Home from the hospital!!

We arrived at GMH on Monday morning for Ellison's first surgery. He spent almost three hours in surgery and the next four days recovering in the hospital. He is still feeling the post - surgery blues but is almost 100 percent after major surgery at 3-1/2 months old. (AMAZING)

The Lord was with us every step of the way. First, Ellison was unable to eat after a certain time the night before and instead of waking up with his normal angry scream for food, he woke up after we arrived at the hospital and actually smiled quite a bit before surgery. After surgery

we were able to meet with Dr. Abrams (surgeon). Dr. Abrams told us that the surgery was "textbook" (who knew that surgery could be textbook). He told us that what he saw during the surgery in regards to muscle structure and development was exciting and encouraging as we move forward towards the next step of reversing his colostomy. If we continue on this path Ellison could have the colostomy reversed within two months and the odds of normal bowel function are great. This news was welcome and was followed by a hospital stay that included great nurses, low pain levels for Ellison, visits from family and friends, lots of balloons and new clothes, and great food and sleeping arrangements. Ok maybe not the last two I mentioned but we made due on those fronts.

We just wanted to use this post to say once more that God is faithful. I cannot believe that it was almost four months ago when this part of the journey began. In the midst of that pain and hurt I could not see "down the road", I just knew that I did not want our new family to have to walk down it. It has came and went and we are through with the first surgery. I am trusting that very soon surgeries will be behind Ellison and he and his parents will always have a testimony to lean on in tough times. A testimony that says God was faithful to comfort, to provide, to watch over, and to heal.

Ellison looking around trying to figure out this hospital thing.
We finally got to put on regular clothes. He looked like my
baby that day.

Waiting to be discharged.

Bottoms up! Ellison had to lay on his belly with bright lamps

shining on his bottom for 20 min 3 times a day to help heal his incision.

It was the cutest thing. Yes, that is his mommy up in the crib with him. Their cribs held up

to 200 lbs so were good.

Ellison really enjoyed the fish at the hospital.

Taking a nap in mommy's arms.

Enjoying all of his new stuffed animals. Thanks Grace Ann.

Our First Beach Trip (July 25-Aug 1)

Ellison in his beach attire. Thanks Aunt Dana.

The last night at the beach we stayed at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Carolyn's house.

Ellison enjoyed the "bird noises" that Aunt Carolyn made. He laughed out loud

with his MaMa trying to make funny sounds too.

Uncle Quinn and Aunt Amber came to the beach for a few days. They are both

very good teachers...see they taught Ellison to read a book:).


Ellison and his grandmama getting ready to go eat seafood.

This outfit was too cute. I couldn't resist buying it before he was

even born. He's only worn it once and now it's too little.

Matthew let Ellison test out the ocean. As you can see, he's not

to sure about it yet.

Family photo of our first beach trip. You can

tell we have been inside a lot this summer...check out our tans.

Ellison had his own tent to keep protect him from the sun...Matthew liked it too.

He was trying to be the whitest man on the beach. He won that prize I think.:)

Chilling out on the beach.

Hanging with dad in the beach house.

We love this pic! Ellison had a different hat

to wear each time we went to the beach.

My dad and Matthew reading their books on the front porch.

Ellison and his pops. This swing was a life saver for us.

Our sweet boy loved swinging on it in the evenings.

I found my camera so here are some older pics!!

Just a cute shot after bath time
Matthew's friend Matt Rob came from Nashville to visit

Ellison back in July. We enjoyed a great time with him. Next time

we want his wife, Amy, to come.

Just hanging out in the bumbo. Ellison does really good in this
seat but eventually gets tired and his "bobble head" starts to fall over.

The First Step

Hello all,
Well we haven't posted in a while so here's the latest...
We all went to the beach last week and had a great time with our families. Ellison enjoyed relaxing with his pops and grandma in the infamous swing. He also enjoyed sleeping on the beach in his own personal pop up tent and shopping at the flea market with his MaMa, Aunt Dana, and Carolyn. Unfortunately, I left my camera at the beach house so I can't post any pics until Jerry and Carolyn go back to the beach.:). All of you with kids know that you have to pack your house when you travel with a baby so forgive me for forgetting the camera.

Last week, we met with Dr. Abrams...he said let's schedule the first of the two surgeries. So, Ellison will have his surgery on August 17 at 8:00am at Greenville Memorial Hospital. PLEASE be in prayer for us on that day. We may be in the hospital for the better part of that week depending on Ellison's level of pain. In this part of the surgery, the colon will be pulled down to the correct place. He will then have to wait for the incision to heal and then we will schedule the second part when the colostomy will be reversed. Please pray that Ellison will do well with the surgeries and that he will experience as little pain as possible and that he will not have any side effects or complications afterwards.

Tomorrow mommy goes back to work:(. Please pray for me as I am very nervous about this change. I have really enjoyed the summer and taking care of my big boy. He is so sweet and and such a blessing...I don't want to miss any new thing that he does while I'm away. Thankfully, he will be in good hands with his MaMa and Grandma.

Pictures are online!

We had some pictures taken of Ellison last week. If you would like to see them you can go to Janacandlerphoto.com. Our slideshow is on her blog and all of the photos are on her main website under view events. Type your email address and then use "rockcrest" as the password. Hope you enjoy them! We were so excited about how sweet our little boy looks in them. Also, we want to thank Matthew's friend, Matt Rob, for helping us out during the photo shoot:).

Miracles do happen!

As of last week, we were thinking that Ellison had the Duarte form of Galactosemia. The blood test from last Thursday still showed some abnormalities but Dr. Champaign said that was probably b/c he had eaten right before the blood draw. We met with her yesterday for 2 hours and she said made the comment, "I was almost 100% sure that Ellison has Duarte Galactosemia, but when we looked at his genes he doesn't have the gene for that". What it all boils down to is that Ellison is just a carrier for Galactosemia. We will not have to do anything different now...no blood levels to check and no diet changes. Matthew and I are calling it a miracle because all of his blood work was pointing toward the Duarte form but now he is just a carrier. We are very thankful for all of the prayers during this time...it was a little scary to try to take all of this in along with his other issues. He's still the cutest boy ever and we are blessed to have the little chunk!
I'll try to post some pics later on. Have a great weekend!
Love to all, NV

Test Results

We received the repeat newborn screening results yesterday. Ellison's GALT level (the enzyme that breaks down sugars in milk) is still low, but the good news is that his total galactose is still normal which means he can break down the sugars in milk. We have been referred to a metabolic specialist (Dr. Champaign) so we can determine the cause of the low GALT level. We had to rush over to Greenville Memorial last night to have some more blood work drawn so that it could be processed over the weekend. We hope to hear from that blood work by Monday. Dr. Champaign seems to think that Ellison may have the mild form of Galactosemia called Duarte Galactosemia. She said also that he may be just a carrier for Galactosemia. I think that with the Duarte Galactosemia we would just have to monitor Ellison's galactose levels and possibly some diet changes until he is a year old. Ellison was and is still being a trooper with all of the blood draws. He even smiled at the phlebotomist after she stuck him and missed the vein.(Mommy wasn't smiling though)
Anyways, this is a lot of big words and it is all kind of confusing, but we are praying for the best results possible. One thing is for sure...Ellison is still in the Lord's hands and that is all that counts.
Take Care! NV