April 10TH - We Start Home Tomorrow

April 10TH -

Greetings everyone!

We went to Reid's dr. appointment today and we get to start home tomorrow. Because Reid's last surgery was on part inside the diaper he will not want to sit for a long time so we will be making the trip in 2 parts. Tomorrow we will travel to Post Falls ID and spend the night there. Prayerfully we will be on our way by no later than 11 in the morning. We are asking for prayer for traveling mercies. We will be home around 3 or 4 Saturday afternoon if all goes well. Thank you so very much for your prayers this week. Reid is healing very well and is growing like crazy. He grew 2 cm this last week alone. God is so good!!!!!!!!!


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Reid is Healing Nicely

Greetings everyone!

We just came back from Reid's Dr. appointment and she says things are healing very nicely. She will not need to see Reid until the 14th of May. So tomorrow we will go to the transplant Dr. appointment and then we will be on our way home. Keep us in your prayers. Thank you very much!!!


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4/5/08 - Reid Out Of The Hospital

April 5TH -

Reid was discharged at about 11:30 am Seattle time. We are now in the Ronald McDonald House. He has doctors appointments Wed. and Thurs. and then we will be heading home on Fri. if all goes well at these 2 appointments. He had a bit of a restless night and is really tired today.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Reid, Tami and Rikki


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4/4/08 - Reid Out Of Surgery

April 4TH - Part One -

Greetings everyone!

Reid is now out of surgery. There is no room on the floor so he is still in recovery. The surgery was 3 hours and there was a lot more to fix than the doctors had first thought. He is doing really well. The plan was that he would have to stay in Seattle until the 18th of April. Now it looks like we will be heading home the 11th. God is good!!! Prayers are still needed for healing but things are much better than the doctors first believed.

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April 4TH - Part Two -

Greetings!

Reid finally has a room. They got him settled and now he is watching Nemo with his mom. He is snuggled right up and sitting quietly. If all goes well, they will discharge us tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers and support!


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4/3/08 - Reid Goes Back For Another Surgery

APRIL 3RD -

Greetings!

This is a little note to let everyone know that Reid Peterson is back in the hospital for his 5th ( and final!!!!!!!!) surgery. He goes in tomorrow morning. Tami and I are in Seattle. The doctors say that it could take up to 2 weeks before we come home, but our God is bigger than that and Reid has been healing fast on all the other surgeries. We are staying at the Ronald McDonald house. We ask for your prayers and thank you for your support. I will try to get more updates as they happen.

God Bless!


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Super Trooper Diet

Well All,

We are home & doing good, but his allergies are difficult to deal with. So Tami & I are going to ask our wonderful blogger family for help w/ any recipes or favorite foods w/ out these ingredients. Milk, egg, soy, wheat, corn, rice, oats, peanut, flax seed. The main hitters. The immune suppression could be causing allot of this (we thinks), but these could taper off as we lower the doses. So pray for his little body to accept things as he grows. Thanks!

Back Home

Hello All,

We are back home. We left Seattle during rush hour & drove straight threw to Montana & got home around 3:30 am. Once we started driving, we only stopped to feed & change the boy & let him stretch. Hes doing fine. Tooting allot more too. Mom says he was a little fussy today, but doing good. So we are going to have a late thanksgiving & have fun w/ the family here & Montana also.

Thanks for the prayers.

Thankgiving Day

Reid ate a big normal breakfast of oatmeal & pears this morning & drinking watered down ginger ale. Went for a ride in a little red car stroller around the halls, daddy made him dizzy going in circles & ran over the Doc's foot. Crazy driver!

The nutritionist are going to do what they can to get his calorie count up, so to make sure he don't have to be sent home w/ a feeder tube. This might mean a Saturday morning discharge. Oh well, they know best, (grandma could argue that one). Ha Ha! So our little Reid'ster got to be a little piggy with the meals, hey what's thanksgiving all about! So when your shoveling down all the good stuff, be praying for the little guy to pack it away also! The Doc's also told us that we could be lowering his immune suppressant med's in the future to. And w/ his liver functions being "perfect" the possibility of no med's could be possible. Sounds cool to us. So Happy Turkey Day & see ya all soon!

