Last Appointment, Baby Dedication, and Tomorrow's Appt.

I finally learned how to transfer pictures from my cell phone to my website, YEAH!!! Taryn was nearing the end of her hospital stay in this one, but I just had to post, because we spent lots of time driving this car around the halls.
April 16th highlight of our return to Vandy Children's was finally getting to meet CHAMP, the hospital mascot. Taryn was all about Champ until I got her out of the stroller, and she wanted no part of Champ, then.
Grammy spoiling me with extra butter at the Cheesecake Factory; we were cracking up, because we haven't been to a meal with 2 adults and 1 child to spoil in a very long time. Grammy was saying people around us, probably thought she was the 1st and only grandchild.
Beautiful Baby Dedication

Okay, I have been a very bad blogger, and I am not even going to use the Mom of 4 kids excuse, so here is a quick update about what has been going on the last couple of weeks. On April 16th we received an awesome report from the Infectious Disease team that we could finish the PIC line Penicillin that evening, and they would remove the PIC line the next day as long as the Plastic Surgery team didn't need the PIC line access. So, we got the PIC line out on the 17th, and it is bitter sweet, but we don't have to see Dr. Williams and the team anymore.

Dr. Shack, the Attending Plastic Surgeon, was very pleased with Taryn's left foot, and he wanted us to continue the dressing changes, and give Taryn's body 2 more weeks to heal before he reevaluates. He said he would definitely be scheduling her for outpatient surgery at some point to "clean up her foot", but he is trying to be as conservative as possible. Taryn has adjusted she just holds her big toe up when she walks. She has a pretty good fall about once a day, because the big toe has alot to do with balance. We give her Motrin for the pain, and she is now sleeping better for the most part. We will leave in the morning to see Dr. Shack in Nashville. Please, pray that we will get a good report, and the Lord will heal her Piggy Toes!!!!

Sunday was a wonderful, blessed time for our family. We started out the day worshipping with my sister and brother-in-law at their church, Macedonia Baptist in Kuttawa, KY. They dedicated their children, Tristan (big sis), Thomas Ray and Taylor Lynn (brother/sis twins) in their church's 1st annual Child/Baby Dedication service. Then our family came to our church, Hardin Baptist, for the evening Baby Dedication service in which Taryn was dedicated to the Lord. Many times when Taryn was so critically sick I thought of Hannah, and how she must of felt about Samuel, and her promise to God if He gave her a child. Dave and I could not make it through the service without several teary moments. The Lord is Good, and I thank Him for letting us still have Taryn with us.

I am also asking special prayer for Gunner Gillespie and his family. Many of you know his story. Even though we have actually never officially met, our family is touched by their dedication to the Lord to carry them through this very difficult time in their lives. Pray that Gunner is Tumor-free, and they will rest this evening while they are awaiting to hear the results of his MRI that will be available tomorrow. Their website is http://www.gunnergillespie.com/

We've Been Home Over a Week

1st night at home and Bubba wouldn't leave my side
Having too much fun with Tylee

My favorite pose "Big Kissy Lips"

Hey Guys,

It is hard to believe that we have been home from the hospital a full week. Taryn is doing great!!! She still has an occasional low grade fever, possibly from her feet. We think she may be in the healthcare profession when she grows up, because she loves to play with the medical cart and pretend to hook herself up to a cardiac monitor. You would think after all she has been through that she would want no part of that. She is still anti-scrubs; she did not like her homehealth visit from the Physical Therapist, but the great news is she doesn't require any physical therapy. She is doing great with her PIC Line and IV antibiotics; she never bothers it, except to try and help us flush the line.(not real safe for an 18mth old) She looks so halarious running around with her little fanny pack of drugs. Dave now has another profession: nursing. I've taught him well, and we have been alternating nights, so Mama can sleep a few hours, too. We also were finally able to celebrate Tylee's 3rd Birthday at Grammy and Papa Ted's last Sunday night, and she just informed me she wanted to celebrate again tonight, so we did use her left over party plates for supper. I am also including some pictures of Taylen after she had just performed at the Kentucky Opry on 03/08/08. She already had plans to spend the night with her good friend Abby H., so she wasn't able to be at Tylee's party.

Please keep praying for Taryn's toes. We leave early Tues. am for appointments with her doctors on Tues and Wed. She really cries during the dressing changes, and we pray that we will continue to get good reports about her lungs and toes next week.

I just love Stephen Curtis Chapman's song, "Cinderella" It reminds me of how quickly our children are growing up, and they will soon be gone. Midnight can strike any of our families at anytime; I still just Thank the Lord for His Miracle of Life!!! When I look in Taryn's face I see God and the prayers He answered for us. We can take all of our concerns to Him, because He understands!! A sweet family sent us a card that said "He understands your pain, because He watched His own Son suffer", oh there is not even a comparsion of what Taryn went through compared to Jesus, oh how thankful I am for serving such an understanding God!

