Our Sunshine Boys: February 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

Platelet Donation (Jan 2009)

In memory of Baby Tessa and in honor of our friend Trevor...I donated platelets for the first time. It was a very interesting experience. I plan to donate often. You can donate as often as every 2 weeks. Platelets are needed every day by so many people. Please find the time to donate. Find a donation site in your area by clicking here.

Getting ready

Settling down for a movie while donating.

That is not pee...those are platelets.

Showing off my pink bandages after my donation

Build and Grow at Lowe's

Jan 2009

Ryan built a time capsule. This was only 2 days after being in the hospital for brain surgery. God is awesome!

Happy New Year-2009

What a way to start out the new year. Our oldest had to have surgery to redo his third ventriculostomy. He was born in 2003 with hydrocephalus and was shunted at 3 days old. That shunt failed at a year old and it was taken out. Another procedure was done which is called a third ventriculostomy. It had to be redone 1 month later. Now...4 years later it had to be redone.

Our first week of the year was spent at the hospital but he bounced right back...he got out of the hospital on Thursday and was back to school on Friday. What a trooper.

Ryan's personal space shuttle (The MRI machine)

Post-surgery

A visit from a special friend

Thank God for our doctors!

"YAY! It's time to go home!"

While in the hospital...Ryan said that he wanted to see a rainbow because the only one he had seen was in a picture.......lo and behold...we saw the brightest-most beautiful rainbow on our way home from the hospital. I could not find a place to pull over quick enough to capture its beauty. It was a complete rainbow...ya know..sometimes you just see a partial rainbow...this rainbow went across the entire sky. I saw from one end to the other. It was awesome. It was a beautiful reminder of God's presence.

Here is just a small glimpse.

Christmas 2008

About the boys

As of 3/31/08

Ryan is 4 1/2 years old. He is in preschool and loves every minute of it. He loves to color and he loves Larry Boy, the superhero from Veggie Tales.

Jack is almost 3 and he is the aggressive one. He likes to pick on his older brother. Even though he picks on Ryan, he likes to do whatever his big brother does.

Evan is 4 months old but is the size of an average newborn. He was born 9 weeks early. He was only 1 lb 15 ounces and 12 1/2 inches long at birth.

All of the boys have had their medical issues.

Ryan was diagnosed at birth with hydrocephalus. He was shunted at 3 days old. That shunt failed at about a year old. That is when the docs performed a third ventriculostomy. That failed one month later and was redone. His last surgery was January 2009 when he was 5. He has MRI's annually to make sure the hydrocephalus is under control.

Jack was diagnosed at 3 months old with hydrocephalus. He was shunted immediately but that shunt failed at 7 months old. They performed a third ventriculostomy and he has not had another surgery since. He has MRI's once a year.

Evan was born Intrauterine Growth Restricted(IUGR). He was born at 31 weeks 3 days gestational age. He was only 1 lb 15 ounces and he spent almost 2 months in the NICU.