Latest news

Whew! To say a lot has happened since my last post would be an understatement. I can't believe we are already 3/4 through the school year. Time flies when you are having fun, or rather when you have 3 active kiddos. We celebrated good health for several months which is quite an accomplishment for our Aiden. Warm weather seems to agree with him, but the winter months are not so kind to his lungs and ears. In November we met my parents at Wilderness in the Smokies for Thanksgiving. It is a hotel/condo complex in Sevierville with indoor and 0utdoor water parks. The kids had a blast enjoying water fun in winter. Aiden showed no fear on the water slides or the wave pool. He loves the water!!! The following Monday Aiden was scheduled to have a bronchoscopy, ear tubes placed, and a GI probe to determine if he actually had acid reflux. When they discovered he was aspirating back in March, they automatically began treating him for reflux, so they wanted to be sure we needed to be treating him. The bronchoscopy showed very irritated and inflamed lungs (not a surprise after spending 4 days at a bacterial laden, steamy, indoor water park). The cultures did grow h. influenza which is a common respiratory bug, so we treated that with antibiotics. Unfortuantely his lower left lung is still collapsed and is now showing some scaring so the pulmonologist started him on albuterol and nebulized saline treatments twice a day, along with chest percussions to keep mucous loose in his lungs so he is less prone to infections. It's time consuming, but he's very cooperative, and that makes it bearable. The GI probe was supposed to stay in place for 24 hours, but only made it about 6 hours before Aiden miraculously manuevered his arm cuffs to pull it out of his nose. We had just picked up Kyle and Cambrie from school and were driving down a busy road in driving rain when it happened. Kyle saw it happen and is now traumatized for life. I had to find a place to pull over and remove all the tape holding it onto his face so that he wouldn't destroy what I believe is probably a very expensive machine. The tape coming off hurt him more that pulling the tube out of his nose from his stomach. He was screaming, Kyle and Cambrie were both crying, and I was standing in the driving rain trying not to cry myself. Not my proudest moment, but at least I can laugh about it now. Thankfully the probe was in long enough to get a reading showing that he indeed does have acid reflux, and probably will the rest of his life. Thankfully, it is very treatable, and we will continue to do so. The gastroenterologist also took cultures from his stomach and determined he had a bacteria in his stomach called h. pylori. This bacteria doesn't cause the acid reflux, but can lead to stomach cancer if not treated. So we tacked on another antibiotic to treat that. Thankfully follow up stool tests show that treatment was successful. The ENT placed his ear tubes successfully and also did a little exploring of the structure of his nose and throat. He discovered a small cleft in the back of his throat that might be contributing to his aspirating, but wanted to wait for a follow-up swallow study to address that. So we've had no ear infections (yah!!) and only one respiratory infection since November. We saw the "team" of doctors again in January. GI has released us for now knowing we will continue to treat the acid reflux (very exciting being released from at least one department at Vanderbilt). ENT and pulmonologist wanted to repeat swallow study to see if he is still aspirating liquids now that he is older. Pulmonologist added steroid to his daily routines to hopefully keep airways less inflamed and therefore keep things moving in his lungs. He also made mention of possible removal of the lower lobe of his lung as the x-ray showed more scaring. This of course was something I didn't want to hear, although expected from the beginning. The original plan was to wait and see if things would improve and heal in that area, but scaring indicates just the opposite. It would be a major operation, but would be so good for him in the long run. We would eliminate the common source of his pneumonias as well as the need for the inhalers and nebulizer treatments. So, we had the swallow study last week and unfortunately he is still aspirating really thin liquids. It's better than before and we don't have to thicken as much, but still a problem. So now the plan is for the ENT to inject a gel foam in the cleft in his throat that lasts about 3 weeks. We will repeat the swallow study during this time to determine if this is why he aspirates. If it's successful, they will place a permanent flap over the cleft, and hopefully eliminate the aspirating all together. If it doesn't work, we will continue thickening liquids until he is old enough to control his drinking better. Sorry for all the medical updates, but I really want a record of Aiden's medical procedures. As you can imagine it's very difficult to keep up with all of it.