PS: I tried to load the song, but I am not too techno savvy, and my disc drive is giving trouble, so any expert bloggers out there I could use some help in the music area. Also, check out the two posts below this for more pics; they all wouldn't fit in one post.

In Christ,

Traci

Photos Cont.

Our 3 year old Birthday Princess
A very excited Birthday Girl
Happy about eating all that cake
I have enjoyed reading all my get well cards, and please be patient with Mommy she is trying to work on all the Thank you notes.
The Birthday party crew

Taylen receiving her check at the Opry "You go Girl!"
Posing for Mom afterwards
God is Amazing!!! 4 weeks ago today we took Taryn to the ER at Murray. She is sporting her IV Pencillin fanny pack with her Dora gown and she obviously just finished her raisins, notice her box in the floor.

Thanks to All...

Hello again everybody,
We have been home 6 days now and I would like to say we're sorry for just now blogging to everyone. It has been very hectic since Taryn came home, but we are very happy to be home. I have been working extra long hours at the new Outdoor Store to try and catch up and Traci has been dealing with keeping the IV antibiotics going for Taryn and trying to catch up around the house. Traci and I have been switching up every other night staying up to start and stop the IV medicines that the doctors have Taryn on. All-in-all, everything is wonderful because we are at the place we love, HOME!!!
I wanted to say a special thank you to all the doctors, nurses and staff at both Vanderbilt and Murray Calloway County Hospitals for all the hard work they all did to help get Taryn back to our family. We all know that God was the reason that Taryn's life was spared, but God is the one who gave everyone who worked on Taryn or worked with us the ability to do what they do. Our words will never be able to say or mean what our hearts feel because there are not enough words to thank everyone for their prayers, thoughts, hard work, and phine calls. It has been overwhelming to me the number of people I don't even know who come up to me and ask how Taryn is doing. WOW!!! THANKS AGAIN FROM OUR ENTIRE FAMILY TO EVERYONE, WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU ALL.
We will hopefully start to see everything get a little more back to normal over the next few weeks and it looks like Taryn will make a full recovery. God Bless Everyone, Dave

Home Sweet Home

Hello everyone,
We have not updated since Taryn came home Friday night. it has been pretty hectic and we have just enjoyed being at home. We are at Teddy and Teresa's house having a Tylee birthday party and a Taryn welcome home party. It is really amazing to watch Taryn walking around and laughing. God truly is awesome and His mercy is wonderful. It is also overwhelming when I sit here and see Taryn and realize that i am not dreaming. She is still with us after all we have been through. Let me just say that it is easy to try and be a "tough guy" and be strong but emotionally it is a true rollercoaster ride. God has truly changed our entire family's lives and He has opened up a new way to look at life. Life is about our relationship with Christ and it is also about FAMILY. Our family is returning to normal with kids screaming, laughing and playing. What a joyous sound to hear Taryn joining in the fun of being loud and happy. Thank you all so much for the hugs and tears at churc
h this morning. It is very nice to be home-sweet-home. Love ya'll, Dave

We are Coming Home!!!

Well, this day just keeps getting better. We just received clearance from all four of our teams, and we should be home tonight!!! We actually are going to be waiting on Daddy and Tycen to pick us up, because the discharge orders have just been completed, but they are on their way.
We are supposed to meet our home health nurse to start IV infusion between 8 and 9 pm tonight. Thank you all so much for all of the prayers, calls, visits, cards, gifts, and more!!!
We can't began to name each one of you, because during this roller coaster ride; we would surely leave someone out. It is hard to believe that less than 3 weeks ago our child was brink of passing away. As a mother it is hard to even say those words, but the Lord has given her back to us. Don't ever stop praying or trusting, because HE IS LORD!!! We are going to keep this blog open, because Taryn still has several follow up appointments with her illness, and then we will probably make this into our family blog. Thank you for taking this journey with us. We love each and everyone of you, and if there is ever anything we can do to help you in anyway including your prayer requests, please let us know!