Unpluged & Roaming the Halls

Reid got all his I.V.'s unplugged today. So he took a short walk, but after being off his feet for a week & feeling a little weak, he's got sea legs. A little wobbly. But his appetite is increasing so it looks like a Friday discharge if all go's well w/ the poohing & eating. So Mom & Grandma will spend Thanksgiving w/ the boy in the hospital & I will hang w/ our super host the Hatch Pack, (just for dinner).

Was just a little to soon to release him today. Gotta be sure. Lots of smiles & happy boy is back! It's so awesome to have a happy little boy. He has the most positive attitude ever. He should get a happy camper award.

Eating Some Food This Morning

Well, last night holding liquids down was a challenge. But this morning he is hungry & already ate some food. He wants a lot, but we can only give him little at a time. Not to over-do-it. Had some cereal & some carrots. He is very content & happy. Still waiting for him to decide that all this laying around is for the birds & want to start walking around. They are testing his last pooh he did today to make sure those bad bacteria levels go down. So if he keeps nibbling today we could be getting closer to going home. That would suite us all fine!

Drinking, Hoping to be Eating Soon

Reid has a lot of personality today. Lots of giggles & smiles & talking & singing. Woke up a couple time startled, not knowing were is was, or bad dreams (or gas). He threw up some of the juice he has been drinking today, nurses say that's common w/ intestinal surgeries after the patient start to eat & drink after the bowels being inactive for so long. Him & Mom got a bed in the room so they can watch movies together & snuggle.

Grandma is hoping he will be eating tomorrow, so he can have some more poop! So be praying for a healthy appetite. We go plenty of diapers.

The Diaper Prophecy has been Full-Filled

Hey everyone,

It's Sunday Morning a little after 10:00 and We have a messy diaper. The women are on the horns proclaiming the news. You would think this was big news, well it is! I rushed down from doing laundry to see, they already threw it away (Darn). Full, runny, messy & dark. Sounds like music to our noises. I can't wait till Mommy starts feeding him again, don't know when that will be, but I'm sure he's ready to tear it up again instead of feeling ucky.

So more good news, awesome thanks for your prayers.

Pray for "Tooter Rooter"

The Nurse's told Tami & Grandma last night that he had to pass gas before his little tube out of his stomach is removed. So when I came in this morning, they told me I had to pray for the boy, cause I got the gift also. We call him the little Tooter Rooter at home, so I think he manage this one just fine, being the fine young boy he is, with his dad's strong digestive history of... well if he's related to Grandpa, he got this task covered.

So strange as it seams, pray for a toot. Also a pooh would be out of the park also! He was up watching "little Joe" again, he is a lot more coherent now. But still tuckered out.

A Normal Day at Children's Hospital

Well, everyone is caught up on sleep, & Reid is resting more comfortably now. So we should have a normal day here at Children's Hospital in Seattle. He is off getting a lot of his I.V. removed from surgery. Already his little stomach tube that goes down his throat is starting to clear up. This is good, cause it's an indicator that all the icky stuff is flowing the right direction. The blockages from the scar tissue have probably been hindering things for a while the doc's say, including blood flow to the bowels. I'm hoping this may be the related troubles to a lot of his very picky diet. We have had trouble feeding him a lot of common foods. So again my hope is some foods that were a problem, may be O.K. I pray.

Moms so glad a lot of the lines are being removed, for when Reid starts waking up & starts to get his strength back, if he's half normal, he will be bouncing off the walls! Wait till he starts his "hey" when Daddy comes in the room. He yells "hey", Daddy answers back, "hey you mister" & it continues back & forth till he's at the top of his lungs or Mommy breaks it up. Mom says duck tape may have to used to hold him down (joke).

