Moose A. Moose

This is James' favorite song. It sung by "Moose A. Moose," the host of "The NOGGIN Channel." Make sure to watch the video. Every time Moose A. Moose comes on the TV James smiles real big, kicks his legs, and flails his arms. Enjoy!

"Everywhere I Go" (lyrics)

Days are the sunniest
Jokes are the funniest
Rabbits are the bunny-est
Hives are the honey-est
Elephants the ton-iest
Troubles - they're the none-iest

Everywhere I go!

Straws are the bend-iest
Time is the spend-iest
Cards are the send-iest
Books are the lend-iest
Fun's the pretend-iest
Friends are the friend-iest

Everywhere I go!

Berries are the fruit-iest
Shoes are the boot-iest
Puppies are the cute-iest
Treasure is the loot-iest
Teams are the root-iest
Horns are the toot-iest

Everywhere I go!

Birds are the tweet-iest
Candy is the sweet-iest
Socks are the feet-iest
Tricks are the treat-iest
Drums are the beat-iest
Lunch is the eat-iest

Everywhere I go!

Flowers are the smelliest
Jams are jelly-est
Rain's the umbrell-iest
Tales are the tell-iest
Wishing is the well-iest
Buttons are the belly-est

Everywhere I go!

Skies are the blue-iest
Cows are the moo-iest
Gum is the chewiest
Ghosts are the boo-iest
Goo is the gooey-est
You can be your you-iest

Everywhere I go!

O Jamesy Tree O Jamesy Tree, I Really Love Your Branches

Meet Dr. James R. Snowden II

This is a picture of James in his new wheelchair/stroller. He really likes it! Grandpa John is making a whole bunch of changes to it--I guess you could say that he is pimping James' wheel chair (is that an ok thing to say on this blog?).

James Update

I am happy to inform everyone that this past Sunday the elders at my church laid their hands on James and prayed over him for God to heal him. Kristal and I have just recently been talking about how we really wanted to see this being done. Well, the Lord answered our prayers. For those of you who are suspicious of laying on of hands: read James 5:14-15. Prayer is not some magic button, but God does answer prayer.

This past week James had to be put under anesthesia for about 4 hours in order to have some tests done. They gave him a spinal tap, an MRI, a hearing test, and they set him up to do an EEG test. Those of you who have followed these updates know that James has already had a couple of EEG tests. Basically the purpose of the EEG test is to see if James is having seizures or not. Because James has been doing things that seem so seizure-like, they wanted to keep an EEG monitor connected to him for two and a half days. Thank the Lord, he tolerated it well.

Today the doctor will be reading the results of the test. He will also be getting back to us soon regarding his spinal tap and the MRI. Pray that we would get good, confident news back from the doctor. His hearing test went well. The doctor said his ears work perfectly.

Also, many of you have probably heard of James' recent struggles with vomiting. He has simply not been able to hold his food down. This lasted over a month. Well, sometime last week the Lord supernaturally fixed James' vomiting. He hasn't thrown up for almost a whole week. This is such a blessing because we were starting to think that he was going to have to have a permanent surgery done in order to fix it.

The Lord has been good to us. Continue to pray for James. Thank you for persisting with us in prayer.

Rhyming: The Work of the Devil?

One of the things James has really grown to like in recent days is books. Unfortunately he is not all that interested in my books. I guess biblical backgrounds, hermeneutics, and Greek are not yet his "cup of tea." I guess there is always next year. Although he doesn't like my books, he is all over books like "Touch and Feel Farm Animals," "The Ox Cart Man," and his favorite is "Boats!"

The stupid thing about most children's books is that they rhyme. Because I am something of an annoying person (no commenting on this statement please), when I read to James I make it my goal to undo all the rhyming done in his books. I know what you are thinking, "What? You undo all the rhyming? Aren't you concerned about your son enjoying the book? After all, is it not the rhyming that makes such books fun for children?"

