The Long and Winding Road (to recovery)

James is now three weeks post surgery and well down the Long and Winding Road to recovery.  James had his second appointment with Dr. Brock on Thursday, the day before Yesterday.  Dr. Brock reported that James' scar looked good and released James to return to school as soon as we are ready.  We will start the planning process for that with James' school next week.  It will be Something that he is very excited about.

With all of his means of communications, James has made it clear to me that he is "tired of going Nowhere Man," and that he was ready to get out.  So last week he had several outings including two trips to Memorial City Mall where he a got a Ticket to Ride the carousel and had lots of fun cruising around saying "Hello, Goodbye" to everyone he met.  Last night James got some Help from his attendant Sesime and his Grandma to go to a concert of banjo players which he loved.

So we are making progress, but we still have a ways to go and could use your prayers.  James has been losing weight and his button is still leaking some which means we have to limit the quantities of Ensure he receives.  We have increased the dosage for the medication James is receiving for this and are praying for some improvement and that We Can Work It Out.   Also, James is still not interested in eating orally.  If he did eat orally, that would obviously help the weight situation, so we need prayer in that area too.  Finally, please continue to pray for James' back to heal.  That's a three-month to one-year process and we would really appreciate your prayers that the healing would continue and that James' pain would be reduced.

Thanks for all your support and prayers.  We are confident of God's help and know too that we will get by With a Little Help From Our Friends.

Grandma and James at the banjo concert. They didn't enjoy it at all as you can tell... ha 

Looking good! Weekend outing. Maybe I'll eat some pizza. Maybe not.

James would much rather explore than eat. 

Where does the water come from? And where does it go?

Making Progress

James has been busy.  A couple of doctor visits this week, two new attendants trained, trips to Memorial City Mall, Kroger & Target, and driving his wheelchair around the neighborhood have kept him from going crazy at home.  He wants to leave the house every day and we take that as a good sign.

His two trips to Texas Children's to see his g-tube doctor finally paid off with a good explanation as to why James' g-tube button is leaking so much.  His whole digestive system has slowed down and his stomach isn't emptying out like it should resulting in major button leakage.  A new smaller g-tube button and medicine for the stomach will hopefully solve this issue.  All other systems are working well now.

James back is healing well.  He still has a fair amount of pain when transferring from his chair to bed.  He's on extra strength Tylenol every 4 hours with Benadryl to sleep (PTL!).

Mom & Dad are doing well, especially with all the meals being provided by their church family.  Thanks!

Prayer requests:

James' back pain to decrease, especially when transferring
Back brace to fit comfortably and to stay in proper position
Good results from visit to Dr. Brock on Thursday
James will start eating orally and not lose weight in the process

Loving his trip to Memorial Mall with Sesime

Finally--my rents let me out on the open road!

James and his sister play a game - bike v. power wheelchair 

Work that smile!

Profile shot. Obviously, the surgery has had no negative impact on James' hair.

 Watch out, brosky!

Running away from the bike!

What up. 

out and about

heya everybody! this is gonna be a quick one.

James is doing okay but he's not the happiest camper in the world right now. He's been out and about to Target and just left for the store, but usually he's kind of torn between his love of driving and exploring and his pain and feeling uncomfortable. Be praying that the rest of the incision in his back heals and that the appointment with his GI tube doctor goes well tomorrow. Big thanks to Grandpa for hanging with us these past few days. His help has really been invaluable. And of course, thanks to all for your prayers and concern.

Driving strategizing

Almost as tall as Grandpa!

Glad to be driving, but no super comfortable yet

Life with a straight back -- the grass might seem greener on the other side

Hello friends! So James has been home for a couple of days now and the transition has not been a cake walk. Mom and Dad are doing their very best to meet James' every need and that keeps them very busy. From administering pain meds to rotating James' position regularly to monitoring a very leaky G-tube button, life at home hasn't necessarily been easier. But we've been so blessed with visits from friends, meals delivered, and best of all, a visit from James' Grandpa (a.k.a. James' #1 charmer extraordinaire). Emotionally, James has had his ups an down.  Last night (Wednesday) James hit a point where he seemed upset and frustrated by his limited movement and maybe confused as to why his back operates differently than usual. While James' straight back will benefit him in countless ways, there's going to be a period of adjustment while he is healing, and we are praying that James won't get too frustrated or mad during the process.

