If she does have one, it will be closed at her next surgery.  If not, she can't eat for 10 days after surgery, being fed only by IV.  I think either option is horrible, so I'm not even sure what to hope for!  After this surgery, it MAY be possible for her to have bowel control and eventually be potty trained, but we won't know that until later.

After that's all healed, and probably several months later, she'll have her urology surgery, which (again...hopefully I'm understanding this correctly) includes fixing the ureters so that she won't have kidney reflux anymore and will save her kidneys from further damage.  Even after the surgery she will almost definitely never be able to urinate normally and will always need a catheter. 

At some point she may need a valve or two put into her belly for easier cathing and administering of enemas, if they will be lifelong needs.  We'll have to wait and see on that.

Wow.  That's a lot.  Right now I feel pretty calm, but sometimes I start freaking out about all of it.  It's certainly more than we would've signed up for had we known...but I can see God providing the grace we need to get through it all, and I know He's teaching us so much in the process. 

Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for our family these couple weeks (and always).  We have felt God's blessing in so many of the details of this time here, and we really appreciate all the support from friends and family.   

Thanks again!  And now please pray for the REALLY scary part . . . . the drive home!  ;-)

Good Day, Not So Good News

Today was a really fun day.  We took Tabitha for her x-ray first thing (clean again...no changes for the enema).  Then we went to the Children's Museum.  (Kelly B....remember going there when the boys were toddlers?!)  The kids loved it!  It was really a lot of fun!  So much so that we came back again after our afternoon appointment at the hospital!  Now we're back at the hotel, just had dinner, and then the boys will go swimming while poor Tab has to do her enema.  The boys and I are going to try to sneak out so she doesn't feel left out.  (Oops....she just saw Ethan in his swimsuit....guess that's not going to work.)

So, the day was great.  The not so great part was the news the urologist had for us.  After reviewing all her tests, it shows that she has Grade 1 kidney disease.  Grade 4 is the worst, so at least hers is the least serious.  He said it should be fine, as long as we're really careful about her cathing and all.  She has kidney reflux, which we knew, but we didn't know she had kidney damage.  In order to prevent further damage she needs to have surgery to fix the problems.

Unfortunately they can't do all the surgeries at once.  So first thing will be the colorectal/gynecological repairs.  That will be done as soon as they can schedule us, which they're thinking won't be until after this summer.  Then 8-12 months later will probably be when Dr. Alam does the urological repairs.  He said she will never be able to urinate normally.  We weren't expecting that she could, but that's kind of disheartening to hear him say no chance.  Today's news wasn't what we wanted to hear, but at least there is a plan, and we know she's in good hands and getting the best care in the world.

Tomorrow we don't have any appointments except the daily x-ray, and Friday we have our final meeting with the doctors.  Then we head for home, hopefully with a surgery date scheduled.  So, it appears we'll be seeing plenty more of the grand city of Cincinnati.

Which isn't entirely bad.  It's only 7 hours from home, an hour from our beloved alma mater, and the very city where we got engaged!  A couple nights ago Heath and I drove out to the park where he proposed 11 years ago.  It hasn't changed a bit!

So, not all good news but at least it was an enjoyable day.  :)

Last Leg of the Journey

This morning Tabitha had her daily x-ray, her urodynamics test, and her cystogram.  These two tests are basically to check the bladder function.  It went really well, mostly because she's used to using a catheter.  I guess it's a lot harder for kids who aren't used to being cathed!  Tomorrow we'll meet with the urologist to go over the results and see what he thinks about what needs to be done.  After that, we'll be able to have a full picture of all that needs to be done and make a plan for future surgery. 

My mom and the boys left today after we got back from the hospital.  :(   They've got a long drive back to Omaha today!  It was SO great having their help here, and I'm very thankful they were able to come. 

We moved into our smaller hotel room now.  It's great, except that it's all one room so when Tabitha takes her nap or the kids go to bed, we all have to keep it ultra quiet!  But this has been a really nice place to stay.  We're on the waiting list for the Ronald McDonald House now, but I know the kids will miss the pool if we move!

It's supposed to be 60 degrees the next couple days!  So maybe we'll get to do some outside stuff before we go.

Well, that's it for today's update.  Thank you everyone who's been following along and praying for us.  We appreciate it!

Monday update

Not much to report since my last post . . .

The enemas are going fine, and she's only had one accident since we started. Heath took her for her x-ray this morning, so that will show if she's really cleaning out all the way or not.  She also had some blood work this morning and a renal ultasound, which took about an hour.  Believe it or not, she cooperated for all of that!

Meanwhile, the rest of us went to the Museum of Natural History and Science.  We got to see some bats up close and also walk through an underground (man-made) cave.  It was pretty cool!

Heath's going to take the boys to EnterTrainment Junction now, while Tab takes her nap.  So it's a pretty easy day!

Saturday Fun

Well, the enema kind of worked last night.  Tabitha filled her diaper overnight, but today she was clean all day.  The goal is completely clean for 24 hours, so we'll keep trying. 