The Power of Hope "Happy is he. . . whose hope is in the Lord his God." Psalm 146:5
The Lord will sustain us through life's trials. Hope tells us there is a day coming when we will know perfect and unending peace, joy, and happiness. Hope is not just wishful thinking. God can do and will do what He promises. (from book Promises of Comfort)

With much gratitude,
In Christ,
Traci

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to GOD with cries of joy." Psalms 47:1
One of the Surgical fellows just came and said the chest XRAY looked much, much better, and they would not be doing surgery, today!!! Of course, he has to sign off with the attending, Dr. Jensen, but I don't think he would come in here, and say we are not doing surgery unless, he wants to be body slammed, just kidding ha ha. I think that he thinks I am a crazy Mama anyway. I actually had drifted back to sleep between my last post, and he popped in, and gave me the good news. Of Course, I did a "Taylen Henry" said, "Yes!" with a little dancing.
2 Samuel 6:14 says, "David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, v. 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets." Dancing with Praises to our Father; who again has answered our prayers. Tera, I didn't have my linen ephod on, but I can move pretty good in my "Walmarks" jogging suit. I know I shouldn't have dressed up for the occasion, but I am about to wear my Walgreens clothes out, HA HA

Love you guys,
Traci
Dancing with JOY to the LORD

No Fear!!!

Well, they just came about 15 mintues ago, and did the big pictures. We told the XRay guy to take his big magic picture machine, and zap that fluid right out of that lung; he said he would definitely try. He was so sweet to Taryn. I always get a little nervous this time of morning, until we hear from the surgical team, but I turned on the computer, and notice in the top right corner the verse of the day. God always knows just what we need to hear, so I ask you to please continue to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, but also, we can have NO FEAR of the outcome today, because we know HIS PLAN IS PERFECT!!! Well, I can't stay on this computer, because I have 2 big brown eyes staring at me right now, so it is Cuddle Time!! By the way Auntie Kerrie she looks great in her new Dora PJs; we had to try them out after the big bath yesterday afternoon.

Trusting in Him,
Traci

Praise the Lord for Fits, Feet, no Fevers, and Friends

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Well, my dear, sweet husband left this morning to go home and get ready for the Grand Opening at the new store in Calvert, and I have to say we both were sniffing back the tears. There is just something about these April showers; well, our May flowers came a little early today. Praise report includes: Taryn drank 5 ounces of chocolate milk this evening, lots of snacking, no FEVER for 24 hours, and she is getting extremely active now. You know as a Mom you cringe when you child throws a big hissy FIT in church, Wal-Mart, etc. Well, we had 3 good FITS today, and since that is "normal" 18 month old behavior, I praise the Lord and welcome those fits. Tycen, she also has been everywhere with her "trailer". (That is what Tycen called his IV pole when he was in the hospital at this age) Tylee, Tate, and Taylen--she finally got to visit the neat train on 2nd floor that you all love to play with. We had another visit from our plastic surgeon team today about her FEET, and they reassure us that she is only going to lose the big toenail when all of her "shedding" is finished. Dave and I think that will give her a unique way to share the gospel when she is older and wearing all those cute sandals.

We also had the precious blessing of going to visit two of our FRIENDS from critical care, Mrs. Danielle and Mrs. Carolyn. They were so excited to see her smiling. Mrs. Carolyn kept smiling at her, and saying she is so tiny. Mrs. Carolyn and Mrs. Danielle were Taryn's nurses the 1st few days she was here at Vandy, and with all the medicine they were giving her she was definitely Mega Baby. I think Dave said she reminded him of Tatoo off the old TV show, Fantasy Island.

Highlight for the day: I got to give her an actual tub bath, and she loved it. It is just in a Mama's nature to scrub their baby and rub on all that good Baby Magic lotion. She got a little wild in the tub, and even though we had wrapped and taped her arm with a plastic bag; she managed to get water down inside. I was little nervous that we had gotten her PIC line dressing wet, but thank goodness it was just the outer bandage.

I just want to say that all of us have been blessed by the Lord with Taryn's miraclous healing; the journey is not over yet. We are requesting specific prayer that her am chest xray will be clear, so PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. If it is, than no surgery tomorrow afternoon. I will try and update briefly after I hear from the surgical team.

We have been granted a second chance with Taryn from God. When you tuck your kids in or send them off to school; never take for granted one single moment of their lives, because life is soooo precious, and it can be taken so quickly. But, you know what? He has given all of us a second chance. John 3:16 says, "For God so Loved the World that HE gave HIS only begotten Son that whoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." This verse is so precious it is the 1st verse that our kids learned, and I had the precious opportunity of Jonas Melber reciting it for me the other day. I can't imagine not being in heaven with any of my dear friends or family, and all of us have someone that we can pray accepts this Second chance the Lord has given all of us. So, my prayer is this: we will all share with family, friends, and strangers, about our 2nd chance!!!

