DEREK UPDATE

Derek is in desperate need of prayers again...still....
He had a fever of 102.9* and was hospitalized due to dehydration and his liver enzyme counts being out of whack. On May 13th he had an ERCP, which allows the Docs to check on his bile ducts and the stint that they had placed in there to hold it open to give him the optimum use of this liver before possibly needing another one. They are not sure if it was the lack of antibiotics allowed for the procedure, the non sterile dye they use for the ERCP, or just God's timing, but Derek is in need of a transplant again.

For a while, Derek has been reactivated on the list, first being #9 with a MELD score of 5.8, then moved to #7 with a slightly higher score of 7.0. Today, Derek was moved to #1 with a MELD of 26! His MELD for the first transplant was 23. We now wait to hear word that a liver has come up, another family has had to make a hard decision, and that Derek is a match.

PLEASE, we ask that you pray for him, the other families that may be making this decision to donate, the Docs who will make the decision for which liver is his, transplant it and that the right one finally be implanted.
To be 29 yo and to have to go thru this again in such a short time is unimaginable, yet Derek keeps his spirits high and knows that it is for a purpose.

I will keep you updated! Thanks!

Hunter

Hunter and Aunt Heather, Mean mugging for the Camera on Easter '09

On May 3rd, 1997 a beautiful baby boy came to be in this world. He and a twin, our son Braeden, were born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. our two sweeties were cared for by their Birth father until 18 days old, eating only sugar water because he didn't have anything else to feed them. He brought the two tiny little creatures to Dr. Bernard's home and begged him to take them. We received a call that we had waited for forever, we had a baby...well, TWO babies. They wanted us to know that they were tiny, malnourished and had a slim chance of survival, but they were ours if we wanted them. We said a hopeful YES to them and prayed that they would be safe and we could finally have the children we so desperately wanted.

You see, We had begun our process of adoption for a girl, we had girls referred that were taken away, girls that died after referral and girls that were to be ours that never ended up coming to the orphanage. Of course, that was 12 years ago and things were done differently in the Haitian adoption world than they are now...some for the best, some for the worst.

So anyway, We waited for news that we could travel. We got a call late one evening from Dr. B saying that our boys were sick and in the hospital..they were tiny, Hunter weighing in at 3.5lbs, Braeden weighing in a 2lbs. We prayed and begged for them to be able to come home, but knew they were not healthy enough to make the trip.

Two days later, we received another late night call from Dr. B, this one letting us know our worst fears, our sweet little Braeden had passed away at 1 month old. My knees gave way and I sat on the floor and cried, wondering what I had done somewhere to be punished so much to have to lose a child I never got to hold or tell I loved to their sweet little face. We were devastated, Louis the Birth father was devastated. He came to reclaim Braeden fro burial and begged us to continue to be Hunter's family...we had never had any other thought cross our minds, but he needed to know that in his mind that we were committed to Hunter...f course we were.

Hunter remained in the hospital in PAP for 1 more month and at the age of 2 months and 1 day, he arrived in Miami for us to pick up, being escorted by Mme. Bernard.

May 3rd was a wonderful day in our lives, it gave us the son we wanted and love so much, watching him grow and mature into a young man.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNTER, WE LOVE YOU!!!

Updates

Hello! Since it has been a couple of weeks since I was here last, I thought I would update everyone.

I had my dental appointment and was EXTREMELY high and got my molar pulled. All went well, I remember bits and pieces of the day, but not all of it. Nikaya had stayed home with daddy that day, since she wasn't feeling good and she laid on the couch with me to keep me company. She decided Spongebob was better viewed in her room since I snored to much and did not change the channel when needed...hehe

Kai had his visit to the Urologist. It had to be one of the single most hilarious times I have had in a while. When he arrived they gave him a cup with his name on it, to which he was excited for, thinking he was getting a snack with juice. When told he needed to pee in the cup he looked at all of us like we were insane and that was indeed disgusting. When he and I go into our little room, he proceeds to tell me he is big enough to do the job himself and goes into the bathroom. I peek thru the door in time to see him undo his britches, look at the cup, his pant and then how many hands he had and try to figure out how he was going to do it all. He then gets the brilliant idea to put the cup on the floor and aim from up high...hehehe I stop him in time to avoid a HUGE mess. Afterwards he and I sit in the little room that had WAY to many posters of men's anatomy on the wall. Kai is looking long and hard at one (which was the dissected view of the male anatomy), He finally exclaims " I know what that is!!!" I ask him "What is it?" to which he replies 'SQUIDWART!!" (the squid neighbor from Spongebob Squarepants) I never laughed so hard in my life. The Doc is thinking of renaming the poster in his honor. :-)

Life has been good, we have survived Nikaya having a temperature of 103.5*, my tooth hole causing pain (hoping for it not to be a dry socket and just allergies), and trying to get things done around here. I have some more news, but will put it all in seperate posts to keep from running you long on this one!

Get 'Er Done

OK...Demi's new retainer is in with her tooth on it..looks pretty good. She talks a little funny and will until she gets used to it being in her mouth. They will adjust the retainer from time to time as she grows, but she will need to wear it until her jaw stops growing and teeth quit falling out and something more permanent will be done-about the time she turns 18.

Kai and Nikaya have appointments tomorrow to start their immunizations-YUK! I have put it off and put it off and finally after much research decided to get it done. They will have to catch up, but do not require some of the shots that infants and toddlers do since they are older. They will probably have to go to the Doc about 1 time a month for shots until they are caught up, but it is for the best.
May 11th Kai has a visit with the urologist. This is a long time coming and will be gearing up to fix a problem he has which will probably require surgery. I will let you know when the surgery will be coming so you can all pray-it will be very much appreciated.

I have yet to get my tooth pulled but did see the doc. Right now I am living with infection in my jaw, but really the pain is getting worse and makes my head hurt all the time.
I told Curtis the infection is probably eating its way to my brain, which he replied "well, then it will starve" HAHA...everyone is a comedian. I am going to have to talk to them about what to do, but they have already told me they would drug me to the high heaves to pull it out and then we can go from there.

Met the foot Doc-he said my foot is C shaped with a bunion and bone spur, that is what is causing all the pain. I should watch how often I walk (I LOVE TO WALK) and watch the number of stairs I take (I have a 2 story house and climb stairs into the cage all the time...) . He wrapped my foot to help support it but I then had an allergic reaction to the tape-lost some skin and now I have a 'wookie foot' with adhesive that causes everything to stick to it from lint, cat hair to my own shoe. I will have to wait to get any kind of surgery done until I have money and go to Haiti to escort- I REFUSE to travel to Haiti in a boot that goes up to my knee. The surgery will go one of two ways-heal in 6-8 weeks with minimal crutch usage and smaller boot OR 8-10 weeks in a boot up to my knee and walker that requires a knee walker thing that I ped around on...FUN!

Heard from Haiti that they have the passport of the girl I will escort. Hoping all will go down so I can travel in June and then make plans to get my foot surgery completed...ah..more money needed...let it rain down cash from the sky cuz I don't have any!

Hope all is well with you out there, we are just living each day hoping to get to the next!