We made it!

It's been a long day, but believe it or not we actually made it to Nashville. Cason's creatinine was down a tenth of a point and his ultrasound looked good, so our doctors let us go! We are still not sure what caused the upward trend in creatinine, but hopefully it will ease its way back down. We are exhausted but excited and thankful that we are able to be here this weekend.

Thanks for praying and for encouraging us with your notes and messages.

One step forward, two steps back...

It's been a roller coaster week, for sure. Cason went for weekly clinic at Egleston this morning and his creatinine is up again, this time even higher than last week. We are very concerned, to say the least, but we are trying our best to keep trusting God's will for Cason and our family.

We had a trip to Nashville planned this weekend, but it looks like we probably won't be able to go. We are heading back to Egleston in the morning for more bloodwork and an ultrasound to look at Cason's kidney. He will likely go through a proactive course of medications to prevent rejection of the new kidney just to be safe and there is a good chance that he will stay overnight. Depending on these tests results Cason may also need a biopsy of the kidney.

We're really bummed about all of this. It's frustrating because it feels like he is doing so well and then out of the blue we are hit with the possibility that his body isn't accepting the new organ. There's a good chance that his creatinine is up because of some recent nutritional changes, so please pray that it is something like this and not rejection of the kidney.

We'll update Facebook and our blog during the day tomorrow. Thanks for praying.

First Practice

Jackson had his first tee ball practice with the Orioles in Pike Co. on Tuesday! He has been so excited about playing and we think that it will be really good for him. He met lots of new friends and he was so cute running the bases, catching ground balls and smashing the ball off of the tee!

Going to the Circus

Saturday morning we took the boys to the circus at Phillips Arena. They were mesmerized by all that was going on! Cason loved the horses and Jackson enjoyed the elephants and tigers. We got to go down on the floor before the show which was really neat and we had a great day as a family.

The motorcycles were awesome!

Bonfire & Playing at the Maday's

After the circus we went over to Jeff and Gina's house for a bonfire. Jackson and Cason always have such a great time with their cousins. One of Jackson's favorite things to do is building a fire with Uncle Jeff!

Golfing

We took the whole crew to play golf at Raintree in Thomaston on Friday. Cason lasted about six holes and then was ready to go!

Update

Good news yesterday, not so good today. Tricia went to the doctor this morning and will be having surgery again next Thursday to repair the joint lining in her knee. I thought that it would be arthroscopic but he told her that he would have to make another incision in order to access the outside of her knee, so she'll be in the full length brace again for a few weeks. Hopefully this will fix it for good. Just one more bump in the road...

Good News!

We just wanted to let you all know that Cason's bloodwork came back and his creatinine is down today! Praise the Lord!!! It is still higher than when we were discharged after transplant, but the fact that we were able to get it lower with an antibiotic and extra fluids over the weekend means that his body is not rejecting the kidney. We are so thankful and really appreciate all of the prayers and sweet messages!

BG and Tricia

Creatinine...

We wanted to ask for your prayers this weekend. We know how many of you faithfully lift us up and we want you all to know how thankful we are.

After Cason's routine clinic visit at Egleston on Thursday our nurse called to tell us that his Creatinine level is up. This is the most crucial value that shows how well the kidney is functioning, so we keep a close eye on it. This high number could be due to anything from an infection (he has an ear infection right now) to dehydration to medication toxicity to rejection of the kidney.

Obviously our prayer is that we can treat Cason's ear infection and give him some extra fluids to bring his creatinine down and that we aren't dealing with something more serious. We will repeat bloodwork on Monday and, if this number is still high, we will have to do a biopsy of his new kidney to try and determine the health of the organ. Please pray that the number is nice and low on Monday. We are trying our best not to worry since we don't really even know what we're dealing with, but any time that this number rises it is a bit unnerving. We'll let you know how it goes...

Also, Tricia is scheduled to go back to the orthopedist on Tuesday to follow up after her cortisone injection. Her knee is still swelling despite cutting way back on her activity level, so I'm afraid that the next step will likely be another surgery to repair the leak in her joint capsule. We're obviously not too excited about that possibility but, again, we'll just have to worry about it once we know what our options are.

Thanks for praying!

Rainy Day Activities at the Blakely House

Instead of going outside today I hung balloons from our fan and then let the boys play "knockout". They both had lots of fun. Jackson enjoyed wearing the Incredible Hulk hands and Cason just liked hanging from the balloons. It was a great way to burn off some energy!

After playing balloon knockout we had lots of fun with shaving cream. We sprayed it on the table and then both of the boys enjoyed putting their fingers all in it. It was great! We wrote letters, made pictures, and some of us ate it. This is something I used to do with my 1st graders as a way to play math games as well as a way for them to help me clean my desk. We have had such a great day!

Extreme Gymnastics

This week Jackson started a gymnastics class and he absolutely loved it. Most of the kids are older, but he fit right in and joined the fun. He was excited to show Cason his new pencil jump and how to hop on one foot. It was a blast!