Thank you all so much for your prayers for Brooke this past week concerning her blood work. I was able to request that the blood be drawn and handled more accurately, and the results came back this week perfect. Her levels are right where they need to be, which also means that her drug dose is where it needs to be, so we are not able to reduce that, but she is healthy and that’s the important thing. She cut through her two top teeth this week and is starting to try and pull up on things to stand.

This afternoon we are heading down to an appointment with some orthopedic specialists to have her right arm/hand measured for a new splint/brace. She was just wearing her current splint during the night as it was so bulky, it restricted her from being able to do anything with it, and she recently figured out how to take it off – so it became pretty much useless to her overnight. The new splint will be made of a neoprene/wetsuit-type material and we’re hoping it will be a lot more comfortable and effective for her. They are custom made and will take about two weeks to come in, so we’re just hoping we get it back before we leave town.

We are currently planning to depart for Cincinnati on the 27^th of October. We have decided to drive, as there are so many things we will need to take up for the time we are not actually ‘in’ hospital – pack’n’play, stroller, car seat etc, and will give us a bit more flexibility. It is approximately 8 hours non-stop, but we are planning to break the trip up and do half on Monday and the second half on Tuesday, as we don’t want Brooke to be worn out right before surgery. We have some family in Knoxville (half way) that we are looking forward to staying with. We will have a series of radiation studies done on Wednesday, and then we will be admitted to the hospital on Thursday the 30^th, for Brooke to begin bowel management. The surgery will be performed on Friday the 31^st, the time yet to be determined. If all goes well we should be discharged sometime in the early part of the following week. We then plan to travel out of Cincinnati to spend some time with some good friends of ours who have offered to let us stay with them until Brooke’s follow-up appointment on the 14^th of Nov. We will travel back home that weekend, again, if all is well.

This week has been phone calls with different departments at the colorectal center, signing medical release forms, working on accommodation details and thinking through what we need to do before we go. This has been the ‘big’ thing on our radar since Brooke was born and Justin and I have both been watching it approach a little differently. I have wanted to know everything I can about it – I downloaded a photographic PowerPoint of the procedure to so I could see it first hand. Justin doesn’t want any surgical details – none what so ever J. Of course, we are both a little apprehensive, but the reality is, we know she will be in the finest operating hands that exist for this procedure and there is really nothing to think about or debate in our minds – it has to be done, we have the best doctor in the world, and all we can do is trust God that it will be successful. But we both know as we get closer to the actual date and the little things that send our memories back to our early days with Brooke – the smell of hospital soap, the beeping of the pulsox machine, the taste of a dry turkey sandwich – we will be more apt to be shaken. So we appreciate your prayers as we gear up for this next chapter in Brooke’s life. Thank you so much for going with us.

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