First of all, the theory which says that rhyming is what makes reading fun for kids has become highly suspect in recent scholarship. Ok, so maybe it hasn't, but I can say that James likes my unconventional reading style.

Here is how it goes--I will give you some lines:

"High boat; Low Boat; Fast Boat; Slow.
Boat by itself; Boats in a LINE."

Obviously, it was supposed to read, "Boats in a ROW." How stupid! Who writes these books anyway?

Want another? OK!

"Then all the birds began to sing
to tell the bears, 'Wake up, it's not winter any more.'"

This quote came from the book, "It's Spring." The Line was supposed to be read like this: "To tell the bears, 'Wake up, it's Spring.'" Need I say more? Do you now see why I am playing the role of a redactor?

My fellow fathers, I hope this adds some spice to your time with your children. The goal is to see how fast you can read the book while trading the rhyming words with other words that do not rhyme but are similar in meaning. Your child will love it if you yell the supplied word like moron.

Ok, so maybe i need to get a life or something.

No Fun Allowed!!

Exit Ivory Tower

Well, I finished my two classes last Friday. As I mentioned two posts ago, my missions class rendered me useless in every area of life. So, what have I been doing since last Friday? Actually I have only been doing three things: Sleeping, eating, and catching up on lost time with my bride and son. Simply put, I have done a lot of nothing and I'm not apologizing for it. After completing my courses I vowed to do no reading, writing, or thinking for one full week. As you can see, I am breaking my vow right now, but "Hey, ya can't win em all."

Anyway, I have had an excellent time with my family. My vacation lasts until Monday. Pray that my classes next semester are a bit more reasonable. Also, for those of you out there looking for a class on missions: make sure that the class you take doesn't expect so much out of you that you have no time left for... ummm.... what was it again... oh yeah... MISSIONS! Anyway, I am thankful that I am now freed up to do the most important things--minister to my family, my local church, and the lost in my community.

For those of you who don't know: The helmet James is wearing in the picture is to reshape his head. Because of his inability to hold up his head, and because of all the time he spent at the hospital James got a wicked (New Hampshire word) bad flat spot on the back of his head. The helmet helps reshape the head--he will have to wear it for a couple more months. It smells like a mixture between sweat, vinegar, and cheese. Not all the alcohol swabs in the world can take away the smell--oh well.

Enter Ivory Tower

If you haven't noticed, I haven't written in a while. Right now I am in the heat of battle with my classes at seminary. My "Introduction to World Missions" course has been sucking every spare minute of my life away. I have never had a class that has expected so much work out me. I have literally given up every aspect of my life to merely do the minimal work for the class. I have never had a class that has pulled me away from what is most important (family, ministry, etc.) as this one has. I have been studying from 8 am till 10 pm, Monday through Saturday (Ok, so I don't go straight through: I take a 30 min break for lunch and an hour break for supper). The good thing is that I have learned a lot. But, as a result, I have not been writing much on my blog. This class will be over in less than two weeks--until that time I will not be very regular in my writing. In the meantime I will be putting up pictures of James and stuff like that (I know, thats the main reason most of you come here anyway.)

Please pray for me during these next two weeks. Pray that the Lord would give me supernatural ability to get all of my work done on time--pray that I would produce quality work. Most of all, pray that I would retain it and that it would be useful for ministry in the future. Pray for Kristal as I am not able to help much with James. Pray for Kelly (my mother-in-law) as she is having to pick up where I cannot help.

Also, James is doing really well. Please continue to pray. He is starting to get congested and is throwing up again. We are praying that he is not coming down with RSV again (the doctor said it was a possibility). Aside from all of this, he is really progressing. Kristal has been working with him a lot lately on his motor development. She is such a good mommy.

Anyway, pray for me as I enter my theological ivory tower divorced from the world, family and ministry. I have already been in the tower for a few weeks and cannot wait to get back to normalcy.

