Archive for January, 2008
A Good Week!
January 21, 2008 | Updates
Samuel has been doing really well the last week. We went to Orem to attend a viewing of my uncle last Sunday. It was an unexpected death, so it was a difficult time for everyone. But it was a nice viewing and I hear that the funeral was very nice also. They are a wonderful family.
On the way home from the viewing, though, Samuel gave us a little uplifting moment. He was watching Ice Age on the DVD player in the Suburban and the part where the tribe of minuature sloths start dancing around (if you’re familiar with the movie) came on. And guess what? He start laughing out loud! A real genuine belly laugh! We don’t very often get those around here, but lately, we’ve been getting them more often and more easily. But this was the best one I’ve heard from him in probably a year. It was great.
Since then, he’s been really happy and even though he may not laugh, he is on the verge of it so very often and I LOVE it! He’s also seemed a bit more aware of things. I don’t really know how to explain it. He’s just even more fun to be with than usual. And, he’s finally back to trying to learn to crawl. After his surgery to have the g-tube put in, he figured out that rolling on his stomach really hurt, so he stopped doing it. Now that he has the button in, he’s realized that it doesn’t hurt to be on his stomach, so he is spending a lot of time there again. And with minimal assistance, he is getting up on his hands and knees in a crawling position. It’s still VERY wobbly and hard for him to hold. But he is trying again, and that is great to see.
I read some great articles this weekend as I cleaned out the 275 emails in my inbox (ugh)! One of them you can view here - http://www.jpands.
Anyway, this article just helped me to realize that the home chambers I’ve been looking into will help Samuel. I was afraid that because they could not reach as deep a pressure as the clinic chambers and because they do not support 100% oxygen, that they would not make a difference for Samuel. But it appears they will. So, I’m very interested in getting one for our home.
One more quick thing. There was a news broadcast about a little boy who received a stem cell transfusion of his own cord blood cells at Duke University recently and saw great results from it. He was 2 when he had the transfusion and was not speaking at all. Five days later, he said his first word. He has also started crawling, speaking more words and walking since then. I knew that these transfusions were possible at Duke, but I also know that you can only use cord blood from the actual person receiving the transfusion. And we don’t have Samuel’s cord blood. We have Nathan’s, but I already checked, and they won’t use it for Samuel. I am completely sold on the stem cell idea. I’m just not completely sold on the China thing. So, until I am, I’m looking for other avenues.
Last of all, I spoke to a mother this week who swears by Dr. Tennant like I do HBOT. She is the second mother I’ve met like this. I don’t know if you remember, but I attended a seminar by Dr. Tennant last April and through him began doing the homemade diet for Samuel. We also purchased a biomodulation from him. Anyway, my next project then, is to see if we can get Samuel to Texas for a week to see Dr. Tennant and have him evaluate Samuel personally. So, between a trip to Dr. Tennant in Texas, a trip to Canada for ABR in April, working on getting our own HBOT chamber and looking into stem cell treatments, we actually have the beginnings of a new plan. If anyone out there has any frequent flyer miles they don’t know what to do with, let me know! And like I keep saying, we’ve got some fundraising to do. If you have ideas or want to help out, you know how to reach me.
Thanks again, everyone! Let’s hope for another good week.
Love,
The Jewkes
P.S. I’m leaving you with a picture of Samuel sleeping. I LOVE to watch him sleep because in his sleep, he is more “normal”. He just looks like nothing is wrong with him. He breathes like you and I. He stretches like you and I. He gets in funky positions just like we do. He even makes the little sucking motion with his tongue that babies do when they’re falling asleep. And I love watching him wake up for the same reasons. He yawns, stretches and then smiles at me just like any other of a million children in this world. It’s just a moment of normal and I guess until you don’t have it, you just don’t realize how blessed you are TO have it. So, here’s a little peak at why I LOVE to watch him sleep!
Posted by admin @ 12:24 am | 4 Comments
An Overdue Update…
January 16, 2008 | Updates
Sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been more hectic than usual. Christmas was nice. I guess that’s one of the holidays that is a little hard for me, though. We spent Christmas Eve in a nearby nursing home visiting many elderly and some handicapped residents who where alone that night. It always deeply affects me to spend time in that setting. They are such wonderful people. Most of them were just like you and I in their prime and now they are at a point in their lives where they just can’t care for themselves. Some of them have always been unable to care for themselves and maybe have spent their whole lives in such a place or have been placed there at this point in their lives because there is no one able to care for them. Mind you, I don’t judge anyone for placing their loved ones in such a place. There is no way for me to know their circumstance and someday, I may be in such a circumstance or those caring for me may be. But they are so understaffed there and it breaks my heart. There was one point in the evening where I was sitting next to Tanner and quietly said, “If Samuel doesn’t ever get well enough to take care of himelf and I get too old to be able to do it, he is yours. You need to care for him. Please do it if you can.” He just quietly knodded his head and I knew that in our current setting, he understood. In the end, I guess…well, I guess I just can’t explain it. It just affects me deeply.
Christmas made me thankful for all that I have and to be able to have Samuel with us. I won’t deny that it is hard wondering if he knows what is going on and helping him open presents that he should be ripping open himself. But I try to ignore that and just be thankful for all the joy that does come with the day. I think the hardest thing is that I really don’t have anything to say when people ask me how Samuel was at Christmas. To him, I think it’s just another day. And no matter how hard I look, it is SO HARD to find him gifts that he can really enjoy. But I think we did alright.
On a lighter note, we were able to spend New Year’s Eve with family like we used to do every year. It was nice to be even closer to “normal” than we were a year ago. And a few days later, we made the trip to Salt Lake to get Samuel’s g-tube switched out for a button. I’ve noticed that Samuel can tell when we are in a hospital or doctor’s office and he gets uptight pretty quickly. This time was no different and we ended up waiting for the doctor for nearly 2 hours, which didn’t help. In the end, though, it was pretty quick and not as bad as I thought. (I don’t know if Samuel would agree with that, though!) So, we now have an official button and it’s really nice, I have to admit.
Otherwise, we’ve just been trying to get back into the groove of things. We went through a bout with the flu the week school started back up. Tom, Ben and Samuel got it. The rest of us missed it. It was pretty nasty and lasted about a week for each of them. And I’m now working several hours a day out at Tom’s business helping replace some people who moved onto other things. On top of that, I have one of my boys struggling in school and Sunday, the transmission in my Suburban went out. It only has 41,000 miles on it. So that makes it really difficult for me to haul the kids around and impossible for us to go anywhere together as a family. Thus, things have been hectic.
But we did have one big event that last few weeks and that was Ben’s baptism. It went really well and I think he really enjoyed the day. I know I did.
So, I guess I’ll leave you with that for now. I’ve had a few experiences I’d like to post about like the nice man I met in the parking lot the other day and the lesson I learned from him or the way I love watching sweet little Samuel sleep and why or the appointment we had at the GI clinic a week ago or some of the things I learned from an 8 year old boy on his baptism day and a few other things. But, honestly, I’m busy and you probably are, too. So, maybe another day. In the meantime, I hope you had a great holiday season and I hope you’re having a fun new year. And I hope you’ll continue to pray with us for Samuel’s Miracle to continue during 2008!
Love,
The Jewkes
Posted by admin @ 12:21 am | 2 Comments