Aiden also began speech therapy in December at Vanderbilt (our home away from home). He goes every other Monday. He is doing very well, and the speech pathologist is very pleased with his progress. After 6 months we will do a test that will determine if he is "structurally" capable of making all of the sounds. Having a cleft palate (although reparied) predisposes him to structural difficulties in forming sounds properly. The results of this test could mean another surgery for our little guy. The ENT wanted to go ahead and close his palate further in the back, but our plastic surgeon wanted to do therapy and the test before we put him through another surgery. We agree with him and are thankful he is conservative. He will be doing the "nose job" on Aiden sometime later this year which will help our little guy breathe so much better through his nose. He has a very flat nose, and that will only get worse as he grows. We are just so thankful that he is happy and oblivious to all of these things. He loves going to the doctor and has no fears whatsoever. We also feel very blessed that we have the resources of a great children's hospital so close to us.

Regardless of all the medical "yuck" we've been through over the last few months, life has been great and we've had a lot of fun times. God continues to provide us with daily blessings and more that what we need or deserve. His mercies are new every morning and for that we are thankful. When He called us to this journey, He never said it would be an easy one. But that doesn't excuse us from listening and obeying Him. I think it's easy to think if we do what God wants us to do, he will bless us by making everything nice and easy. But we aren't put here to be comfortable (even though that's a nice feeling). We are put here to accomplish His purpose for our lives, and even though I don't like to admit it, that usually means it's not comfortable. I imagine there are those that wonder if Eddie and I would have adopted Aiden if we knew what his medical future held. I would do it again a hundred times over. He is our son, and God knew that well before we did. The medical stuff can be overwhelming at times, but that's because I feel like I'm not in control. The reality is that I'm never in control even when I think I am. It just helps me rely on Him all the more. And honestly I need that reminder quite frequently. We appreciate your continued prayers for Aiden over the next several months, whatever they hold for us.

Meeting Nashville Predators Patric Hornqvist and Kevin Klein

Making cookies for Santa

Daily nebulizer treatments

Christmas picture

Wave pool at Wilderness in Smokies

Roller skating for first time at Cambrie's b-day party

Summertime

Seems as if I'm managing an update about every 2 months, but hey that's our life around here. Cambrie graduated from kindergarten at the end of May. We are so proud of how far she has come this year after a crazy start. She was only in school for a few weeks before we left for China, and she missed over 2 weeks. Kyle finished up a great year with several awards. He had to work hard that first quarter to catch up after missing 2 weeks of 5th grade. But he managed to reach his goals and even made Principal's list all 4 quarters. Aiden is loving life despite 2 surgeries and numerous doctor visits. It amazes me that he will just walk right back with whatever nurse comes to get us. I would think after all he has been through that he would be scared of medical people. His personality is such a blessing. I think he will definately accomplish whatever he sets his mind to.

We have had a busy summer so far. We met all of Eddie's family in Myrtle Beach the first week of June. The kids had a blast with their cousins, and Aiden loved spending the whole week in water. He wasn't too sure about the loud ocean, but loved our pool at the house. Cambrie taught herself to swim with some instruction from her big cousin Blayne, so she was thrilled. Kyle and Eddie went off to church camp this past week and had a blast. Actually I picked Eddie up on Tues night b/c he had to be at work on Wednesday. Kyle came home today looking pretty worn down, but probably would have stayed another week.

We are thankful to have surgeries behind us for the moment. Aiden's mouth healed quickly without much discomfort, and the circumcision only seemed to bother him during a diaper change. Glad to have them out of the way. During his bronchoscopy and ct scan they discovered that he had a lot of "junk" in his lungs, so we had a swallow study done. We found that he is apsirating when he drinks liquids because he drinks so fast and overpowers his muscles. We now have to thicken all liquids and have removed the valves from all his sippy cups hoping to slow down how fast he drinks. Can I just say I have little spots all over my floors and furniture from the drippage out of the cups. But at least it matches the rest of my messy house. He has also had several ear infections, so tubes may be in our near future. The pulmonologist also suspects he may have acid reflux based on the condition of his lungs, so we are treating that with medicine. Fortunately our pulmonologist decided Aiden was a perfect candidate for a special clinic at Vanderbilt that will involve a pulmonologist, a gastroenterologist, and an ENT. When we go, we will see all 3 doctors together that will coordinate his care. Makes sense to me, and it saves us several trips as well as peace of mind that they are all working together. Our first visit will be in August. He has also been referred for a hearing evaluation because he failed the test in the pediatrician's office. Cambrie failed this as well, and ended up being fine when we had her tested further. But since he is waiting to start speech therapy, this has to be ruled out first so they know how to work with him. Gotta tell you that even with all these things going on, you would never know it if you saw him. He is the happiest guy! He smiles all the time and says hi to anyone who glances his way.

