Aiden did have a couple of good days and was his old, cheery self! Thanks again for all your prayers!

Aiden Update: 3/07 10:30PM
Hopefully, this coming Tuesday, Aiden will have the surgery to remove and J-tube. In the meantime, he has been enjoying his freedom away from the hospital. This weekend, he even got a haircut!

Loving it

Aiden Update: 3/05 8:30AM
Discharged! Yesterday afternoon, Aiden was released from the hospital. He was very happy once he realized what was happening and kept saying “go buh-bye…go buh-bye…”

Hopefully, the surgery will take place sometime next week but Aiden (and Hannah) are very happy to leave the hospital (at least for a little while). The pain is still an issue but regardless of whether he is in the hospital or not this is an issue. It is primarily a problem when he is trying to pass something.

Please pray for the pending surgery and that his issues would be sorted out.

Aiden Update: 3/02 11:00PM
It looks like it will be another week before the surgery The surgeon is concerned that the skin around the J-tube site is weak and needs some time to heal. Trying to remove the tube and then patch up the flesh would could cause a fistula (an abnormal connection between an organ, vessel, or intestine and another structure). He wants to move very cautiously with Aiden and also wants the lung to have a little more time to heal. They are considering releasing him from the hospital for a few days if they can figure out how to manage the pain.

Today, he was happier than usual. In fact, he even laughed a little (see the video below).

Aiden Update: 3/02 7:30AM
They did not make a decision yesterday (Monday) on whether or not Aiden was ready for the surgery. But, hopefully, they will follow through today and at least review his overall condition and make the assessment accordingly. Yesterday was a better day as he was more comfortable and even smiled a couple of times! Of course, Aiden not smiling is like water not being wet so he must have been absolutely miserable the last few days.

There is a short video clip below that shows his happy moments. Please pray that the medical staff would finally make a decision and that the J-tube surgery would take place this week!

Aiden Update: 2/28 10:30PM
(We will continue to post daily updates of Aiden at the top of the most recent post and the rest of it will be the regular triplets updates.)

Tomorrow is an important day as they will determine if Aiden’s lungs are strong enough for him to be anesthetized. Please pray that this is certainly the case because the J-tube wound is not going to get any better until the surgery. He is a bit of a basket-case as the narcotics make it difficult for him to get much sleep.

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Today is the last day of February and what a month it has been! There never seems to be a break when you have 3 two-year olds (one of which has chronic medical issues).

It has been quite a while since we had nice weather. This past weekend, it got up to 60 degrees and the boys were excited to finally get outdoors again.

Besides battling with allergies, they are both doing very well. They miss Hannah and Aiden but get to talk to them on the phone every day. The latest craze is the garbage truck. On Friday morning, their Grammie takes them in the car and follows the garbage truck. They love watching it dump trash; probably because they too like to dump things around the house. Of course, any mess they make is their responsibility (usually).

Grammie and her boys

Hot stuff!

Time to play outdoors

Evan, blow some bubbles

This would make a great advertisement for TruGreen

Here comes Ethan and he has his ‘wand’

Watching out for the doggies

Loving the wand

They used it to dig at the playground

Evan loves being pushed in the swing

Ethan still likes the baby swing

What do you see?

Daddy and his babies

Another picture with Grammie

Time to roam the neighborhood

As always, looking for things to pick up

A new find: sticks

Ethan, you can’t take the street sign with you

Evan was looking for the perfect acorn…and there it is

Got it!

Ethan wants to run away

He surveys the damage from the snow storm

After realizing how much food Aiden was losing though the J-tube, the medical staff felt it would be very difficult to discharge him as he will constantly need the IV. Fortunately, his lungs are doing even better and he is weaned down to a 1-liter oxygen flow. On Monday, the anesthesiologists will review his status to determine if/when he is ready for surgery.

His morphine doses have been increased and this has certainly made him more comfortable. However, at times he shakes. We are not sure if this is from the increased narcotics or something else. Additionally, the increased dosage keeps him awake and he is hardly getting any sleep.

A week ago, he was hungry, dehydrated and was not getting enough sleep because of the pain which led to the thrashing that resulted in his IVs coming out. Oddly enough one week later it is the same set of problems but for different reasons: he does not get enough nutrition because of the increased leakage from the J-tube site and his sleep is reduced from the side effects of the narcotics. Fortunately, at least his pain has decreased.

It has now been 33 days since Hannah and Aiden when to Boston. Last year, they were there for about 12 weeks in total (almost 25% of the year)! Even so, we are very grateful that we have the opportunity to ensure he gets the best medical treatment possible.

Update: 2/25 10:30PM

His lungs have improved so much that the doctor thought she had the wrong patients x-rays. Talk about an answer to prayer! The medical staff is amazed at how quickly his lungs are healing. We know that his can only be because of the prayers that have gone up on his behalf.

However, the problems with the J-tube site and open wound have increased. The leakage is so bad that he is losing nearly everything that goes into his stomach. This prevents him from not only getting food but fluids also. All day he has been asking for something to eat and is very hungry. As a result, he will be on IV all night to ensure he stays hydrated.

