Brad & Kodi celebrate 10 years

To celebrate our 10 years together, we planned this trip to Saint Lucia in the West Indies, southern caribbean starting two years ago, to renew our vows to one another. These past four years with Braden have been anything but easy, and as we plan to grow our family, it was time for us to renew our commitment to each other and reconnect before we bring another life into the world and our home. Raising a special needs child certainly has it's challenges, and raising a terminally-ill child is all that more stressful.

Divorce rate among special-needs parents is about 80%. Research shows that special needs parents also retain 50% more cortisol than our parental counterparts with the same caloric intake and exercise levels. So much of this seems unfair... but our situation has made us stronger as a couple, and we are resolved to make it through all this as a couple and not just individuals. We are blessed beyond expectation by raising our little man, and have incredible people in our life because of him.

So as we took off for the islands, it was very hard to leave Braden, and mommy was very emotional about it. But daddy drove us to the New Orleans airport and arrived in St. Lucia via Atlanta. The road to the hotel was very twisty and turney with lots of switch-backs and hairpin curves - after an hour and a half of that, mommy did not feel so hot.

We got things lined up for the vow renewal, enjoyed time at the pool, took scuba lessons, went on an ATV tour that got us incredibly muddy after a morning rain, rented jetski's, enjoyed a rainforest canopy tour, took a day-long tour of the fishing villages and grand twin mountains known as the Pitons that also allowed us to explore a drive-in volcano, sulphur hot springs complete with hot mud, a freshwater waterfall and grand mountainous views. Brad went on a few scuba trips, and we both enjoyed some time in a private beach cabana, got massages on our "wedding" day,and explored the other two resorts for dinner ventures. The island was simply amazing, and the people were very warm and welcoming, living up to their mantra "No pressure, no problem".

We hope you enjoy a few of the photos...
10 Years of Love (July 1, 2000)
Kodi & Brad

30th Admit

Sorry it's been awhile, but life is all crazy around here. We had Braden home for about 4 days, and then we couldn't keep his oxygen sats up... so we went for an admit and boy was it crazy! First, his port would not cooperate. 3 different nurses tried to access, and the third was at least able to flush the port, but it meant we had to start a protocol on the port known as TPA... it's an enzyme treatment meant to help dissolve the probable sheath that has formed just behind the port. The good news, is that the protocol WORKED!!

We finally got up to the PICU to address his respiratory condition, and the best news is that we got to finish his meds for the infections via IV, which has a quicker, stronger reaction to his infections.

We were getting so close to our trip, it made us incredibly nervous, but Braden reacted to the medication well, and he showed immediate signs of improvement. So we took the little trouble-maker home, two days before mommy and daddy were set to fly off to Saint Lucia.

So Latacia moved in with Braden... and we were off to St. Lucia!! More on our trip next post!