An Update on Ol' Poopy Pants

For those of you who are still waiting for another update on James: He is now out of the hospital. We left at 8:00 pm Wednesday night. James is doing really well. His congestion is much better and he is back to his smiley self. The only thing in need of prayer at this point is his eating. For a while there, he wasn't able to eat anything without throwing it up. Right now he is eating a little over half of what he was eating before he was sick. We are increasing his feeds little by little everyday, but we have to go slow with it because he struggles with holding it down. Pray that he would continue to increase to where he was before he was sick. Also, pray for him tomorrow: Kristal is going to start trying to feed him orally again tomorrow. He absolutely refused to eat orally while he was sick (we fed him solely through his g-tube). Pray that he learns to enjoy eating orally again.

The Lord has been so good to us. The Lord clearly did a miracle on Tuesday night. When Kristal and I went to bed he was in desperate need of oxygen and an IV. Well, when we woke up he was breathing 5 percentages better without the oxygen than he was the night before with the aid of oxygen. Thank you so much for your prayers. Both Kristal and I have learned so much through our trials with James. We had a couple lengthy conversations about what the Lord has been teaching us through our struggles. Both of us are encouraged more than ever. We serve a faithful God.

DJ Jazzy James

The Lord has been good. Last night when we went to bed we lamented the fact that we would probably not be leaving the hospital for a while. Well, this morning when we woke up the nurse came in and told us that they took James off his oxygen early this morning. They still have the tubes in his nose just in case, but his breathing is much better.

About 15 minutes after posting yesterday, the doctor decided it was time to put an IV in. They did not want him to get more dehydrated and thus go further backwards. Well, the IV is still in, BUT James has been holding his food down really well. He hasn't thrown up since last night around 8 pm (and his 8pm barf fiasco was on the smaller side of things). The doctor just (as I am typing this) came in and informed us that they are going to start trying to feed James 3 oz (about 1/4 of a can of soda) every 3 hours. She said if he can keep 3 oz down without throwing any up until this evening, we might be able to go home.

Since we have been to the hospital James has not cracked one smile (which is unlike him). Well, this morning he has been smiling all over the place. He is much more awake and energetic.

Things seem to be looking up for DJ Jazzy James. We are not sure when we will be leaving, but we are hopeful that it will be sooner than later. Please continue to pray that James would continue to fight through this nasty RSV.

Also, they took another x-ray of his chest and his lungs were Kristal clear (haha)--no more pneumonia.

Heck, what do you know, God does answer prayer. I guess it is not a waste of time getting on your knees praying to the invisible God. Hmmm... I guess his promises are true.

Well folks, continue to pray. Continue to sick God on James--He seems to know how to deal with that "untreatable" monster, RSV.

James Update 2/05/08

Well, as of Sunday, James' pneumonia and RSV was not getting any better, so they decided to admit him to the hospital. It is Tuesday and there is no end to our hospital visit in sight. Here are some things you can be praying for:

-James is on oxygen right now, because the RSV is making his breathing labored. When he falls asleep and relaxes, his oxygen saturation goes down too low. If his oxygen saturation numbers do not rise we cannot go home.

-James is not able to hold anything down. As soon as we put something in his belly, he throws it up. His diapers are starting to be noticeably drier and drier. Pray that he does not get dehydrated to the point of needing an IV.

-James is extremely hungry and so is crying every moment that he is awake.

-Pray for Kristal and I (especially Kristal--she never gets a break from him) that we get some sleep. James has been up in the night because of hunger.

-Pray for me as I continue to try and get all my school work done. I was thankful that I met my reading goal yesterday (Yes, I make school work goals every morning when I get up--yep, I'm a geek). But I think things are going to be much more difficult today, because James is not sleeping as much as he did yesterday.

-Pray that the Lord would open opportunities for us to share the gospel with the nurses and doctors.

-Continue to pray for my parents in their moving and job situation.