As of now, we don't have any more major plans for summer. Just looking forward to some quiet nights and weekends at home, knowing that will all change when school starts in about a month. Thanks for checking in on us!

Kelly

Pictures

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!!!

Just wanted to post a quick shout out to our big 3 yr old boy today. We will have his party tomorrow night, but he did get a new Thomas the Train motorized train and a Thomas beach chair this morning. He was very excited! Can't wait to post pictures of his first birthday as a part of our family. We love you Aiden!

Surgery Postponed

Thought I would update and let everyone know that Aiden's surgery was postponed by the anesthesiologist at the last second. While I completely understand his concern about the lung issue, he did not treat us very nicely, and implied we needed to consider our son's safety before putting him through elective surgery. Well, yes the circumcision is elective, but his dental surgery is not an option at this point. We just wanted to knock out both procedures while he is under anesthesia so he won't have to endure it twice. So we will proceed as planned with the bronchoscopy and CT scan next month (which of course requires anesthesia), and then reschedule the other after we know for sure what we are dealing with in his lung. Thanks for the prayers, and we will let you know when we have some news. I'm also adding a few pictures we had taken last week.

Kelly

Update

Hey, yes we are still alive, but extremely busy. We had an awesome holiday season with family and friends. Aiden loved everything about Christmas, but especially his Thomas the Train. It was one of the first gifts he opened, and he carried it around all day and even went to sleep with it that night. It seems January was the month of sickness in our house. I was the only one fortunate enough to have escaped the flu. Eddie had it first and managed to develop a lower respiratory infection as well. Then Aiden had an ear infection that required 3 rounds of different antibiotics to knock it out. During these visits the doctor was concerned about pneumonia as well, so she ordered a chest x-ray. She called last week to say they had received the final report of the x-ray and that there was a suspicious area in his lung, and that she compared the x-ray to the one he had in September, and the spot was there then as well. They originally thought it was just pneumonia, but she wanted us to see a pediatric pulmonologist to be sure, especially since he is scheduled for surgery this Friday. We were fortunate to get his dental surgery piggy-backed onto his circumcision surgery so he would only have to be put to sleep once. He will probably not speak to us for awhile after Friday. Anyway, so the pulmonologist felt like he has some atelectasis (small collapse of his lung) in that area. They want to do a bronchoscopy and a CT scan to determine the cause, but are going to wait until after he is recovered from this surgery. Then I received a call yesterday from the pulmonologist saying that she had presented Aiden's x-rays in their grand rounds and the consensus was that there is an enlarged blood vessel that is obstucting his lung and causing the atelectasis. So now we will be having an echocardiogram on Friday before the surgery to be sure his heart is ok. We're pretty overwhelmed at this point, and we just feel so bad for our little man. He is such a trooper, and is so happy through all of this. However, we are thankful for good physicians that have gone the extra mile to be sure he is ok for surgery. I'm so glad his pediatrician decided to look at that previous x-ray, instead of writing it off to pneumonia. We feel blessed as well to be at Vanderbilt for his treatment. So we definately covet your prayers over the next few days and even months. We know God is not surprised by any of this, and that Aiden is, as he has always been, in His hands. I will try to update after the surgery and let you know how he is doing.

Kyle and Cambrie are doing well with school. Kyle is involved with several extra curricular activities at school, as usual, so that keeps us running back and forth a lot. Thankfully we are taking the spring season off as far as sports go, so that will afford us some much needed rest on the weekends and weeknights. We are looking forward to a short trip to St. Loius for spring break. We went to Indianapolis last year for a few days, and that was just the right amount of time to get away but not exhaust us. Kyle is especially looking forward to going up in the Arch. I have graciously volunteered to stay with Aiden at the bottom. I don't care for heights, not to mention the swaying that sometimes occurs at the top. We also plan to visit the zoo, and a few fun museums. It will be our first official vacation as a family of 5, so we are excited.

Last night we had some professional photos taken of Aiden and the whole family, so I hope to post some of those on here when I get a chance. They turned out really nice, but I spent a fortune on them. I was just amazed that the photographer was able to get some shots of all 3 children looking at the same time. Not an easy feat!

Well, that's our news for now. I'm sure the next few weeks will be just as crazy as the last 5 months, but we wouldn't change a thing. We are so thankful for our blessings.

