Surgery Successful, Hurricane IKE Looms

This morning Braden's procedure went very well, and without complication. They performed
a tracheostomy and a muscle biopsy. The tracheostomy is to help him breathe easier, by by-passing the areas of the throat that are low in muscle tone, causing a floppy and collapsible airway. He is paralyzed for the next few days, so that his surgery heals while in this critical state. He is on a ventilator for now, and in the coming days, as he is allowed to have movement once the trach "heals in" they will eventually try to wean him off the ventilator and see what he can do on his own.

The muscle biopsy was performed and will be shipped off to our genetic specialist at Texas Children's. The biopsy can often give results when a blood or dna test proves negative. It is a belief by his medical team that Braden has some sort of syndrome or something occurring at a mitochondrial level. Of course, answers won't be available on that for a few weeks.

We thank the many who have been praying for Braden today and continue to pray for us along the journey. His surgeries went well, and he looks really good and comfortable. Of course, you know Braden makes his own path, and while all the muscle blockers, pain killers, and sedatives he is on, he should be "knocked out", but not our Braden - he is peeking through his heavy eyelids, and occasionally opens them all the way, letting us know he is OK.

I had to share the second picture with you... this was on the door frame waiting for Brad the day he went home from the hospital after we had made the decision to have the surgery for Braden. We took it as a good sign - have you ever seen a tree frog SO BIG?? We are Fully Relying On God to take us through this next adventure and trusting in Him to give us comfort and peace. While we were nervous and anxious about the decision, today I feel peace about it and feel like this was the right thing to do for Braden.

GUSTAV - still only half of the city is back up to power, but in the next few days they will be down to a few isolated areas hit hardest with tree damage, etc. The additional 13,000 energy trucks only go so far to restore power to over 200,000 people left powerless in our city, and another 300,000 throughout the state. Restoring all those lines will take time - they are not tree excavators, after all, they are power folks. Brad came home to restored power yesterday afternoon, so I am sure he is enjoying the comforts of A/C again. However, as Ike looms over Cuba, we are not totally tearing down our prep set-up, in the event he comes our way to create havoc once again. Mainly, we are worried about the city not getting our debris piles picked up in advance of the storm, and all the broken limbs and stumps become flying projectiles in the path of another hurricane.

Thanks for the prayers and checking in on us, we will post again later in the week.
The Wilson's