Wednesday Morning - A Josiah Update

Hi Everyone - this is LONG overdue!!!

... No news is good news, right? I know many people have been coming here over the last couple of weeks, waiting for some fresh news about Josiah - so sorry! Personally, I've been quite busy taking a group of youth to RUSH in Kelowna two weekends ago and then last weekend attending a local youth workers conference. And the upside really is that there hasn't been any pressing need to give an update on our little guy - he's just been doing well!

So to cover the territory of the last couple of weeks: Josiah has been great. There was a period of time there when the doctors felt he must of been sick with something because his white blood cell count was high, but none of the tests showed any bugs brewing. During that time Josiah also demonstrated that he has an allergy to the antiobiotic he was given (messy poops and full-body rash ... awful!) so we're pretty confident we won't give him that medicine again for a long long time.

Because Josiah was sick and such, he hasn't had a trip around the hospital property for a while, and we would have gone today except his battery died (and that's kind of key, you know?!) BUT Josiah was able to have one of his ears testing for hearing yesterday (the ear the staff are most concerned about because it is so narrrow) and it looks really good! It's most likely that Josiah doesn't demonstrate that he IS hearing because developmentally his is still young and learning how to respond to sounds. But because his battery died during the exam, Josiah will have his other ear tested later this month. But this is great news because it means he probably won't need hearing aids!

Speaking of tests, Josiah is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow to do a scan of his brain and spine. At this point a brain shunt (a 'brain drain' to rid the extra fluids that build up there) doesn't appear to be neccesary, but the doctors want to take a look at his brain and evaluate the state of his spine (if/how it's malformed, any potential need for a corrective procedure, etc).

Developmentally Josiah is really growing. He's learning to play with toys (definitely a right-handed man) and is playing with his legs a lot more. He still is unable to sit up on his own, but his posture has improved so much since he's been getting into the stroller, and each day he improves in his ability to sit his chair. Today for the first time he picked his head off mommy's shoulders and brought his head across to the other side - then he repeated this action a couple of times! It's so amazing to see how his strength/muscles are developing! Oh, and he's smiling/smirking a whole lot more too, and next week we have been given permission to start giving him a bottle again!

... And finally, the big news: today we were told that our target is get Josiah home in 6-8 weeks. Yeah. WOW!!! I don't think it's fully set in yet for us ... There's still a lot of equipment, appointments, staffing, and other things that need to be done, but WOOOOOW. Here we are on the cusp of another chapter, a chapter we were never sure was going to come! The news is still too fresh for me really to have any response other then the obvious and un-profound: WOW!

Up and down, darkness and light, joy and sorrow, hope and despair - God has been faithful.

Thanks for all the on-going cheering, praying, and giving. You guys rock.
- Andrew, Marie & Josiah