Today was a better day though.  James has been cheerful for most of the day and was exuberant  when he saw his Grandpa walk in.  He was also glad to receive a visit from his friend Madison Stone (known to his friends as "Cool Hand Luke") and Madison's mom Sonya (known to her friends as "Cool Hand Luke's Mom).  Also, James had his first follow up with Dr. Brock.  The x-rays showed a perfectly aligned spine with all the hardware still in the right place.  Needless to say, Dr. Brock was very pleased with James'  progress.  James also got a new front half of his brace, and it looks like it will be an improvement.   The hole for the g-tube button has been moved, and we are hoping that will help reduce the leaking from the button.  We shall see what happens on that front.

Enthralled with Grandpa-- or at least Grandpa's hat

Hanging out with the fam

Oh so interested in football.... not! 

HOME AT LAST!!!

James Parker is home at last.  About 5 P.M., Dr. Brock called to tell us that we could come home tonight or come home tomorrow.  We chose tonight, got through the discharge process really fast and left the hospital about 6:45.  We got home at 7:30 and set about establishing our new "normal." Taking care of James will be a big job for the next three months, with new lifting techniques, a back brace to manipulate, pain meds to give and a new way of doing just about everything we do with him.  The critical healing process will be done in about three months, and after that things will hopefully be back to normal.

Thanks so much for all your prayers.  The Parkers really feel that God took care of James and has some more work for him to do.   Please continue to pray for James' digestive system to start functioning at full capacity, that his retching will stop, that James' pain would ease and that he would really start enjoying life again.

We would also like to say thanks to Dr. David Brock, James' surgeon who worked so hard to straighten James' spine and who cared about both the patient and the result.  (How many surgeons give out their cell phone number and then send a text to us asking if we got home OK?)  We are very thankful for Dr. Brock, and he stated on more than one occasion how much he appreciated all of your prayers for James and for him.  Thanks as well to the great nurses in the Pediatric ICU unit at Hermann Children's hospital.  James' received great care.

A Bit of a Setback

Good afternoon.  James is still in the hospital this afternoon due to a slight setback involving his digestive system.  Last night,  James started retching and that has continued into this morning.  Due to a surgical procedure James had in 2003, James does not throw up.   Instead, he retches when he is having stomach difficulties.    Dr. Brock (James' surgeon) saw James this morning and he DOES NOT believe this is a manifestation of the surgical risk he warned us us about (with GI organs being displaced by the surgery).  Since James has had a bowel movement , and his bowels are making sounds, Dr. Brock feels like everything is functioning. Instead, the retching is likely the result of constipation and James' need for some additional bowel movements.  He has had one more this morning and we are continuing to work on that.  Also, he has solved his number one problem.

The result of all this is that we are not sure that we are going home today.  We don't want to go if James is still retching, so we will watch and wait and keep you posted.  Please pray for James' comfort this afternoon and his ability to get some sleep as he has not been sleeping much at night.  Please pray as well for stamina for Renee and me, especially for Renee and she was up a lot last night with James.    We will let you know what we are doing as soon as we know.

P(ee) is for Prayer

When Dr. Brock told us that we might go home tomorrow, he also told us that we had to solve two problems:  a number one problem and a number two problem.  We have solved the number two problem but not the number one problem.  We've tried to give James help with this number one problem.  Kevin told him some really funny jokes but to no avail.  We sang:  "This gland is your gland, this gland is my gland from the the red corpuscle to the golden urine."  Still, nothing.  We did some other things too, but  nothing has worked.  So pray that James will be able to solve his number one problem.

This afternoon we had some visitors - Jose & Valerie Perez, Dave Edwards and Ina & Laurie Graham.    We did not ask them to solve any of these problems, other than to ask them what we are asking you, that is to pray for the solution of James' number one problem. 

Pray tonight that James and Renee will sleep well....and that that our return home (hopefully tomorrow) will proceed smoothly.