Kaiden Update

For all you pondering folks. Here is the updated photo's...

The Annual Tradition

So, we took our family pictures this morning before church. Actually, my brother came down and shot us all with a cannon. (That is a brand name you know...) Oh what joy and fun was had by all... The sun was playing games with our eyeballs and was wrinkling our faces into the same general shape of a prune... This is NOT one you will receive in the mail...

Update

Well folks, here is what we learned today. First, the Dr. was amazed at how well he has healed. "The way he has healed is a miracle." Is basically what she said. Second, if they decide to do a surgery it would be for speech purposes not for looks. The muscle in the lips goes from the lip to the nose, that is how wide it is, and is that wide for the entire circle of the mouth. If the muscle was severed and the scar tissue is to great he will have trouble with his speech. However, he is not drooling out of the injury which means his lips have healed well but also means it may not have severed the muscle at least completely. That was very encouraging. So, we wait. We are suppose to go back in six months for another visit. Hopefully in six months he will be talking or trying to talk and we will then know how much his speech has been affected. The overall idea we got was this: The Dr. doesn't think they will need to do surgery but she can't really say that. She was very optimistic. We were pleased to hear that she isn't worried about his looks. In other words, she isn't going to do surgery just to do surgery. She is more worried about his speech. Oh, she also said that the lips should start too relax now. It usually takes three months for the injury to reach it's worst point. If you notice his lips are pulled to the left. She is saying this should start to relax and in a year you may not be able to tell anything happened by looking at him. Time will tell. We are very thankful tonight for God's care and His healing touch...

Another One?

The Zehr Dwarfs

Updated Photo

Kaiden is doing so well. Here is an updated picture of his lips. I don't know what all I have posted but if you notice his lower lip is starting to pull back together. If you take the mouse pointer and draw a line where you think the lip line is you will notice how much lip is missing. The big question is how much of this will regrow without surgery. Nobody knows. The people we have talked to have never seen anything like this. His upper lip doesn't look as bad to me or not as deep. So, time will tell...

Updated Photo

We feel like he is doing better. The pain has definitely diminished. We keep wrapped up as much as possible. This keeps his lips moist and reduces the pain etc. He was very happy when he woke up this morning.

Kaiden loved riding around the unit in his little fire engine.

He received some balloons and a teddy bear from our church. Thanks! He loved the balloons, and the teddy bear did a wonderful job of distracting him while the nurse changed the dressing on his IV.

He spent some time looking out the window, lots of activity to watch. He giggled when I took him over there.

Kaiden is looking and feeling lots better today. This pic was taken this morning. The dr is saying he can maybe go home by Monday but maybe not til Tues. They will evaluate Monday. They are keeping him because of the risk of infection until the lip scabs, and also their is an artery in our upper lips, and if he would start to bleed it could be a big bleed. So we are just waiting for him to scab over basically. They are saying surgery won't be for a couple weeks. The good news is the plastic surgeon said she doesn't think his lower lip is going to need anything, but his upper lip will.
He is happy.. when he is being entertained... otherwise he is very buggy. He would love to get down and crawl around and explore, unfortunetly his mother won't let him.
He is supposed to be going to sleep, but is playing in his crib right now... His nurse decided to hold off on pain meds.. so he hasn't had any since about 5:00... he really doesn't seem to be in any pain.
Thanks so much for your prayers!

Kaiden

Another view.

Kaiden

I think this is still in ER in Lynchburg.

Kaiden

In the ER

A Truck Load

You can a haul anything with a dump truck....

Fish Feed

We were tossing bread out to the carp.... I thought this was worse then cramming cows into a free stall barn...

Kaiden

This is for you Joy. Thanks for your input in his life. Though it may seem brief to you and us, it is hard to put a finger on how much of an impact those two weeks with you had or affected his life...
Thanks again
Glen

Story Time

Kaiden James

Happy Boy

Kaiden has been fussy for the last week or two. We finally moved him into the boys room. He is getting more sleep now. Especially his naps. He used to be in the office and if we, I mainly, tried to do anything on the computer he would wake up. This practice would cause a certain amount of stress on the mothering department. He is happier now that he is getting more sleep. Anyway, here he is grinning happily at me... He is begining to giggle some also...