It's defiantly not winter here in Seattle, yesterday a group of people in the lounge were all watching a big rain storm blow in. I found this funny, this is exactly what Seattle does in the fall & winter, Rain, Rain, Rain! I was listing to the road report on my way in Wed morning during the 8 o'clock rush, they had their first frost. Cars were spinning out everywhere on the freeways & traffic was backed up for miles as they cleared the wreckage's. Shawnee says after living in Seattle for years, being from Montana, she calls it becoming a "west coast weeny". I think that's why there is no real freeways in Montana like here in Seattle, San Fransisco, Phoenix and such, the weather would only let them be open 6 months a year!

Well enough of the traffic report, we will hopefully get Tami out of the room while Reid is sedated from the tube change, to go eat breakfast. Here she is w/ Grandma & coffee, gotta go!

Came back from getting laundry detergent downtown & buying him some cute children books & the little guy is laying back watching a movie. Mom said he already watched the veggie tales "Little Joe" & was working on "Jonah". Incredible! He's still a little "out-of-it" from the pain med's, & puffy looking from all the fluids they give him. But it so cool. Go Super Trooper Reid!

Surgery Went Well

Good morning, what day is it? Tami let me know this morning how many days a mom can go w/ no sleep. I tried to wake her up last night after she went to sleep after surgery, she was out!

Surgery went well, only took 1/2 hr. It took longer for the prep before hand. They removed some scar tissue where they hooked up the intestine to the livers bile ducks, & a spot lower (what ever that means) where the intestine had scar tissue that was restricting the intestine like a rubber band around it. They fixed that also, didn't tell us how, its just fixed. At 4 o'clock in the morning you just nod your head & smile & try to remember the first 3 words the doc said, "surgery went well". Especially after you were told before hand what to expect & not to, and the worst case scenario to prepare yourself for. Surgery went well & was only 1/2 hr is like being translated, "fear not & let your hearts not be troubled"!

So recovery time, are we going to be home for Thanksgiving? How long it takes for his bowels to get ramped up & going is hard to say. They est. a week to 10 days hospital time, (moms thinking Reid will do it in 3). But again, Super Trooper Reid is going to do his thing w/ the help of God! He is sleeping very comfortably since the operation. We forget he was up longer than any of us w/ no rest! Poor little guy.

Mike & Shawnee are ready for whatever the Peterson's can dish out. I don't know if Mike has time to prepare himself for the "talk-a-thon" me & Mike S. could launch at any time if we're here through the holiday. Ha Ha. Just wait till Reid starts talking! Grandpa rolls eyes every time I say that, it fare too say even Garrett w/ his endless questions may have a run for his money.

Hope to be home soon, Thanks Tim for holding down the fort w/ out me at work. Jimmy may have to step-in & make coffee!

Emergency Flight Back To Seattle

We are back in Seattle again! Tami, Grandma & Reid flew in Tuesday night after Reid started throwing up some waste from a bowel obstruction. We thought he was fighting a flu bug, puking allot for couple days. He got a fever & we took him into the hospital, there he started to throw up the dark stuff. We knew this was bad because he had been on fluids only for two days.

So we are awaiting surgery late Wednesday night at children's hospital. They will remove the obstructions & any scar tissue that my be causing problems from his liver transplant. Allot of things could have contributed to the blocked bowels. The colon has all sorts of bacterias, some of the bad ones that usually stay in the colon are in his system. This can happen to patients on immune suppressants as Reid is. So They are going to fix him up. Dr. Horselin, who did the transplant will be performing or heading up the team. Cool! Pray for good results, They gave us worse case scenarios, but his track record has put all those to shame so far. He is still the Super Trooper Reid, & God is still Good! I think we will put Mom out during surgery, she has had no sleep for days, pray for her also.

Sorry to update the blog w/ troubling news. But these things in life make us stronger. Thank God for Seattle Children's Hospital & A.L.E.R.T. for getting us here quick. Will let everyone know how it all works out for the good to those who love the Lord! We know He wants to help everyone, not just us!

