Its taken me a while to update on our latest trip to Iowa. Sometimes those trips are so mentally draining. We got back and I needed to just disconnect from anything medical for a week. We all needed the break. Carson has 3-4 appointments a week while we are home. That alone is so draining. It was so nice to have the last week off, no rushing to appointments right after school, balancing our evening craziness with practices, physical therapy etc. We were able to just be home with our babies! Much needed! 

Now, on to the trip... We met with Carson's team the week of Thanksgiving. He had an updated MRI and xrays. We started Carson on medication for pain about 6 weeks ago, but unfortunately the pain has continued.  We especially notice it at Physical Therapy, but we notice him sitting in weird positions, or getting really "fidgety" if he has to sit for long periods of time. We found out in Iowa, a lot of his pain he's complaining about is actually muscle pain off to the side of where the lesions are in his spine. This is something Jake and I both feel hopeful about. We can rehab that, we can get him active and help heal the muscles. We obviously cannot heal the missing bone and/or discs, but the doctors have assured us if we can get the muscle pain to subside he will feel better. With that being said, they did tell us it will be a long, slow process to recovery.  His MRI results were promising. The lesions are becoming lighter (again a slow long process, but they look slightly better) Unfortunately the bone loss has already happened and there isn't anything we can do about that. The Ortho doctor seems reassured that he should be able to function and have no major activity restrictions (other than major contact sports, like football- sorry buddy) He said he anticipates Carson to be able to rehab those muscles and hopefully proceed without surgical intervention. Amazing news!! We met with the rest of the team during our time there and we came home with several things to try, including some new medications. We are hopeful for healing! 

I think I can easily speak for both Jake and myself and say our biggest fear is the lack of diagnosis. We still don't know WHY this is happening to him or if it will happen again in another disc/vertebrae. Right now we are taking it day by day. Our next step is to go see a Geneticist, hopefully locally so we can cut down on our trips to Iowa.  Iowa has suggested we do a full genetic panel on him as many of these things will likely tie together. We have had genetics done, but it was a select test, not the full panel. This is a work in progress... 

Now onto the *FUN* parts of his trip. As we were driving in to Iowa we got a text from the wrestlers that we ran into last time. We ended up going to meet up with Steven, the Iowa student that we ran into in the parking lot back in August. Let me just tell you, this kid has been an absolute blessing in our life. He's brought Carson so much joy in a time that he REALLY needed it. Back in August we ran into Steven in the parking lot of the Ronald McDonald house, which also happens to be the wrestling facility/arena. We just ran outside for a charger in the car & Steven was leaving the gym. He could have easily just ignored Carson and left, but he didn't. He came and said hi to him and spent time talking to him. Carson asked if he could take a picture with him and from then on, Carson found a friend for life. We have kept in touch with Steven since then. To make a long story short, Steven connected Carson to Spencer Lee. For those of you not in the wrestling community, Spencer is an incredible wrestler at Iowa, You'll have to look him up! Carson has admired his strength after wrestling  & winning the NCAA Championship with a torn ACL. Carson has been dying to ask him how he fights through pain. Back in September Spencer and Steven sent Carson a care package full of Rudis gear. The smiles on that kids face were priceless. We have been missing that smile! Our first night in Iowa (now in November) Steven connected Carson to Spencer and Carson finally got to ask Spencer all the questions he wanted to. Both Steven and Spencer took their time with Carson and were so amazing. I absolutely love the lessons Carson has learned from Steven. He's talked to Carson about working hard and the  dedication it takes to be a walk-on. We are rooting this kid on and praying fiercely for him to reach his goals. He's taught Carson so much more than he realizes. This kid is just a blessing! He's humble, incredibly kind, hard worker ... he's everything we want our boys to be. I sincerely hope Steven's parents know what an incredible job they have done raising him.  Steven even took time out of his crazy schedule to go to a basketball game with Carson. Words cannot express how much that meant to him. Overall those highlights make these trips so much better for him. The appointments are HARD. Always having to make the drive up there, go through the emotional rollercoasters at the appointments are crazy, its just flat out hard. I LOVE that Carson has something to look forward to when we go there.  Words cannot express just how thankful we are! 

Overall it wasn't a bad trip by any means. We learned a lot, we just have a long road ahead, but if anyone can do it... its our STUBBORN Carson Jacob. I think back to 5 year old Carson... (or 7, 8 or 9 year old Carson) that would throw major fits after losing a wrestling match... That same kid now has to use that fight or flight mode to just fight this battle. There is a reason God made this kid so dang stubborn. 

Thank you for the continued prayers for our Carson! We are blessed with an incredible support system.  We love you all!