Happy Birthday Granton! Kinda :-)

One year ago today we took a big leap of faith. We went for the last chance one in a million Hail Mary touchdown pass. It wasn’t expected to work and even if it did we were prepared to have a little frail boy on a ventilator for the rest of his life. However, after much crying out to God in prayer we felt, as bad as it was, it was Granton’s best chance. Actually, this was the first time since March when our boy was admitted into the hospital that I felt a peace. I knew it was what God was telling us to do so we did it. Granton was the first ever child to receive a transplant of this kind in the PICU at Children’s Mercy. The transplant team and the PICU team even had to have meetings just to figure out how to work together because they never had before. They had never attempted anything like this on a kid as frail as Granton. We knew his lungs were already wasted and we were told the treatment involved in the transplant would make them even worse. It would most likely kill him. But again, we also knew eventually we had to try something. We had a peace from above about this decision. I will never forget all the doctors and nurses bowing their heads as Jenni and I prayed for the new blood as we watched it enter his body. We asked that it would be his life blood. Jenni noted that Granton was admitted into the hospital on Easter, the day celebrating how Jesus paid for our sins and saved us with his blood. Now we were praying for our little boy’s life to be spared through this new “life blood.” That was a year ago today and we have a happy little man who is not enslaved by a ventilator. He doesn’t even require extra oxygen; instead our son breaths just like a normal boy. He runs all over our house and smiles all the time. He is constantly getting into trouble, turning everything upside down like a little tornado. He is a whirlwind of blessings and we love him so much. We are so thankful for all the blessings our Lord and Savior has poured out on us pressed down shaken together and running over. We are so thankful for the doctors and nurses who God used as tools to save our little boy. We are so thankful for the countless people who constantly prayed for Granton and still pray all the time for our little boy and our family. Thank You. You are all a part of Granton’s “Birthday” calibration.

Well, I finnaly got around to posting some pictures without technical difficulties. I know that most of the people who read this blog only know about Granton, but I did not want his sister to feel left out so we are showing her off too. Granton has an appointment on Thursday. Please pray for good news from that. Also, thanks for the prayers and advice about the puking. We have cut out about the rich food and milk products. Actually, we did cheat once and give him a little ice cream with his strawberries as you can see in the picture on the right. Anyway, we have not had any throwing up episodes lately and we are praying it stays that way. I don't have much else to report. Take care and God bless

Happy Man

Well we had to go back to the drawing board with Granton's throwing up problem. We don't know what is going on. But he had another puking session the other night. The good news is he felt great yesterday. We made sure he ate healthy food and he ate like a horse. The guy has been in a real good mood lately. He helped me clean out my truck and work on our drive way. He likes to "work" with his dad and I love that. Please keep praying for the little guy. Thanks.

Some of you know we have sporadically had trouble with Granton throwing up all night. We have not put it on the blog too much because he always seems fine in the morning and it seems like such a little thing after all the stuff many of you are used to reading about with the little man. Also, I am more focused on praying for the correct B cells to come back then a little throw-up. Even though when he does this, it is a lot of throw-up. In addition to that, my last blog was about not sweating the small stuff. I must admit I joked with Jenni about being put to the test on that post. In the evening of the very day I posted that blog, I was taking a shower, completely covered in soap suds, and the water shut off. On top of that, we had family in who I hardly ever get to see and not being able to flush the toilets was kind of a downer. Things got worse at about 1:00 a.m. when Granton started his puke fest that lasted until morning. That little story kind of got me off track. In short we got the water flowing again and we are still working on not sweating the small stuff. But back to the throwing up, last week my grandma noticed the little beggar was continually chowing down on some cookies Jenni made. We ruled out the cookies a wile back because he has eaten them before and not thrown up. In fact Jenni has a list of everything he would eat the day before his all night throwing up events. We could not find a pattern. Nothing added up. However, grandmas have been around the block on this parenting thing so I paid close attention. Grandma was not talking as much about WHAT he ate but HOW MUCH he ate. I have watched Granton eat more then me and be fine, but it is always healthy food. We don’t let him have very much junk food. Also, I assumed if his stomach was too full he would throw up once and be fine. When Granton does this he keeps on throwing up and has the dry heaves real bad by the morning before he finishes. However, I did take note of what Grandma said. Well, yesterday our Track and Field team had a BBQ to celebrate this season. Granton loves the track kids and they love him. Some of the track kids fed him and I watched the little begger go around sweet talk kids out of cookies and chips. One girl made him eat grapes. I am proud of her and she will be one of the first I call for a baby sitter. On the way home I thought about all the Oreos and Doritos this kid consumed. If he puked that night, we would know why. Well, I think we have figured out the puking problem. It was not fun sitting up all night with a kid who throws up all over everything but at least now we know why. Granton can eat a lot of food and be fine. Granton can eat junk food and be fine. But, Granton can not eat a lot of junk food and be fine. Hopefully, now we can keep him from throwing up at night. I think we over fed him through his G tube back when he was staying in KC because, he would puke all the time and had real bad diarrhea. Oh yea, I forgot to mention Granton always had bad diarrhea when he pukes all night. Anyway, I think his body simply learned to say ENOUGH! When it feels overloaded it gets everything out, literally. Now we will just try to keep him from overloading his system. That is about all for now. We are still are praying for the correct B cells to come back and we appreciate you joining us in this prayer. Thank you so much for the love you have shown Granton and our family.