I'm 1 years old!

I'm one. I'm a BIG BOY! We have taken 3 trips to Seattle & I'm perfect they say. I'm down to only 2 meds & will be dropping one soon & be on the lowest dose of my anti-rejection med!

I'm a little chatter box, w/ my favorite words being MaMa, NaNa, NumNum, DaDa, PaPa & Puppy. I Bark also, along w/ lots of motor boat sounds & bubbles & singing. About a week before my B-Day I just felt like walking. Crawling was never an option, I still scoot allot on my but. But that's getting old to, cause I can pull my self up & take off like the wind blows.

I ate 5 containers of baby food last night, & w/ my 8 teeth I eat anything mommy gives me of her plate. I'm on a restricted diet though, not because of my liver medicine, but the meds make my skin sensitive to allot of foods, I get puffy lips & rashes like an allergic reaction allot.

Cars is my favorite movie, I had a Lighting McQueen B-Day cake! So see ya for know, watch out I'm the fast rookie on the track, cha chow!

Chidrens Hospital Check-Up went SUPER

Nothing but good news at our 1st monthly check-up for Reid at Children's Hospital in Seattle. We got there & our lab guy got the blood draw w/ one poke. The doc was so happy w/ Reid's progress, we dropped a med & will be dropping another April 5th. He'll need a little higher dose of one, but that because his diet has changed, because hes is eating so much food. He's sounds like Bill Murry on "What About Bob" when he eats, he makes noise w/ every spoon full. We also don't need to come back for another 3 months. Also labs will be only twice a week now, & doctor visits in town once a month. Cool, cool, cool! Mike & Shawnie were the only ones bumbed about the news, they have to wait longer to see the boy, once a month was barely enough for them. Reid gave Shawnie about 10 big kisses in a row last visit, was awesome.

He is so happy, Mom celebrated by taking him in the pool at the hotel on the way home. He loves the water. He loves to blow bubbles & make that spitting sound w/ his tongue. Needs a bib on always. Gives sloppy kisses to mommy & all the girls, won't kiss Dad much unless I just shaved. It's so cool, the reality of having a happy healthy boy is starting to settle in a little more each day. Can't wait for the weather to get nicer so the family can go around & show him off.

I'm a Big Boy

I'm home eat'n grits & get'n BIG. Mom gave me my first cereal this week, good stuff! even figured out I don't have to suck on the spoon to get-r-down. I'm 14 lbs 2 oz, got Arnold Swarteniger legs & chubby cheeks.

We'll that's what Reid would say if he could talk. He is doing great, Mom is like that Iron Will movie, "run longer - sleep less". But she don't complain, she loves being a mom. It's so awesome having a happy, healthy boy! Mom still gets stressed out when the weekly blood draws take a lot of pokes to get blood. Thank the Lord for a boy who so tuff. His scar is heeling awesomely. Mom left him w/ dad for almost an hour last night & the boy survived. So you know he's tuff. She came home just as I was showing him how to start a chain saw (JOKE).

Boy we are going to have to post more pictures of the little dude, he's going to be tearing up the carpet in no time. Went to pick him up in the crib last night, he was fusing, so mom could have a break. He wasn't as comforted as if it were Mom, but we will see how well he does on the next try.

So long for know, thanks all & more pictures coming soon!

Montana, here we come! I'm goin' home!!

WE'RE COMING HOME!

Oh, I can't wait! The doctors said we get to go home! I am so excited. Papa and Daddy are leaving Montana really early in the morning tomorrow and they are driving straight here. Then on Saturday, we will all start the drive home. We'll drive about 1/2 way and stay the night, arriving home on Sunday.

I'm still gaining weight. I'm now at 13 lb 11 oz. However, I still have to have the feeding tube. But Mommy says I won't have to have it for very long.

We look forward to seeing everybody REAL soon. Pray we have a safe trip home.

- Reid