Update

Elijah is doing great! His vision is improving daily. His motor skills both gross and fine are getting better. He loves baby food and is trying to use a sippy cup. He is a happy baby. I am sorry I do not update anymore, but please join my FB page. I am under Teresa Beck Ryan. I also have a weight loss blog teresasweightlossblog.blogspot.com. Elijah is in a baby photo contest. To vote for him, click here. You can vote more than once. There is a bunch of ads you have to say no to but it is worth it! http://lnk.gaphotocontest.com/lt?id=bdidaf-fgdida-efdfabbe&_erl=p=1855542^x=.jpg

Shunt

Elijah will have a shunt put in on August 12. I appologize the updates are few, but you can keep up better with my facebook page under the name Teresa Beck Ryan. Ask to be a friend and I will add you. My time is just very limited right now.

Getting to Work

Elijah has been doing well at his therapy visits. We start working with a teacher that comes to our house once a week that will teach him to play with his toys. We are excited about that. We have a cardiology appt coming up on the 16th and neurology on the 23rd. Keep Elijah in your prayers. The neurologist will check to see if the fluid around his brain has increased. If it has, he may need a shunt, so keep on praying! We start work on the addition on Monday, Lord willing. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are excited to get started!

Doing Great

We are still doing great. Elijah is improving on his vision and motor skills and his therapists are proud of his progress. Michael hurt his back so he has been out of commission a few days, but is back to work now. We are starting the process of getting ready to build the addition. If anyone has any building supplies or home furnishings they want to get rid of or sell cheaply, let us know. 662-582-5323. We have a Cardiology appt on the 16th and neurologist on the 23rd. Hopefully all will be well. I am now selling Premier Jewelry, so if you would like to host a party, give me a call! Just keep praying. We are doing all we can to make money, take care of the kids and keep everything going smoothly! Sorry it takes so long for an update. We still have dial-up!

Teresa

Therapy

We had his first therapy appointment today. He did really good and they were impressed with some of the things he was doing. We have been working with him and he is making improvements. Keep praying for contiuned improvement.

Cardiology Appointment

Elijah had his Cardiology appointment today and the doctor said he was improving well and he felt he would grow out of the heart problem. He also said we can stop all of the medicine he is on! Praise the Lord!! We are excited about his progress and are grateful for God's blessings.

Update

To the ladies in Florida...if you have the money and are serious, let us know. We could travel there if the work and pay were right.
As for Elijah, we went to the Opthamologist and he said the CVI was in the better end of the spectrum. But...we may also have optical atrophy, which we are not sure what that will entail. We will know more in 6 months at his check-up.
We will be starting his therapies this coming week and are looking at someone from the school for the blind to come out to work with his vision.
Continue to pray for us on the job situation. We will be starting on the addition and have faith God will provide as He always has.
Thank you for your prayers!

No Job

We just found out that Michael does not have a job, so that is our new prayer concern. If anyone knows of a job in the area, let us know. You can call us or email us: theweirryans@aol.com or Michael at 662-582-5046. Michael right now is also looking for renovation jobs. He works for himself doing roofing, repairs, building, pressure washing, painting etc. so please contact us if you would like some work done. He has really reasonable rates and no job is too small.
Thank you,
Teresa

Big Bubbas

Elijah with brother Benjamin

Happy At Home

Elijah Leaving the Hospital
We are doing well at home, still. We have signed up to start occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy soon, hopefully next week. We have cardiology and opthamology next week and high risk newborn tomorrow (Wednesday). We are busy! Michael will be going back to work on Monday, the 25th so pray that all works out. He has not been in to work since January 22. We are selling Pizza Hut cards and Parkway Baptist church in Kosciusko is doing another fundraiser at Kosciusko Wal-Mart on June 13 and we are having a yard sale on June 6 to continue raising money. Michael is doing the prep work on the yard (removing trees, moving storage buildings, unearthing an underground propane tank...) and we will start the addition soon. Elijah needs to start his therapy for his vision as soon as possible, and I am the one who will have to do it. There isn't a vision therapy available and he is already testing behind developmentally because of his vision problems, so it is super important to get the area built. We will do with what we have in the meantime and know that God will bless our efforts.

To the lady whose son is getting a GT...please email me at theweirryans@aol.com what you want to ask me and what you want pictures of and I will be glad to help in any way.

Once again, thank you everyone for your prayers and keep them up!!

At home

At home and doing great!! The G tube is not as bad as we thought it would be. It is a little time-consuming and we are still learning the easiest way to do it, but it has not stopped us from doing what we normally would do. We did well raising money at the May Day festival and have other things still coming up. Keep praying for us and Elijah.

Teresa

Home!

We are home in Mississippi!! Elijah is doing great and seems to be happy at home since he has had time to adjust. We are tremendously busy with doctor appointments, blood tests, paperwork and settling in, but are so grateful to be home. Keep on praying! We still do not know what the future will hold (as no one does), and there could still be bumps ahead. It's all in God's hands, though.

Teresa

Coming home soon!

The new update: He is on full feeds. I will be rooming in with him tomorrow (Sunday) and will be going home on Monday! Praise the Lord!!

Teresa

Surgery results

The surgery went well, actually taking less time than they thought and he immediately came off the ventilator without complications. He will be having his routine ultrasounds today and then will resume eating and will be up to full feeds in a few days. Keep praying! Hopefully we'll be coming home soon!

Teresa

Reminder

Remember, Elijah's surgery is today! Please be praying for him.

Bountiful blessings

Hello everyone! Many of you have heard by now my son is in Arkansas Children's Hospital. He has been there 3 months now and will have a visual impairment. I have created a website with lots of pictures to raise money for him. If you can donate, wonderful! Please include your name and address if you donate so I can thank you! If not, please just go look at the pictures. Especially send it to everyone on your email list. That's what I did! You may not even know me, but please give anyway according to how God leads.

Thank you,
Teresa Ryan

Surgery rescheduled

To update: We are home for a few days because they postponed his surgery until NEXT Tuesday. Keep Praying!!

Teresa

Surgery scheduled

Elijah is doing well, but has continued to spit up. So that he can eat and grow properly, they are going to do surgery to correct this. He will be getting a G tube, a temporary feeding tube that will go directly to his stomach, and had a valve you "plug" into to feed him. In addition, he will have a Nissen fundoplication which will take the top part of his stomach and wrap it around his esophagus so he will not be able to vomit. We will probably be going home about a week after the surgery. The surgery will be done on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. We are still waiting to get a time. Please pray for him during the surgery, however, it is a common surgery with low risk. This will make teaching him to take a bottle quicker and easier and we can do it at home instead of in the hospital. Continue praying for us.

Thank you,
Teresa

Photo!

Here's Elijah, doing much better. Enjoy!

Continued progress

Elijah is taking his bottle better now. He is allowed to bottle feed every other feed and is taking the whole amount. His sucking is much stronger now. Yesterday he spit up after every feed, but today they switched him to Alimentum and he took the whole thing and so far no spit up! His head ultrasound was stable without change. Keep praying we can come home soon. All we are waiting on is him to eat. Nothing else is keeping him here.

On the fund raising home front...We will have a booth at the French Camp May Day festival/Pioneer day where we will be selling special necklaces we made to represent his visual impairment and will be accepting donations. We have faith that God "will supply our need acording to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

To the lady who commented about the CNA certification: Could I have some more info? I am interested in doing that.

Teresa