Friday, November 20th

Nick has not had a good night. Yesterday was SO awesome! he was on the radio for the NC Children’s Promise. He met so many people and he has been promised concert tickets and an autographed Marty Fish tennis racket.

He texted me at 1:30 this morning to tell me that he was carrying a low grade temperature. This morning he told me he was short of breath and he was coughing more and coughing up junk.

The doctors are running a bunch of tests. They are testing for flu, H1N1, and they are going to check just to make sure he doesn’t have an infection in his port a catheter. They are pretty sure he doesn’t.

I just talked to the doc. The nurse didn’t tell her that Nick was short of breath. He is on precautions now because of the fever. All visitors have to wear a gown, gloves, and a mask. He can’t leave the room until he is off precautions or until he is discharged until he has been without treat temp for 24 hrs. The doc also said that if his lung function was below 50, he probably would not go home. Needless to say he is not happy. They are so busy here so he still has not had the test yet. Praying for good results!

Tuesday, November 10th

Sorry I haven’t posted lately…busy, busy, busy.    Hospitalizations are a process for Nicholas.  They place him on high dose antibiotics, a fierce regimine of physical therapy and excercise, and they monitor his weight.  Unfortuantely, that makes it difficult for all of us because we just simply have to wait to see how he progresses.

The doctors are concerned because he is not gaining weight.  We weighed right at 112 pounds when he went in and he dropped to 111.  He has been at 111 pounds for over a week now.

He also continues to have blood sugar issues.  They are doing a glucose tolerance test today, so it will be interesting to see what the results are from that test.

The doctors say that he will probably be there for the full three weeks.  Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day so there is no school.  I will probably be going up for the day, and then I will be back on Friday.

That’s all I have for now.  If anything changes, I will let you know.

Robin

Home At Last!

Believe it or not, we finally left Chapel Hill around 5:00. I know…long, unimportant story. We stopped in Wilson to pick up a few things and then went home and unpacked the car. I mean…literally, we threw everything in my room, used the bathroom, and then got right back into the car to go get my baby (Oscar). Oscar is our miniature Dachshund and I missed him SO much. My daddy was not too happy to give him up I think. My mama is in Florida so it was just daddy and Oscar hanging out. I think he’s going to be kinda lonely until mama gets back.

Then we stopped at Brian and Heather’s house to see them and Kailey. Gosh she is growing up so fast. We finally got back home around 9:30.

I have almost completely unpacked everything and I am waiting for John to get home. He doesn’t get home from work until 1:20ish – AM.

Thank you all so much for your prayers for Nicholas over the past three weeks, but especially over the past couple of days. It has been kind of rough and we couldn’t have made it through without your prayers and God’s gift of grace.

We are now praying that Nicholas will continue to strengthen now that he is home. He has got to work on building his strength and stamina back up. He is really looking forward to the holiday so he can get some swimming in at his Aunt Kim’s house before the fireworks and homemade icecream. He has talked of nothing much else today.

He is not scheduled to go back until August 5th, but I will keep in touch through the blog so you guys will know “What’s Up With Nick.”

Love to you all,
Robin

OK…Final Word…

We are going home!!! See ya when we get into Edgecombe County!!! THANK YOU GOD!!! We thank you for your grace and blessings upon our family. It is going to be wonderful to have everyone in the same house again. Love you FB people!

Lung Function Results

Nicholas’ lung function is at 57%.  This is three points up from last week.  So now we have to wait to see what the doctors say.  I feel like they are going to send him home.  I feel like they are going to say that this is as good as he is going to get.  I don’t think I am ready to accept that.

I’ll post again when then they give us their decision.

OK…

OK…Gary just came to get him for his lung function test!!!! Keep your fingers crossed and PRAY HARD!!

Thursday, June 18th

The doctors came in this morning very pleased over the progress Nicholas had in his lung function test yesterday. However, they want to make sure, as I do, that they get everything they possibly can this time. The plan is to continue on with IV antibiotics here at the hospital and recheck his lung function next week. We will go from there.

He also continues to have a great appetite. His weight is showing that. He was up to 113.8 pounds this morning! That is just awesome!

Miranda and mama are coming sometime this afternoon, so we are looking forward to that.

Pray for continued increase in weight and lung function. Also, we are having some issues with school so please be in prayer about that as well.

Thanks for checking in.
Robin

At the Hill

We brought Nicholas to clinic at Chapel Hill today with the belief that he would be admitted and he is.  I will post more in a few minutes.

Leaving

We are getting ready to leave the hospital.  I will post again when we get home.  Shutting down the computer.

Im in Deep… HELP!!!

Im puttin my faith, brain, and will power together to figure how science as far as the big bang theory and how prehistoric species could exist with humans in the biblical since of creationism and time. Although it will neve happen I just want to know more or if it could be possible. Let me know what you think.

It’s time to get up already???

Those were my exact words this mornin when mama woke me up at 6 o’clock. Last night was a very lond night, I laid in bed around nine thirty and i laid there for a countless 3 hours. That puts me with 5 hours of sleep on the first day back at school after Christmas break. So i predict that today will not be very easy for me and with 45% lung function it’ll make make it alot harder.

Nick

Clinic Visit Update

Nicholas had the expected appointment today. He lost 4 pounds since December 3rd and his lung function had dropped even more. It was 45% today. He has had a little nasal congestion so we are hoping that it could be the cause of some of what is going on. The doctor has put him on two oral antibiotics and one inhaled antibiotic. He has also requested that we step up his physical therapy and other breathing treatments to at least three times a day.

