Clinic Visit

Nicholas went to Chapel Hill today. I wish I could say that he got a good report. His weight was 108 (at 5′ 10 and 3/4″ that’s not too good) and his lung function has dropped to 38%. They got a sputum culture, but we’re going to have to wait until Monday to see what he’s growing.

He had a long talk with the doctor and they are going to put him on Homebound for a month. They also talked about long term homebound. Thank you all so much for the prayers you have already sent up. We seem to need them more and more these days. We will keep in touch..

eh…

This past week hasn’t been a great one for Nick. He hasn’t been feeling well and he has had a LOT of stomach issues.  He’s going to try to go back to school tomorrow.  He has to go back to Chapel Hill on Wednesday for a follow-up visit.  We have no idea what the numbers are going to show us.  I’m not sure I want to know.  John will be taking him so I can work.

Please pray for Nick as he continues to work on getting back into the swing of things – doing all of his treatments AND going to school.  One or the other is hard enough, but both of them together is a real problem for him.

Thanks for checking in…

What’s Up With Nick

Nicholas has been going back to school since the beginning of the new semester.  Things have been going very well.  We have even been able to push is appointment back.  And believe it or not, he is going to be trying out for the Tennis Team!  This has been a dream for him for quite a while now and I believe he is going to be able to do it.  He is LOVING school.  He has all of his favorite subjects: Art, Strength and Conditioning (weightlifting and fitness), U. S. History, and Biology.  He is in absolute heaven I tell you.

He is continuing to use the new inhaled antibiotic every other month – I think this is one of the main, BIG differences in his life.  Aside from the fact that he has really matured and gotten more serious about his meds, his treatments, and his life in general, he FEELS GOOD!  His cough is almost completely at 0% – which we haven’t been able to say in a very long time, and he is able to do things he hasn’t been able to do in a few years now.  His stamina is growing and I think he is doing so much better over all.  He had been becoming short of breath at the thought of doing anything and now he is going, going, going…

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers guys.  They really mean the world to us and they are WORKING!  Keep up the good work and thanks for checking in.

Update from Today 10/27/09

I know many of you have had questions about what has been going on today.  Nicholas has been having problems with his blood sugar levels.  For those of you that don’t know, Nicholas is hypoglycemic.  This means that he has low blood sugar levels – the oposite of a diabetic.  For the past few weeks, those levels have been dropping more frequently and the numbers have been lower than normal.  He dropped to 35 last week and felt as though he would pass out.

Of course we have been very concerned, as nothing has changed in his diet or activity level, so we contacted his doctors in Chapel Hill.  In the past, the endocrine team would not see Nicholas because he is not a “diabetic.”  But we felt that this was something that needed to be looked at.  The doctors in pulmonary and endocrine agreed. 

They told us they could see him at 3pm this afternoon, so John picked Nick up from work, I left school and got on my way.  Basically all they told us was that they couldn’t tell us anything today without running several bloodtests.  They drew blood to test his insulin, and to get an average of what his levels have been over the past three months.  It is amazing that they can do that.  They are testing him for something else, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is.

They also suggested that, while Nicholas is doing a great job with his intake on carbs, that he needs to be more conscious of the protein that he eats.  He needs to include more protein with the carbs to try to balance them out.  They also encouraged him to get back on a regular schedule with his feeds.  Nicholas eats so much during the day, he has a hard time geting hooked up to his feeds over night.  We have got to do better with them.  This is also affecting his weight.  When he was released form the hospital in July, he weighed 116 pounds.  Today, he weighed 109…

They say the only other tests they can do is while he is experiencing the low blood sugars.  If we don’t see an improvement, they may have to hospitalize him, wait for his levels to drop, and then run the tests.  We really don’t want to have to do that.

So that’s what’s been going on today.  We were back home by 8pmish.  It was a LONG day.  We are hoping that the suggestions they gave us will help.  Thank you all for the comments, prayers, and good thoughts today.

Checking In

It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I would let you guys know what is going on with Nick.

He has had a REALLY great start to the school year.  He has been struggling with a sinus infection for a few weeks, but he is getting better.  We actually went and played tennis last night. 

He went to Chapel Hill on Wednesday – his weight and his lung function were down, but we contribute that to the sinus infection. 

He has a new special “friend.”  Her name is Ashley and she is good medicine for him. 

We are all busy with life…John is working hard, as usual.  After a long, wonderful life of service, his truck passed away and we had to purchase a new car.

Miranda just celebrated her 14th birthday.  She got an electric, acoustic Fender.  It is solid cedar and it is gorgeous!   

I started work in my new job as a 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher at  the middle school I attended.  It is so wonderful to be back where I grew up.  I am actually teaching the children of some of the people I went to school with – and that is hilarious.  You can look at some them coming down the hallway and be able to say, “Hey!  I know exactly who your mama or daddy is.”  🙂

Brian and Heather are doing well also.  Heather has a new job and is LOVING it and it is so hard to believe that Kailey will be a year old in a few days.  She is growing up SO fast.

SO…we are all doing well.  We haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  I have just been so busy.  I’m going to try to do better.  If you have a Facebook, look me up and friend me.  You can definitely keep up that way.  We are so thankful that Nicholas is well and that everything is going along smoothly.  Thanks for checking in.