A fine week

Joseph continues to do well and he is still gaining weight rapidly. He just graduated to the next size in clothes and diapers. It does not seem possible that he is growing so fast. He smiles all the time and is a very easy baby at this point. (outside of the fact that he has to be watched 24/7) He does not cry much and he sleeps well at night. Of course--by writing that I guaranteed that he will wake up four times tonight.

Joseph's next surgery to remove the nasal tubes is scheduled for November 27. It will be good to have that behind us and then the goal will be to get through flu season. He sees his heart doctor on Monday. We pray that it will be all good news.

Joseph enjoyed watching the World Series but he did not like the sweep. We will have to wait all the way until April to watch the next baseball game. That made Joseph cry. He cheered himself up by watching a little NASCAR today. He likes the fast cars.

Her are a few pictures that are much better than my writing tonight:

A new outfit

Maxing out the waistband!

Showing off his cool scar

Hanging out with Grandma Sue

Life is good!

All the best,

Kenny

Joseph watches his first World Series Game

I know, I know---I did not post on Sunday night. But that is Mary's fault. Mary is so amazing that she made it possiblefor me to go on the annual Utah trip with my dad, my brothers and some friends. Mary had some help from her sister, her mom and my mom---but she really had to work hard to take care of Joseph and the girls. I came back late Monday and have been playing catch up ever since. I want to thank Mary on this blog because I needed the time away and I had a great trip. Mary could use a weekend off, but cannot do that because she has to stay with Joseph to feed him and he cannot leave the house. Mary has handled this whole situation with grace and a commitment level that is inspiring.
Joseph continues to do well. His monitor has gone off twice due to a low heart rate (or it could have been a false reading) and that has really kept us on our toes. It is a loud alarm and makes it tough to go back to sleep. Not for Joseph---he has slept through the alarms. It is not a concern at this point unless it keeps on happening.
Joseph is growing so fast that I could tell a difference after being gone just three and 1/2 days. He looks great and so far we have managed to keep him from getting a cold. It is tough to keep him protected because so many want to see him. We would love to take him out but we still have to keep him at home.
Last night he watched his first World Series. It was not a very good game but it was great to watch it with the family. He only watched a few innings but I will always remember this and in a few short years he will be out there playing in his first baseball game. Baseball (and softball) has been an important game for our family. It is a connection between generations and there is a connection to the future. There will always be baseball and the World Series. Terance Mann in FIELD OF DREAMS says this memorable quote about baseball;
"...And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come."
It is easy to imagine Joseph in the future playing and watching baseball. He will be able to do that because of the miracles he received at this young age. He will be connected to his past and will be building for his future. These thoughts of the future are so comforting and we look forward to the great times ahead. Thank you for helping to give Joseph a future.

God Bless,

Kenny

P.S. Pictures to follow on Friday

Community and Smiles

Big Smile

Bigger smile!

I finally caught his smile with the camera!

Joseph is doing very well. He went to the pediatrician on Thursday and Dr. Yim thought he looked great. Joseph is almost 11 pounds and he has kept up with the ounce a day gain rate. His ENT doctor saw him this week as well. He liked his progress as well and they are working on scheduling his surgery to remove the nasal tubes. It should be sometime before Thanksgiving.

We sort of lost track of a couple of months through all this. I cannot believe that we are talking about Thanksgiving--but we look forward to its arrival. This will really be a special Thanksgiving as we have so much to be thankful for. It will be even better if he Joseph can be done with his bionic nose.

Last week I wrote about the miracle of breathing for Joseph. Tonight we were watching the video tape of the day he was born. We had not seen it yet and it was amazing to relive the time just two months ago (Joseph turned two months old on the 12th) when he was born. On the tape I heard myself mention that it seemed like he was having a little trouble breathing through his nose but I kept reassuring Mary that all was well. Little did I know that a few hours after that moment I would be in an ambulance with Joseph heading to another hospital while Mary stayed at Verdugo Hills Hospital. I am glad we did not watch the tape until now, because we know that it all turns out OK. In fact it turns out better than OK! These two months have taught us more than we could have imagined. We are closer as a family and a community. We have a closer relationship with God. People who have never even seen Joseph except through this blog have a closer relationship with God. I listed many of the faith communities that have been praying for Joseph in a blog back before his heart surgery. I think it is worth mentioning again. Joseph was in the care of:

The Franciscans

The Holy Cross Fathers at the University of Portland and Notre Dame

The Carmelites Sisters (Mother Regina Marie was on pilgrimage and had a whole busload of religious praying for Joseph--and cheering when they heard good news!)

The Dominicans (especially those up at Flintridge Sacred Heart)

Sisters of Saint Joseph (alerted by Sister Maryann who is at Saints Felicitas and Perpetua)

The Jesuits (Fr. Schall is a relative and teaches at Georgetown)

A cloistered nun in the Midwest who takes prayer request over the Internet!

The parishes of:

Saints Felicitas and Perpetua (The church and the school were all praying--thank you Fr. Paul and Mrs. Aparicio)

St. Bedes

Holy Family

Pope John Paul II, in Montana---yes -- Montana!