Kelly

Decorating cookies for Santa

Christmas morning
Snow on Christmas Day

7 Weeks Home

Wow, I can't believe we've been home for 7 weeks already. China seems like a distant memory, and it feels like Aiden has always been here. He is doing fantastic. We've been extremely busy as you can imagine, and I'm hoping this will be the first week since we've been home that we won't visit a doctor's office (keeping fingers and toes crossed). The eye doctor has been the most visited office as we discovered that Cambrie is far-sighted like her older brother, and now has glasses. Kyle finally convinced the doctor that he was mature enough for contacts, and has done really well with them. Aiden and Cambrie have had well visits, and all three have had random visits for other ailments. But to top it off, Aiden had his first visit to the ER. He gashed his head open on the kitchen counter while trying to dive out of Eddie's arms. I was at work, so my brother and sister-in-law accompanied them to get it glued back together. I think it took 10 years off Eddie's life though, as there was a lot of blood, and he doesn't handle that well. We've begun our referrals for Aiden at Vanderbilt. The first was to a urologist to schedule a circumcision. Our pediatrician recommended getting this done as soon as possible so that he hopefully won't remember it. The urologist was great to offer and piggy-back the procedure with whatever oral surgery will likely take place in the near future, so that Aiden will only have to be put under once. We see the plastic surgeon next week to check on his lip/palate, then the oral surgeon in December about his teeth. Bless his heart, they are in awful shape, so I'm confident we will be doing something about them soon. So, basically I'm considering renting an apartment in downtown Nashville to save on time and gas with all this commuting we are doing. Ha! Medical news aside, we have been busy with lots of fun activities. Cambrie and Kyle finished up their soccer seasons last weekend. Our neighborhood had a pumpkin carve event, complete with bobbing for apples, donut on a string contest, and lots of prizes. Aiden absolutely loved this. That evening our neighborhood had their trick-or-treating, so we were able to participate this year. Our tradition is to celebrate at my brother's house, and this year we got to do both. Aiden does not care for costumes in general, but fell in love with an Elmo costume in Target. So he carried it around like a stuffed animal for 2 weeks before Halloween, and then was content to have it on that night. I took the kids to the zoo on their fall break. Aiden wasn't too sure about some of the animals. He was ok as long as they didn't move or make noise, which worked well for the most part. He was cautious in the petting zoo, but eventually came around and brushed a few of the goats. We celebrated Cambrie's 6th birthday on the 24th with her first "friend" party at the bowling alley. This place also has bumper cars and video games, so it was a big hit. We also celebrated her "gotcha" day on Halloween. Can't believe it was 5 years ago that we were given that little 13 lb peanut. What a blessing she has been to us. We are gearing up for the holidays, as they will be here before we know it. Looking forward to having our whole family together this year, and celebrating our many blessings. That's all the news for now. I uploaded some pictures in a different post from the last few weeks.

Kelly

First Week

Well, we have been home a week tomorrow, but it feels like months since we were in China. Aiden is doing fantastic. He basically walks around like he owns the place, and we let him of course. We did have to make a trip to the doctor on Monday because he had been running a fever, and found out he had pneumonia. So we started antibiotics and he's been fever free since Monday. I had to go back to work on Monday and let me tell you it was brutal. I was light headed and nauseated most of the day. Tuesday was better, but I was so tired. Thankfully Eddie has had this whole week off, so he has been getting up with Aiden at night so I can rest up for work. Today I have felt mostly normal, so it only took about a week. Don't know when Aiden will get in a sleeping pattern. He goes to bed well, but is still waking up during the night. He loves being with his brother and sister. He cries when they get out of the car at school in the morning, and is so excited when we pick them up in the afternoon. He has enjoyed meeting all of Kyle's classmates this week at school. He is quite the celebrity there. I think Kyle and Cambrie were happy to be back at school with their friends. They have adjusted quickly from the trip. Ah to be a child again. It's good to be home again, but we really had a great trip. God just couldn't have blessed us any more. Our adoption experience this time around was so positive and awesome. A lot of that is attributed to how laid back Aiden is, but I think some of it is related to feeling more comfortable with the process, and being better prepared for "bumps" in the road. I'm so glad we did this as a family, and I cannot imagine this trip without our older kids. They were just so great on this trip, especially considering how much time we spent doing adoption related tasks where they had to just sit and be patient. I'm happy they had the opportunity to experience a different culture, and witness how hard life can be without all the "luxuries" we have here in the USA. It was quite an eye opening experience for Kyle especially, and I hope it has permanently touched his heart. Visiting Starfish was one of the highlights of my trip, and I'm truly in awe of what these people do on a daily basis for these children. We wanted to sneak a few of the babies home with us. And to think these are the "lucky" ones because they are receiving great care and love in this home. There are millions more in orphanges all over the world (not just in China) that don't even cry because they have learned that nobody will respond. It makes my struggles seem pretty insignificant. Well, enough of my soapbox speech. I'll try to get some photos on here soon. Thanks again for all of you who covered us in prayer throughout this journey. They were certainly felt by us, and we feel incredibly blessed.