The youth at our church are having a lock in tonight for the new year and he REALLY wanted to go so both he and Miranda are there. I hope he will be able to enjoy himself. He has been having problems with being out of breath…he was playing basketball when we left them.

We are praying that the next three weeks will show us an improvement – they go back to school on Monday – he goes straight into exams. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers today.

Clinic Visit

Today we have a clinic visit. It is technically just a check up but you never know when it comes to Nicholas. Think about him in your prayers today. I won’t have my laptop with us today – my desktop died and this is our only source for the internet right now. So I will post when we get home.

Robin

Hangin’ In There

Just wanted to check in. I know I haven’t posted in a few days, but nothing much has really been going on with Nick over the past few days. He has has some stomach and breathing issues that have kept him home from school, but he is hanging in there. I am trying to keep in school as much as possible because he has exams when we go back to school in January. He HAS to pass ALGEBRA!!! Hopefully we can get him in at least half a day this week.

Pray for improved health so he can go to school. Pray that he can pas that Algebra exam!!!

NC Childrens Promise Day

Today is NC Childrens Promise day at UNC childrens hospital. Promise Day is a whole day event coverd by most triangle radio stations, music artists such as Jason Michael Carroll come to support and raise money for the childrens hospital to benifit families. So please call to make a donation. Here is the number 1-866-962-5437, you can make a donation of $25 or make a Donation of $12 every 12 months. There is no amount too small to give. Anything will help us.

thank you, Nick

A Special Day

Sixteen years ago, at this very moment, I gave birth to Nicholas Scott Griffin.  He was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, 21 3/4 inches long, he had a little hair and he was just beautiful.  It was a wonderful day and everyday since I have thanked God for giving him to me.  He is growing into a wonderful young man and I am very proud to call myself his mother.

I am so glad we got to come home before today.  He went back to school today and I am guessing he’s having a pretty good day – no news is good news!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!  I love you!

Mama

I have to admit….

I’m pretty upset its about 7:30 pm and I’m talkin to I think i would consider my best friend online through yahoo messenger. He just told me that he might be moving back to Massachusetts with his dad. Now I’ll say that I’m not the most popular person in school nor do i think I will be. Although I don’t have very many friends I do choose them very carefully and he was one that passed that test pretty easily. We have come to know each other pretty well in the last year and a half and i told him that is just stinks to lose a friend like that. In a way I wish i could just say this aint happening but its a reality I cant fix. I’m between a rock and a hard spot, because i want him to see his dad again but i also don’t want to lose a great friends due to a long distance move. I have know idea what God has in store for me now. But whatever it may be I’ll get through it whether i like it or not.

love to all, nick

Two Children, Two Hospitals

Last night, around 9 pm, we received a phone call from my mama.  She has Miranda and three of my nephews with her in the mountains visiting my Aunt Diane.  She called to tell me that Miranda had fallen down a hill and she thought she may have broken her foot.  I could hear her crying in the background.  UGH!  Miranda wouldn’t talk to us.  I guess she was trying to calm down and if she heard our voice, she would really lose it.  She didn’t have any idea where the hospital was and my aunt is too sick to drive, so she had no choice but to call the ambulance.  She didn’t have her insurance information, so I told her to call me with the fax number when she she got to the hospital.  We faxed all that and it was fine.  From what I understand, everybody, from the ambulance responders, to the whole staff at the hospital were VERY considerate, understanding, and just great about the whole thing.  The other unbelievable part was that they weren’t there longer than a couple of hours!

They wouldn’t let anyone ride on the ambulance (WHAT?!?!?  Miranda is 12 and this was her first time) so she said she would be fine as long as she could sit up and see mama’s car out of the back window.  They were happy to let her do that.  Once at the hospital, the doctor examined her foot and they took four x-rays.  He said that after looking at the films, he could not determine whether or not it was broken.  She is still young so she still has plates in her feet.  He saw a space in there, but he couldn’t tell if it was a break or if it was a plate.  So they splinted it up really well and wrapped it pretty tight and he put her on crutches.  We have to call tomorrow to make an appointment with an orthopaedic doctor/surgeon. 

So for a while there, we had two children, in two different hospitals, about 5 hours apart.  Now last night, I admit I was a little stressed out, but this morning, I just have to laugh about it.  One thing is for sure, God hasn’t given me a mediocre, boring life.  I thank Him that she is not in pain this morning.  She is doing what the doctor said and is staying off the foot.  They are on their way home now and are going to try to stop here.  I pray that it is not broken.  Her summer will be no fun.  It could have really been worse and I am thankful that was is not. 

Robin

Arrrr He Blows!

Today Nicholas goes down for a lung function test at 11:30.  His cough is getting worse – that is to be expected.  It tells us that the antibiotics are starting to work.  BUT it also means that he may not be able to do a good job blowing.  In the past, it has prevented him from finishing the test.  He couldn’t finish it last week for coughing and this week his coughing is worse.  But that is to be expected, so no one is concerned about it really.  They have to do one every week to monitor his progress. 

We had a good night, have a different nurse today, and we have been awake since 7:30 which is a miracle! )  One of Nicholas favorite physical therapists is being given a baby shower today so we are planning on going down stairs to get him a little baby gift, and he is going to try to take one of his exams today.  Other than that, we’re bored to death!  It was so bad yesterday, that we were IMing (instant messaging-kind of like text messaging, but on the computer) each other back and forth and we were in the same room.  That’s pretty bad…

I’ll post after his test (probably around noon).  Say a prayer…

Robin