A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend (With Photos!)

Well, let's keep the actual words here short and sweet. It was a great weekend. All kinds of people were able to meet Isaac and Elias for the first time. Great Grandpa Theron and Great Grandma Phyllis top the list. They came to CMH and met the boys Sunday morning. Both sets of grandparents have been here this weekend at some point too, and my brother and his wife also made it here, all the way from Nashville. Kristi's sister has also been here as well as numerous great aunts and great uncles.

As for the medical side. I was looking back in earlier posts and noticed that we left out a term that is being thrown around for Isaac. They are diagnosing him with Spondylocostal Dysostosis.  Don't worry, we didn't know what it meant either (and couldn't pronounce it!)  So, here is a summary of what we know about Isaac. He has a dislocated spine, some fused ribs, underdeveloped lumbar region, underdeveloped lungs, vertebrae that are too close together, vertebrae that are too far apart, missing vertebrae, an inguinal hernia, and a club foot. Now, what does this all mean? It means we fix one thing at a time, try to get him healthy enough to go home and then work on the big issues as they come up. It does not look like any major surgery will be done anytime soon. His breathing is better and better and he is breathing completely on his own. His CT scan is amazing looking (we are trying to scan and put it here because it is kinda interesting). But doctors continue to think they can fix the problems he has. His foot is doing better and better thanks to PT.

Elias just keeps chugging away. At this point, Elias has no major issues of concern. He still has his heart defect, but that doesn't seem overly concerning to doctors. He continues to gain weight and learn to eat. So, he is doing very, very, well.

There is starting to be some chatter about what benchmarks they would need to meet in order to be released from the hospital. Just hearing that is awesome news. And, we have heard as early as ten days. That seems overly optimistic, but we will take it. Both boys have been cleared to take all feedings by bottle, which means the could actually be feeding tube free in the next couple of days.

Okay, that wasn't as short as planned. Here are a few more photos of the boys. Enjoy!  We will get more photos up here as soon as we can!

Kristi and the boys snuggling (May 30th)

The Grandpa's with Elias (May 30th)

Great Grandma Krehbiel with Elias (May 30th)

Uncle Russ with Elias (May 30th)

Aunt Roxanne with Isaac (May 30th)