I love you all and Goodnight!
In Christ,
Traci

Taryn update

Hey everyone,
Sorry it has been a while since I last updated. I left Nashville this morning and drove home to Benton. I went straight to work and did not have a chance to get behind the computer to update you all. I just talked to Traci and she was in the process of updating the blog for today's events.
I miss Traci and Taryn and worry about them being there without me, but they are in very good hands. It has been nice to spend some quality time here at the house tonight with Tycen, Taylen and Tylee. They miss their mom and lil' sis very much and I think we will all just pile in the same bed tonight and snuggle. Traci has big shoes to fill by taking my place as the "ultimate blogger". (Good luck hun!!!) :-)
To Traci and Taryn: I miss you very much and love both of you. God has blessed me with two wonderful ladies and I can't wait to see you both Saturday. God Bless, Dave

Taryn update

It is 12:40 p.m. and Taryn just got back from physical and occupational therapy. She did a good job walking after she got warmed up. The surgeons came in and the fluid had not gotten any better or worse. They have elected to take xrays again Friday morning to see how it is then. They really don't want to do the surgery unless absolutely necessary. Traci and I were fine with that decision and God is really teaching us the value of patience. Please pray over the next few days for the fluid in her lungs to get better.
I will be going home to Kentucky Thursday-Saturday for our grand opening at our new outdoor store. I really hate to leave Traci and Taryn here because it is hard work for Traci by herself. However, if they decide to do the surgery Friday, I will drive back down Friday for her surgery. I am looking forward to seeing Tycen, Taylen, and Tylee and seeing my friends and family back home. I wish we were all three going home, but Taryn will be here for a little while longer.
If any of you get a chance please comment on the blogs, Traci really loves reading them and hearing from everyone and maybe that will help pass the time while I am away. All-in-all, not great news, but not bad news either.
This morning while I was reading, I came across a verse from Isaiah 41:10:

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strenghthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

I know that God will take care of them when I am gone. Please pray for Traci and Taryn to be comforted for the next few days. God Bless, Dave

Taryn update

Good morning,
I don't have much to update yet this morning. We are still waiting to hear from the surgeons about the fluid. They came in at 5 a.m. and did the chest xray, but they said it would be late morning before we talk to the doctors. They just got done with her chest therapy and we will be going to physical therapy soon.
Dad (me) got a nice surprise this morning when Frank Wychek, the former tight end for the Tennessee Titans called my cell phone and said that he and his family have been praying for Taryn. My brother, Mike, knows him through a radio show here in Nashville. Celesa Cunningham should have been here so she could have spoken with him(she is a huge Titans fan). It is nice to know that people everywhere, even people we don't personally know, are praying for our family. God has truly blessed us through prayer from all over the place.
I will keep you all updated as soon as we talk to the doctors. God Bless, Dave

Taryn update

We are fixing to lay Taryn down for the night and she has had a good time playing before bed. She has to have an xray at 5 a.m. in the morning to check the fluid in her lungs. Traci and I are also a little sad because tommorrow is Tylee's three year birthday. We both want to be home with her and celebrate with her, but for now we will be here in Nashville. Tylee is with Grammy, Papa Ted and Tate and I'm sure she will have a fun day tommorrow. We miss all of our kids when we are away and we know they understand. Hopefully, Taryn will give big sis a big birthday surprise and not have to have surgery!!!
Please know that Traci and I really do appreciate each and every one of you all. We miss you guys and we will be home soon. Good night and God Bless, Dave

Taryn update

Sorry for the delay today,
We have been waiting all day to find out about the new fluid in Taryn's lungs. They did an ultrasound earlier and the surgeons just came by to let us know that they are going to do another xray in the morning to see if it is getting worse. If it is getting worse they will do surgery on her tommorrow. If it is getting better, we should be in good shape with just IV pencillin. If it stays the same, then we will have to decide what to do. If they do the surgery, Taryn could possibly be back on the ventilator for a couple days in the PCCU unit. Please pray very hard that the xrays tomorrow show that it is getting better. It will be a very stressful wait tonight and tommorrow, but we are being comforted by God through all of this. We are so glad to be where we are today rather than where we were two weeks ago.
On a negative, turned positive note: the PIC line they put in yeaterday quit working about 11 o'clock this morning. We were very afraid they were going to take her back down and fix it. However, they were able to fix it here in the room. The positive that came out of all the PIC line incident was that Taryn was not able to receive any IV fluids or foods from 11 a.m. until just a few minutes ago. Therefore, she is very hungry and is eating the first solid foods she has eaten since getting here(she did eat a few puffs late last night and drank a little milk Saturday, but this is the first time she has been asking for food.). We love how God turns a negative intoa positive!!!
I will update everyone later if we hear anything else tonight. Please keep those prayers coming!!!! God Bless, Dave

Taryn update

Good morning,
Taryn slept pretty well last night and she is still sleeping this morning. The surgeons already came in this morning and they are sending her down for an ultrasound before they determine which procedure to administer. We will not know anything for a while this morning so I'm sure it will be a stressful wait. The surgeons I talked with this morning said that the procedure should get rid of all the fluid and Taryn should feel much better after it is over.
We will keep you posted later this morning, but please keep those prayers coming, we really need them.
God Bless, Dave