Multitude of updates

The last couple of days have been productive and quieter at the same time. Overall, Micah has mellowed. It's amazing what happens when you feed a hungry baby. Here are the updates on the different tests and issues.

Upper GI-He and Randy were whisked away early Monday morning with little notice. We are thankful for this since this means he will be able to eat earlier in the day again. Micah did well, they put the barium through his nose tube so he didn't have to drink it, which is great, and they also removed most of it from his stomach the same way. The results showed that the anatomy of his esophagus is normal. There is some reflux and he is a candidate for a fundoplication surgery. This test was also the key to getting a surgery date for the G-tube placement as well.

MRI-We learned that in general the results were pretty similar to those of the CT scan we had from Ethiopia. No big surprises. There is definitely a large cyst and area where brain did not develop. As far as what this all means exactly, we don't know. The various doctors are most likely going to review the results and will either consult with us in the next few days or we will have follow up appointments.

Surgery Date-Tomorrow, Wednesday, Micah will be having a g-tube placement and fundoplication surgery. The g-tube is to get adequate food in him and the fundo is to help it stay in. The surgery will happen at 12:30pm and will last at least a couple of hours. Recovery is usually pretty mild for tiny babies and not as traumatic or painful as it is for adults. We are praying we can be home by Sunday.

IV- To this point Micah has had 5 IV placements due to a variety of reasons from pulling out, going bad, veins being blown, etc. Please pray his IV and veins hold up. Right now his IV is in his foot. This is awesome for being able to cuddle with him without being clocked by his little propellor arm (they put a splint on it and he spends most of his time waving it in circles).  The down side of the foot IV is it's easier for him to kick and rub it with the other foot. We are constantly guarding it. IF something were to happen to this one they would most likely have to place a more permanent type that is more secure.

Feeding-Micah has been able to keep his food in better. They put him on a new medication that seems to be helping. The nose tube feeding has been able to be consistent and seems to be processing through okay. He is also taking food by bottle pretty well too when he's hungry enough to do so.

Sleeping-Last night, Monday, was challenging. Micah has been fussing like he's tired and then not sleeping. We started working with him to sleep at 7:30pm since he was acting tired. he did not fall asleep util 12:45am. We, me and nursing staff, tried to be proactive and prepare what we needed to so we could minimize disruptions. It felt like we altered the natural flow of hospital life and all heck broke loose instead. No matter what we, me and nursing staff did, something was determined to wake Micah up. Whether it be the pumps beeping (he has 3), the clock ticking, housekeeping dragging a loud garbage bag through a quiet room at 11pm and not collecting anything, poop happening, me sneezing, doors creaking, you name it...it felt like it was happening. He is very sensitive while falling asleep. Once he is asleep he's out and will sleep well. Today Randy has identified some patterns in his behaviors and hopefully we will be able to help him be more successful in sleeping. Please pray for good sleep tonight for Micah so he will be strong for surgery. Also for the rest of the family so we can stay rested and healthy.

Construction-Today our windows were completed. They are beautiful! This is so exciting and our house already feels better. Now we have another few days of work to be done over the next week to finish the sound proofing. We can move stuff back to it's homes and settle in a little more now. What a blessing this is in the midst of craziness. Micah will have a much more comfortable room to come home too. Once he's home we will work on getting new window coverings, until then, sheets it is. Pray we can focus on getting the house back in order, while we are not at the hospital.

Additional Prayer Requests:

-That Randy's leave from work will work out the way we think it will. He has been juggling the State, the County, family bonding, medical leave, vacation time, and comp time trying to coordinate his leave to our best interests. He's had lots of wait time on the phone. Honestly, we've talked about so many options I don't even know exactly what the plan is and for how long. I know God has it all lined up so I'm just going with the flow and believing it will all work out.

-Health for all of our family and those we come in contact with.

-For God's plan to work through Micah's story and our family in every way it was intended to and that all the glory go to God.

-Believing for healing for Micah from the top of his curls to the tips of his toes.

I will update tomorrow as soon as we know anything! Thank you for your prayers and support!

Construction begins Tuesday

In our last post I wrote about having to tear our house apart for construction on Tuesday. Here's what's going on. Our home is in the flight path of the airport. In order for our airport to become international they have to sound proof houses within a certain area. We are in that area. Our home has been on a list for 6-1/2 years and as funding is available they work down the list doing blocks of about 60 houses at a time. We have been working through the final stages of the process for about a year and a half. Three weeks ago we got the call that our windows are in and they want to schedule installation. We knew this was coming at some point before March. Now when we got this call my first thoughts were 'after 6-1/2 years, NOW...we have a newly adopted baby from across the world with health issues, we have to move all furniture 3-4 feet away from every window, take down all window fixtures, remove everything from our wall and secure all fragile knick knacks. Nice. I can hardly go to the bathroom or make dinner in a day.' this is overwhelming. Then we sucked it up, believed God knew what He was doing and scheduled the first set of dates. These dates fell on President's weekend. They soon figured out the holiday was going to be a problem. Thankfully they had to reschedule because that is the day we were admitted to the hospital. Our dates were now moved to this Tuesday and Wednesday. This seems like a bit much considering we are still in the hospital, however, it's actually more perfect than we could of ever planned.

Here's God's perfect timing:
-Micah will be in a safe place, where it is easy for us to care for. If we weren't here we would be moving him to my parents or he would be with me at the house while the craziness is going on.
-Randy will be off work so he can be available to work with the construction company while I can be with Micah. Randy can also get the girls to school.
-Micah will come home to a more comfortable room.
-We will be discharged from the hospital with gear and home health care so now we don't have to set up at one location and move to another for construction.


The schedule:
-Monday Tuesday at 8am are window installation.
-Monday Tuesday night we can move stuff back.
-Tuesday Wednesday at 8am are door installation.
-The next week we have insulation blown and the final walk through.


Now in order for this to happen we could use some help. We are looking for some assistance with moving things around. Randy can move things to a certain extent but has to be careful due to hernias. My back can not handle moving heavy things. We have moved some things, taken down window treatments to a point and tried to tidy some things us. We just really need help with the final push of prepping. If you are available to help us on Sunday or Monday we would greatly appreciate it. We will also need some help on Monday night putting the big stuff back. If you are able to help please facebook us, email us or call us. We will figure out what the current need is and coordinate.


Our e-mails are:
randycoombs@sbcglobal.net
monicacoombs@sbcglobal.net


Thank You so much!