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