What a difference a year makes

Well our lives must be getting normal because we have been in such a whirlwind I haven’t had time to blog. I a not complaining; I like to be busy. I always say the alternative is boredom. Our experience last year has taught me to enjoy the little thing in life and not to sweat the small stuff. Here is an example, On Monday Granton had an appointment in KC and a friend watched Kaylynn for us. I left practice a little early to get her. As soon as I got home Jenni’s sister came out to tell me Granton was having trouble with his IV and they would get back latter. She knew I wanted to cut the grass which was at least a foot high so she offered to take a baby to her friends house to watch her as they studied. Great I finally get to work on the yard. Five minutes on the lawn mower and I had a broken belt. I knew I was short on time because I need to go get Kaylynn about two hours after her aunt took her. I raced back to town and barely got the new belt before they closed. Actually, they were closed and let me in anyway. I raced back home to work on the mower. Of course there were a bunch of safety guards on the mower deck so I took a long time to put the new belt on. I got it going and went back to mowing. The new belt broke after ten minutes and I noticed a bearing was now out on the mower. No problem I have another mower that just doesn’t cut the grass as nice and as fast but I works. Well it only works when it has gas and I put all my gas in the first mower. By now it is obvious I won’t get the grass cut so I drive back into town to get Kaylynn only to find out she is not there because Jenni’s sister had brought her back to me and we missed each other on the road. This kind of thing used to tick me off but I didn’t seem to mind because I kept thinking this is nothing compared what we were dealing with this time last year. Jenni didn’t get back with Granton until about 10:00. I was starting to get a little worried and said a prayer for them on the road and I actually herd the garage door open five seconds after I finished. However, the day ended on a good note. Granton was taken off one of his meds and will probably be taken off another one next time. This will only leave his hydrocortisone and he is being weaned from it. So we can actually look forward to a time when he doesn’t need any meds. He is so much fun and has turned into a ham. He loves to joke around. We enjoy playing every night. We have come so far. I actually cried the other day in front of the track team. The girls won their first ever district championship. As we presented the plaque, we told the kids how proud we are of what they have done, where they came from, and what they have been through. As I was standing in front of them I remembered Granton seemed to be slipping away this time last year and I could not even be at the district meet. What a change our lives have taken. I was so overcome with emotion I actually cried. God has showed me my life is a blessing. He is so good. By the way I did get the yard mowed.

Fun On The Farm

This Mother's Day has been very special for our family. We got to spend time at Mimi and Papa's farm with Granton and Kaylynn. Daniel and I have not been to the farm together since Granton was taken to the hospital over a year ago in March. And, amazingly, this weekend all 12 family members were together again including the 5 grandchildren for a total of 17 today at the dinner table. The babies gathered near in their bouncer seats on the floor. So, of course, we got our family picture worked in, as well.

Granton got to ride Mingo the Paint horse with his cousin Addison yesterday. Then, I wheeled him around in a wagon for the first time, and Uncle Dave took him for a ride on the four wheeler. He has definitely enjoyed the farm! When we showed him the baby puppies he treated them about like he would Kaylynn. He gave them a three second pat and then pushed them away. Besides seeing all the animals I think he has enjoyed all the people and his buddy Addison even more. They really liked the slide and swings out back and they played with the blocks inside that Uncle Dustin made. Granton also cooked in the play kitchen this morning.

As for Kaylynn, she tried her hand at making my first Mother's Day card. Daniel had her handprint made inside with Granton's scribbles. He said they both used different art forms...watercolor and pastels. :)

Here's wishing all the Mom's and Grandma's reading a Happy Mother's Day! We love you.

Jenni and the Gang

I know a lot of you must be wondering about Granton’s B cells. Well the new news is that we don’t have any news. We got a call that the last test they did on Granton’s blood did not work for some reason. No big deal, we are just going to do it again. In fact Granton got blood work done today. He has already finished. He is having fun today. Jenni has all of them outside on a blanket. She and Granton are soaking up some sun. Granton is also chowing down on pizza. I guess two big jet bombers just flew over. They were probably from Whiteman AFB they fly down here sometimes. Anyway, they were flying pretty low and he and his mom thought they were amazing. Actually, his mom thought they were a little scary. Well, I haven’t posted anything in awhile. I have been so busy with the new baby and the Track and Field (the ladies are conference champs this year) team on top of my normal teaching job I let this get behind. I just want everyone who reads this to know we are doing well and, as always, we appreciate your prayers.