Coming Home from Houston

Becky and Titus (and her mother, Elizabeth, and Aidan and Noah) will be coming home from Houston tomorrow after they see the glaucoma surgeon for a follow-up. It's been one week since Titus had surgery and his eyes look good, but he has stayed in Hermann's Children Hospital in Houston for the past week trying to get his breathing back to normal and get him weaned off of oxygen. He is on the very lowest dosage of oxygen they can provide and yet, when it's turned off, his oxygen saturation, starts to drop. It was decided today to send him home on oxygen and we can then work with our pulmonologist in Dallas to get him weaned off.

I drove to Houston this past weekend to see Becky and the boys. It had been a long and very quiet week at the house with everyone gone and it was great to see my wife and boys again. It is absolutely amazing the difference the surgery has made in Titus' eyes. We did not realize how swollen/bulging they were from the glaucoma until now.

But, going into surgery, Titus had some sinus drainage - either from allergies or cold - that was causing some congestion issues. Thankfully, it never went into his chest, but during the first 5 days of the hospital stay, the respiratory therapists were having to suction his airway out every few hours. On Sunday, this started to resolve itself (after a small dose of Benadryl). And, now, the major issue is weaning him off of oxygen and getting his feeds back to where he was prior to surgery. We also know that Titus will have surgery in 3 weeks to remove the jaw distraction devices, so we know we could easily have the same issues with weaning him off of oxygen again. But fortunately, we will be in Dallas with our team of doctors that are very familiar with him.

Please pray for the following:

• Rest for Becky and Elizabeth tonight
• Safety in traveling back to Dallas - it's about a 4 hour 20 minute trip
• Titus oxygen levels and breathing will return to normal levels without having to supplement with oxygen
• All at-home supplies for oxygen will be delivered in a timely manner
• Strength and continued healing for Titus - he will have his 5th surgery next month and needs to maintain his health before going back in again
• Thursday's appointment in Dallas with our pulmonologist - that he will provide the techniques and treatment necessary to get Titus off of oxygen
• Adjustment as we get back to our routine at home - Paul has to travel to Atlanta on Thursday for a one-day meeting, but thankfully, the weekend is close.

And, we are forever grateful for dear friends, Mike and Jody Krogstad from Lake Jackson, who have kept Aidan and Noah for the past week, kept them going on school, brought them up to the hospital, and provided such incredible support. We are also so very thankful for my parents, Lou and Nolon Daily, who have kept Tucker and Cade (2 VERY active 3 year olds) for the last week. We are also thankful that Becky's mom, Elizabeth Temples, was able to make the trip to Houston with Becky and provide 24/7 care and support for Becky and Titus. And, for new friends, Suzy Gidden and Nan Grantham, who brought food/snacks up to the hospital. It was also a blessing to have Cathy Blue and April/Stirling Vineyard come up to visit during out stay in Houston. And, we were so blessed with the incredible doctors/nurses/respiratory therapists that we had at Hermann Children's Hospital. In your prayers, please thank the Lord for the incredible blessing of these people and ask for God's continued blessing to flow down on them.