Please pray that the doctors would have wisdom in terms of how to handle this. He simply cannot continue to not be fed as he has already lost weight and his body desperately needs the nutrition.

Thanks again for all your prayers and encouraging words. Some of you have asked about sending Hannah a message, card, etc. and the fastest way to send a message is an e-mail (this is the 21st century after all!). Her e-mail is hannah@veritaz.com.

Update: 2/24 11:30PM

He is certainly a little trooper. Fortunately, things have not gotten any worse. Unfortunately, things have not gotten too much better. While his lungs improve day to day, it will still take sometime before they are ready for the J-tube (removal) surgery. Other than that, no big changes today.

Update: 2/23 9:30PM

Thank you for your continued prayers for Aiden. The good news is that the pnuemonia and air in his chest have dramatically improved, much more rapidly than anyone expected, and I have no doubt that it is due to all of the prayers on Aiden’s behalf. Now if everything else could be figured out and be taken care of… The initial plan was to keep him at least another day in the ICU, but they needed beds late last night, and moved 3 other patients out as well, so it was a long night for everyone…

His physicians discussed the possibility of him leaving the hospital in the next few days and coming back in a couple of weeks to surgically remove the J-tube. Of course, this is under the assumption that his lungs are completely healthy by then and that we have a way to control the pain.

Fortunately, he is getting his full feeds into his stomach. Typically, this would cause him to vomit a great deal but since he is on morphine, there is not vomiting. For some reason, narcotics suppress his vomiting. In the past two years, every time he received narcotics the vomiting ceased. None of the physicians we mentioned this to can accurately determine why this is.

Today, he was still in quite a bit of pain and even angry. Of course, he was being a bit naughty and had a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde combo going. Nevertheless, it is good to see him come out of his lethargic state. His poor little arms and legs are bruised from all the IVs. He has probably been poked over 20 times in the last week and has had to be physically restrained multiple times. Below is a picture of him that describes his attitude. Also, there is a short video clip of him saying “brave boy…brave boy.” The video was from a couple days ago.

You will notice that he is in his stroller. This is because he refuses to leave it and will not stay in the bed. It seems that the stroller is his safety zone and he will not get out to walk or be held (unless he has nothing left to fight). The poor boy does not trust anyone and clings to his stroller no matter what.

Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

This image describes his day

Update: 2/22 10:30PM Although there is still pneumonia, his lungs have improved and the air in the chest cavity seems to be resolving. Unfortunately, the wound around the j-tube site has worsened and become infected so they are treating it with antibiotics (he has been on course of four different anti-biotics). Additionally, this evening they moved him down to the floor as there was a shortage of beds in the ICU.

For some unknown reason, his heart rate was quite high and he was breathing heavier than usual and this is one more thing to keep an eye on. He was able to tolerate his full feed through the stomach (g-tube) so he is finally getting nutrition after a week of no feeds. Overall, he is better but there are still many hurdles to cross. Please continue to pray for God’s healing power and also for Hannah’s strength as the constant care she provides is very exhausting.

Update: 2/21 9:00PM Thanks so much for all your prayers. So many people have asked for updates and told us they were praying for him.

His left lung is doing better. The air leakage and pneumonia have decreased and his breathing is better. However, the pain has sharply increased. In fact, it is so bad that one of the physicians said that he had never seen a child in so much pain. The problem is he can’t really tell us the specific point(s) of pain so helping him becomes a great challenge.

This has caused him to be very angry toward everyone. The combination of lack of sleep, pain and drugs are taking a toll on his demeanor to the point where he screeches and grunts anytime someone comes near him. His voice is gone from all the screaming and crying so his noises of frustration/anger are reduced to a raspy moan. Despite all his hardships, Aiden has always been such a happy, lively individual but the situation has really taken a toll on his spirit.

We are encouraged about the lungs but please pray that the source of pain would be determined so the medical staff can deal with it. Additionally, please pray that they would keep him in the ICU for now. The level of the care on the regular floor does not have the resources to handle him.

Update: 2/20 10:30AM A little rest and a lot of prayer goes along way. Aiden had a good night and was able to finally get some sleep. While the pain is still there, the ICU personnel are consistent with his morphine (as well as other meds) and are much better equipped to handle his overall care. He even smiled a little bit

Of course, the pain is still there and he still cannot pass anything. This prevents them from giving his regular feeds. Furthermore, they are very limited with the IV fluids as there are not many places left to poke him. Additionally, there are the lung issues and how to handle his long-term care. For the short-term, the plan is to nurse his left lung back to normal and then remove the intestinal feeding tube (J-tube). This is a surgical procedure and therefore cannot be done until his lung is healthy enough for him to be anesthetized.

Thanks so much for your prayers. They really do make all the difference!

Update: 2/19 9:30AM - Aiden is finally being admitted into the ICU. His lungs look worse and he is very dehydrated as they are unable to find a good place to provide an IV (they can’t find a good vein to poke). Hannah was up all night and is very tired. Please keep them in your prayers.

Update: 2/18 11:30PM: The situation has steadily deteriorated. On Tuesday, they tried desperately to get him to have a bowel movement with no success. He grunted and pushed but nothing moved. The pain was unbearable for him and he kept screaming and crying.