Kelly

Final Post

Wanted to update quickly and let you know that we have a shortcut to our new website, so it's easier to find. Finishing up packing, and starting to feel like it's really happening.

aidenthomasrogers.com


Kelly

New Website for Travel

Since we have been told that blogger is blocked in China, and I'm not sure that the program I have will actually get around that block, I decided to set up an alternate site for our trip. You can access it at babyjellybeans.com then go to search for a website and type in Aiden Rogers. This was our lifeline for our first adoption, and I don't want to feel alienated from friends and family at home. We leave in about 40hrs, not that I'm counting.

Kelly

Insomnia and Packing Strategies

Well, only 6 more sleeps until we leave for China! At least I hope we sleep. Last night was restless for me, and for those of you who know me well, that is not typical. I have slept through many smoke and fire alarms in my life. I have begun the arduous task of packing, weighing, unpacking, and then packing again. Our in country flights only allow 44 lbs per traveler, and since I'm packing for 5 people, I'm having to be creative. Basically pack everything heavy in our carry-ons, and air in the checked luggage. That way we can get a complete workout hauling the carry-on luggage through at least 2 airports before we arrive in China. After all, we will be sitting for something like 19 hours straight, so we need to burn some calories, right?! I'm probably over-packing, as I'm known to do, but it's not clothes this time. I'm trying to pack as much "America-friendly" food as I can, since I have a 5yr old and 10yr old who will turn up their nose to anything that doesn't look familiar. This 40yr old has a tendancy to do the same, so EasyMac and Quaker oatmeal are my 2 new favorite foods. When we return, I will never eat them again. We are happy, anxious, excited, nervous, panicked, and stressed (not necessarily in that order). I admit to having a few of those "what in the world are we doing" moments in the last few days. Thankfully good friends and a patient husband have calmed those fears, and reminded me of that sweet little reward waiting for us in Xi'an. We've heard so many reports about his great personality and sweet spirit from those who have visited Starfish. We can't wait to discover these traits for ourselves. So for now, we ask that you pray for our sanity as we prepare for travel. Pray that we can focus our attention on the One who called us to this great adventure in the first place. Thanks!

Kelly

Travel Approval and Dates

Yeah!!!! We finally received our travel approval on Friday, and got concrete travel dates this morning. We will leave for China on Thursday, September 2nd and return home on Saturday, September 18th. I waited to post about the travel approval until we had the consulate date secured. I don't think I could have handled that disappointment, and I know I couldn't have typed it. Thankfully I won't have to do that. We are very excited and a little stressed about leaving in 2 & 1/2 weeks, but I would get on the plane tomorrow if I could. We covet your prayers for our safety in travel, as well as for Aiden's adjustment to his new family. We know God has carried us to this point, and he will see us through. We are thankful! This picture is from Taylor who found us on a yahoo group, and graciously sent us some pictures of our little guy from when she was at Starfish last month. Thanks Taylor!

Kelly

Article 5

Well, since my travel coordinator told me to expect our Article 5 around July 22nd, I thought I should send an e-mail to check on things. Well, I got a response today that our Article 5 was issued and all of the paperwork had been submitted to CCAA. Don't know the exact date this happened, but it means our travel approval should arrive sometime in the next few weeks. The next group leaves August 12th, and we know we won't be in that group. The group scheduled after that leaves Sept. 2nd, and we are praying we will be included with them. 4 weeks, that's what I'm talking about. I so like the idea that Aiden will hopefully be in our arms in 1 month. The kids started school today, and life should start to fall into a routine again. This should give me time to prepare for our trip. Here is a picture that another adoptive mom sent me of Aiden. She was at Starfish in mid-July taking supplies for the home there. He's looking more grown up each time I see a picture, but he'll always be my baby.

Kelly