Our Lady of Lourdes

St. Andrews---Fr. Paul Sustayta is there. He was a classmate of mine at St. Francis High School. I asked him to pray for Joseph on the day before his surgery. Fr. Paul got in his car and drove down to the hospital to spend time praying for Joseph. The next week at mass they mentioned Joseph in the intentions. A lady walked up to Fr. Paul and asked, "just who is this Joseph Lund---They have been praying for him over at HolyFamily too!"

There were churches and people in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Massachusetts, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, France, England and Scotland.

I know of individuals who were praying for Joseph from several different faith traditions. There were so many in fact that I have often thought that maybe Joseph is destined to grow up and assist with the unification of the church.

Many of the staff of the hospital told us they were praying for Joseph. We even received notes from people we do not know who heard about Joseph and were adding their voices to the chorus of prayer.

I am sure that I have not listed all of the faith communities that united around this little child. There are many more and I will probably have an addendum next week. But the point is that it has been a miracle that this single child could bring about so much prayer. I have often thought about this and I am absolutely convinced that this is the case. People have shared stories with us about how this has helped them with their faith, their family, and their perspective. The power of prayer was felt so strongly by our family that there could be no doubt of its presence. We never felt alone even at one in the morning while pacing the halls of Children's Hospital. Once again with thank you for your miracle of prayer and I hope you feel the power of prayer as strongly in your life as we have.

God Bless,

Kenny

Time

How about a song?



Ready to sleep!


How is it that such a little kid can take up so much time? Mary and I keep asking that. He sleeps and eats. Those are the two highlights of his day and night. It seems simple, but any parent can tell you, a little one can take up quite a bit of your time. Now this is sounding like a complaint, but I can assure you it is not. It has been a great week. Joseph has done well. He continues to grow. We watched the baseball playoff games together and even some football and NASCAR. He was very happy that Notre Dame got their first win of the season---although I scared him a bit when I celebrated an interception as he was falling asleep. While Joseph hung out at home we mixed in soccer games with the girls, work, practice, school, homework, church, and a few movies at home. Hunkering down is pretty good when you are with family. Mary has many scheduling issues to deal with to keep things operating. She has done an amazing job of keeping everything running somewhat smoothly.

We have been in a good rhythm, however, Joseph has given us a few scares just to keep us on our toes. The tubes in his nose get clogged on occasion. We have to suction them out several times a day. I will spare you the gross details but I will say that it takes a little getting used to. He has trouble breathing and he is still learning to breathe through his mouth when his tubes are blocked. He will have to master this skill before the surgery to remove the tubes. I think I have written before that infants are "obligate breathers." This means that they have to breathe through their nose because they do not know to open their mouth to breathe. Joseph had 100 percent blockage of both nasal passageways. What is interesting about this fact is that Joseph went two days after he was born without a breathing tube. Medically this is not supposed to happen. Infants with 100 percent nasal blockage have to be put on a breathing tube right away. They figured that he had some opening on at least one side because he was able to keep breathing. The doctors were shocked during the surgery to find out that he was completely blocked. Devine intervention is how I explain it. Joseph had several miracles along this path and I thought it was important that you know about the first one he received. The prayers kept him breathing.

We are and always will be, grateful for what Joseph has received. Until next week---

Kenny and Mary

Gaining weight!

Joseph continues to do well and his main goal is to gain weight. I sure would like to have that as my goal but weight LOSS should be the goal for me. He is gaining about one ounce per day. He is over 9 pounds now and he is getting very good at eating and sleeping since most of the time he is doing one of the two. I think you can tell from this picture that he is looking a little "rounder."

He is still hunkered down at the house and he cannot have visitors. The pediatrician is worried about him getting the flu or a flu like illness called RSV. This illness has put many healthy kids and infants in the hospital with breathing issues. He will have a vaccine for it but it takes three months to administer the vaccine. So, we are still being very protective of him and that will continue on into the new year. (insert heavy sigh here) His sisters have to take showers before they can hold him when they come home from school and we are buying Purell by the case now.

His next surgery is in about six weeks. The surgery will be to remove the tubes in his nose. He tolerates the tubes very well and does not seem to mind the suctioning that we have to do to keep them clear. All in all he is a pretty good baby at this point.

I finally caught a smile on camera and it is in this video clip:

That is Megan holding him. Joseph's sisters still complain they do not get enough time with him but that is because there are four of them and only one of him. Patience is a virtue!

This blog has been a great tool to get the word out on Joseph. We will keep it going until after his next surgery, but it will only be updated once a week since there is not as much going on. We will update the blog on the weekends (which probably means late Sunday night) so you can check it on Mondays.

It is still amazing how many people have read this blog. We get notes and emails from people who we had no idea were reading this. It continues to be very uplifting and we are able to feel connected to this community pulling for Joseph. We offer prayers of thanks everyday for all of you and for the health of Joseph. Please continue to keep the babies in the NICU and CT-ICU in your prayers.

Thank you and God bless,

Kenny and Mary