Today we didn't have any appointments so we just had fun! We spent most of the day at the Creation Museum. It was really cool! It is a really neat museum for the purpose of teaching creation science and the truth of the Biblical accounts. They had really neat exhibits on creation, the flood, dinosaurs, and more.  Here is a picture of Tabitha and Heath in front of the dinosaurs. 

And here are a zorse and a zonkey.  Yep, they do exist.  (If you can't tell in the picture, they actually have zebra stripes.  Their father was a zebra, and their mothers were a horse and a donkey.)

We had a pretty fun day.  Then we came back to the hotel for dinner.  The enema went better tonight for me.  Last night I was really overwhelmed and just let Heath do everything.  Tonight I'm feeling much better and more hopeful.  Tabitha has handled it very well both times.

Oh, and here's a picture from Jungle Jim's grocery store yesterday.  It was a very strange place.

Robin Hood's tree, the pig head, and the T-shirt hanging in the meat deparment were the highlights of the store.  The T-shirt said PETA:  People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.  =)

All in all, the trip is going well so far.  Thanks for checking up on us!

Freaky Friday

OK, so it's not really all that freaky but today we learned all about enemas, and it's not exactly a comforting bunch of information.

Heath and I attended the bowel management lecture this morning, while my mom had the boys, and Tabitha played in the kids room.  I'm very thankful that they had that available because it would've been VERY hard to listen if we had her with us.  We learned a lot, and we were reassured that this is the best place for Tabitha to be.  We're very grateful to have found out about Cincinnati's Colorectal Center, and that our insurance company agreed to cover it!

After the lecture Tabitha had an abdominal x-ray, and then we met with the doctors.  Dr. Breech and Dr. Levitt and a few nurses came and taught us all about Tabitha's insides and outsides what to do about everything.  Tonight we start the enemas, and for the next week we'll do an enema every night, followed by an x-ray every morning to see if it's working to fully empty her colon.  If not, the enema "recipe" will be tweaked.  The goal is by next Friday to have it working perfectly so she's completely clean for 24 hours.  I'm not very excited about this enema thing (I'll spare you all the nasty details), but I AM excited to have her out of diapers by the end of the week! 

The greatest thing about being at this clinic as opposed to another hospital is the way the doctors work together.  We still have to do the urology stuff next week, but today the colorectal and gynecological issues were all explained to us.  Several things in those areas, and probably some in urology, will all have to be taken care of.  So they'll plan a surgery that takes care of everything at once, with all of them working together.  Even beyond surgery, just having the 3 types of doctors all working on the interrelated issues and knowing how they all interact is very reassuring.  I feel like we're finally getting our questions answered and making progress on Tabitha's issues.

Dr. Levitt said that the rectum (created by the doctors in China) is not perfectly located, which means right now she has no chance of bowel control.  However, after the surgeries are done everything will be re-evaluated and we'll see.  Sometimes, even with correct surgery, these children have no continence; other times they do.  So we won't know until later.  But for now they just want to get her socially acceptable and out of diapers, and I couldn't be happier about accomplishing that!

Please pray for us tonight and the coming days though.  I'm a bit terrified of this enema business.  Not only do I find things like this really gross, but it'll take an HOUR every single day!  Pray that my attitude will be positive, that Tabitha will be cooperative, and that Heath does all the work!  (ha ha ha...just kidding Honey).

On the non-medical side of things, the little ones are napping now, and then we're going on a grocery shopping adventure at Jungle Jim's.  Should be fun!

Loooong Thursday

We left Josh & Liz's house about 9:30 this morning and returned to Cincinnati.  I was very thankful for Tabitha's later appoitnment time which allowed us all to go together at a reasonable time!  We were also very thankful that the hotel let us check in early.  We got here about 11:30 and unpacked.  Then we dropped off Heath and Tabitha at the hospital.

The boys and I were too tired to do anything exciting.  So we came back and had some lunch; then they watched TV, and I took a little nap.  We found a nearby Walmart so we could go grocery shopping and get Tabitha's prescription that I had forgotten at home in my hasteful packing.  By this time we were expecting Heath's phone call to say they were done, and the phone did indeed ring.  BUT...he called to say that THEY WERE STILL WAITING IN PRE-OP!  This was 3 hours after she was supposed to go in!  So the boys and I came back, unpacked the groceries, had dinner, went swimming, took showers, and THEN Heath finally called to say they were ready.  Good thing we had dropped them off instead of being carless the whole time!

So, here's what was going on at the hospital. . . The O.R. was overbooked, so despite the fact that Tabitha's doctors were both ready to go there was nowhere to do the procedure.  Everyone was very apologetic, and Heath said they were all really nice.  Child Life services brought crafts for Tabitha to work on, and she had a lot of fun with that.  Heath said she did pretty well for having nothing to eat besides jello at 8 this morning and a sip of water at 9:30!  The poor little thing must've been starving!  Heath was none too full himself since he hadn't had lunch and couldn't eat while they were waiting.  (Good thing it wasn't me in there....I am NOT a pleasant person when I'm hungry, and I'd probably have gotten us kicked out!  But my husband is quite the long-sufferer and did very well.)