The doctors have limited solutions and cannot find any type of obstruction that would cause this. In addition to not being able to pass anything, there is a tremendous amount of bile pooring out of the J-tube sight. So much that it is rapidly breaking apart the skin and causing it to bleed.

His feeding has been stopped since Sunday and he is also getting dehydrated as his IV constantly keeps coming out from the thrashing he does because of the pain.

They cannot do any tests on him until he passes the contrast and barium that is in his digestive tract. Of course, the problem is that they cannot get him to pass anything because of the obstruction (which they cannot diagnose until he passes it). This is a vicious cycle.

And on top of all this his pneumonia in the left lung is causing several respiratory issues. Tonight’s chest X-ray showed that he developed a pneumathrax (air leaking into the space between the chest wall and the outer tissues of the lungs) and a pneumomediastinum (air leaking into the mediastinum-the space in the thoracic cavity behind the sternum and between the two pleural sacs containing the lungs). Although he is stable, if these leaks expand it could put him into a critical state. Given that his pneumonia has worsened, we have to keep a very watchful eye on him.

Perhaps, worst of all, his spirit seems so diminished. He seldom smiles or laughs. He does not even want to put his shoes on to go for a walk or be held. In fact, he won’t even sleep in his bed. He will only stay in the stroller as that seems to be his comfort zone. Hannah managed to get him out just long enough for a picture (see below).

Whenever he has to go through another procedure, he keeps saying over and over “brave boy…brave boy…brave boy.” It is heartbreaking to watch your child go through this.

We are trying to get him in the ICU as soon as possible. Based on his history, more than likely he is going be there so we are pushing to get him in immediately.

It has been said that “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” We are praying to that end and ask that you would also.

There were several nurses in the room trying to calm him down but unable to do so. His retching was so uncontrollable, the I.V. came out. Of course, given the long holiday, Hannah had to deal with residents who simply did not have the experience to deal with this. To make things worse, the attending GI surgeon that came to see Aiden and did not look very well. About 5 minutes later, she was throwing up in the room Aiden was staying in. She had a stomach bug that has been going around the hospital. One more thing to be concerned about. Translation: nightmare.

Please pray that the right person would be there at the right time to correctly diagnose his issues.

After sharing Aiden’s symptoms and CT images in consultation with a group of surgeons here, they came to the conclusion that we should also look at his bladder to ensure there are not any valve or other problems that might be associated with the problems he continues to experience. The bladder imaging is scheduled for this coming Tuesday (2/16), and we hope that it will provide some helpful information. Please continue to pray that the doctors will have wisdom to know what to do for Aiden and that we will be able to identify the source of the problem.

Back in Dallas, it is a white out. We got about 11″ of snow and it is beautiful! The twins loved playing in the snow and were dressed with double layers when outdoors. Since we did not have any gloves/mittens, we used a sock on each. Manish told the boys to enjoy it because it would be a long time before they ever saw this much snow again.

Their vocabulary has increased dramatically and they can now carry mini-conversations. It is very intrested to hear Ethan and Evan talk to each other. They have certain code words which mean something” “taaki”, “biggum”, “huggie” and “amina”. They laugh when they say these words and Manish is convinced that this is how they signal eachother when they are up to mischief. They have been in great spirits even though their little brother and Mommy are gone.

We miss you Aiden!

Poor little boo-boo was not feeling well and so he cuddles with Grammie

Meanwhile, Ethan is taking things off the counter

Evan just wasn’t his happy self

But, he got well and started with his trains again

Putting it together…

…almost…

Oops…

Ethan, that is a very long track

But it is no good until you get the trains from Evan

Of course, Evan decided to throw them

Rascals

Dad and Rascal 1

Dad and Rascal 2

Dad and Rascals

Since it was Ethan’s turn in the car, Evan decided to ride on top

The car was out of gas so Evan pushed while Ethan steered

Ethan needed a potty break and was more than ready to go

Learning to ride

Learning to read

They are loving this!

Not sure what to do with all this snow

So, they started making snow balls

It’s getting cold!

Blizzard!

Trees, cars, roofs, etc…everything was covered

There is the issue with the hernia but the possibility of this being the source of the problem is very marginal. Regardless, he will have surgery to repair the hernia in the next week or so. The primary problems seem to have passed for now and he is able to pass things.

Meanwhile, back at home, Evan has become somewhat ill. He was running a fever of 103, runny nose, coughing, etc. All this from an upper respiratory infection. Hopefully, we will fully recover soon and be his jolly little self again.

Here are some pictures (these were before Evan was sick and he was a little happier these days).

Ethan is so excited to get to the playground

Evan, are you showing off again?

Grammie gives Ethey a push

Evan loves posing

The twins were looking for things in the mulch

His nose was running so this is how he deals with it - that is why he is sometimes called “Nosey E”

You look like you are about to do something you should not be doing

My Ethey is growing up so fast

Of course, he still does his cute little gestures

Nosey E!

Trying to climb up the hard way

No standing on the bench

They love being outdoors

What are you pointing at?

Go get them and tell them it is time to go home

He is making sure that Evan is following along

Aiden in Boston