The exam went great.  Tabitha didn't put up much of a fight, and she actually woke up happy afterwards instead of screaming her head off like she did the last time.  She told me afterwards, "Mommy, I not cry."  She's such a brave little girl, and really trusts her daddy.  I think it made a huge difference that he explained to her ahead of time that he'd stay with her and keep her safe. 

Heath got to talk a little with Dr. Breech, the pediatric gynecologist, afterwards.  She said things look really good as far as her future with those issues.  Everything should be able to be repaired, and she should be able to have normal pregnancies someday.  He didn't get to talk to Dr. Levitt (the colorectal specialist) yet, but we have an appointment with him tomorrow.

So, the kids are all sleeping soundly now.  Mom and my brothers just arrived, and the day has been a success.  Off to bed now!

First Day

Well, we've survived our first day of hospital visits! 

Yesterday we drove from home to near Columbus, to stay with our good friends Josh & Liz.  The trip was uneventful, and we had a very nice dinner and evening with them.

This morning, Heath & Tabitha & I left at 6am for Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  We got there just after 8:30, in time for her radiology appointment.  She was all happy and fine until they wanted her to put on the hospital gown.  That has great depth of meaning to her, and she wasn't about to cooperate!  We finally persuaded her, and she was OK.  The child life specialist had lots of toys for her, and everyone was really friendly and helpful. 

Then came the time to lay her down on the table for the x-ray.  She wasn't having any of that business!  Not even a Dora DVD would convince her that the table wasn't the gates of Hades.  I know it was out of fear, but she just screamed angrily and fought with all her might to get off that table.  And when told to lay flat she gave her version of "No" that's usually reserved for her most defiant moments.  Finally we were able to pin her down and snap the picture.  Heath just kept his arms around her head and talked soothingly to her until she finally calmed down.  The next step was the contrast enema.  Since this involves inserting a tube into her rectum we were all fully prepared for an even worse fight!  But she had finally realized the table and camera were not going to hurt her and that Dora was actually pretty interesting!  She must not have any feeling in that area because she didn't even flinch when the tube went in.  And there wasn't a single tear or yell or fight for the rest of the time!  The rest of the x-rays were easy, and there were no more problems.  Then we drove back home to Josh & Liz's, and we're done for today.

Meanwhile we found out the hospital had given us a wrong date on our itinerary.  Her exam under anesthesia was supposed to be on the 17th, but it turns out it's actually on the 10th (tomorrow).  We thought tomorrow was a free day, so we've had to adjust our plans quite a bit.  It took several phone calls and finally talking in person to someone at the hospital to get it figured out.  Then about 10 minutes ago they called us to say they've changed the time!  GGRRRRRR!  Actually, the later time will work better for our travel schedule, but now she can't eat after 5:45 in the morning, and won't have the exam until 1:45.  That should be fun.  >:-[

Ethan and Jesse stayed with our friends this morning, and all the kids have had a blast playing together.  Liz and I took them sledding today, and we made soft pretzels, and we're having a good time.  We're so thankful for Josh & Liz's hospitality and friendship!

Tomorrow my mom's coming to meet us, and we'll be staying at a hotel the rest of the time.  Lots more procedures and events to do, but we're off to a good (if a little rocky) start. 

BTW, it is absolutely beyond FREEZING here!  I forgot how brutal midwest winters are!

Shouting Joyfully!

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
Sing the glory of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
Say to God, "How awesome are Your works!"
Psalm 66:1-3

It's not very often that I shout joyfully to God, but a little while ago I literally shouted "Hallelujah!"

Lately I've been a little concerned . . . OK maybe a lot concerned . . . OK actually fairly stressed, about how on earth we're going to afford this adoption! It just seems like such a big amount of money to come up with and no great ideas of where it's going to come from.

But last night God blessed me with a big batch of encouragement. Just a couple days ago I sent an email out letting friends and family know that our "money savings cards" had arrived, and we were ready to start selling them. We had to pre-purchase them, so it was a bit of a risk knowing that we need to sell 50 just to recap our investment. WELL...within about 12 hours of that email I had 43 cards spoken for already!  And several of those people are planning to spread the news for us!

Then last night, I worked on our taxes. I'd really been dreading it because we were expecting to owe money this year.  BUT....(thanks to the left-over adoption tax credit that we couldn't use last year) we're actually getting a pretty significant refund!

I don't know why I get so discouraged and worried. Just because I don't know the answer doesn't mean God doesn't have one! We still have a long way to go, but I'm feeling excited about it. It'll be an adventure to see how God provides!

My Little Bro

Today we had the special treat of having my brother Michael come to our house! He's stationed in Alaska (EOD for the Air Force), but right now he's working the White House detail. So on his days off he can visit us! The kids were thrilled to see him, and I'm pretty sure they wore him out more than a full day at work! It was great to see him, and we're glad to have him nearby for a little while!