Thanks for persisting with us in prayer. Kristal and I are both extremely exhausted. I think the both us are starting to get somewhat tired of hospitals. Pray that we would embrace the work the Lord has for us. Apparently we haven't been busy enough about mixing among the people of our community letting our light shine in the darkness--God has a way of getting us where He wants us. We are thankful for whatever reason the Lord has us here. But, we are also ready to go home. This hospital visit has been extra difficult, because it is the first visit where I have had to continue my schooling while we are here. This effects both Kristal and I. It effects Kristal because I cannot be a helping hand. It effects me because it is hard to not be a helping hand. I am thankful for my mother-in-law (Kelly). She has come up to the hospital to help out. Anyway, keep praying. The Lord is mighty to heal.

Oh, do you like the picture. Those are his new ear muffs. He gets overstimulated by loud sounds easily. Actually, they are to muffle the loud ramblings of our pastor--Moe. Haha.

Prayer Update 2/1/07

Time for a James update:

We had to take James to the doctor today because he had a 101.8 degree temperature. Last night he started throwing up and was having troubled breathing.

The doctor took an x-ray of his lungs to make sure he didn't get anything in his lungs while throwing up last night, and she also sucked some boogers out of his head to see if he has RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus). Well, leave it to James: He's got both--he has pneumonia and RSV.

The pneumonia has not had time to get very bad and so will be easily taken care of with the help of antibiotics. The RSV is untreatable. The doctor said that some kids with RSV are hardly effected by it all--the only symptoms they get are a snotty nose, congestion, and a cough. Other kids, however, are much more effected by it--the Doctor said that some kids with RSV spend up to 2 weeks in the hospital. The main concern is that we do not want the congestion to get so bad that it makes breathing difficult.

Please pray for James and both his pneumonia and RSV. Pray that he does not become severely effected by the RSV. We are thankful that he is not in pain--he's just lethargic and coughfy (new word--chalk me up).

Also, continue to pray for my parents. My dad is really not doing well health wise. His medical problems are not emergencies, but he is very uncomfortable. He has a blood clot in his arm and a kidney stone surgery in about 2 weeks among many other things. Also, pray for my parents as they look for a place to move. Pray that my dad finds a job.

Thanks for persisting with us in prayer.

Baby James Prayer Update--1/18/07

It has been a few weeks since I have done an update on James. You can see the hose part of James' g-tube in the picture. If you can't tell, he was being fed when the picture was taken--hence the syringe full of formula.

1. Praise the Lord! James' EEG test results came back and there was absolutely no seizure activity. This was a huge answer to prayer.

2. Praise the Lord! James had a vision test and everything is normal.

3. Praise the Lord! James is growing now that we can feed him through his g-tube.

4. Continue to pray for James' motor development--he is still way behind. He is making little, yet noticeable progress every week (except in the area of eating orally). James' therapist and doctors fit him to an adaptive chair to specifically help his motor development. Be praying that it comes in faster than it usually does. They told us 3-6 months.

5. James is really starting to come out of his shell. He is such a joy to have around. He always laughs. He is much smarter than I thought--he thinks I am the funniest of all. He takes after his father--good discernment.

6. We are looking into getting him a helmet to fix his flat head. Pray that the Lord would give us discernment on this.

7. Praise the Lord! James is FINALLY letting Kristal and I sleep through the night.

8. James' neurologist wants to do another MRI of James' brain. He also wants to do another spinal tap, blood work, and urine sample to continue to make sure that they haven't missed something. They also want to do a hearing test. We do not know when this will happen. Be praying because they will have to sedate him to do all these things.

9. Pray for my parents. My dad is having a lot of health issues (kidney stones, numbness throughout his body, sleep apnia, etc.). Also, my dad is looking at getting a new job. The economy in NV is so poor that the fencing industry has almost stopped. They are looking at jobs in both the Seattle, WA and the Phoenix, AZ areas. Pray that the Lord would grant him a job that both pays well and is easy on his body. Pray for them financially as it is expensive to move. Also, pray for my mom as she is taking care of my 15 year old cousin.

God has been so good to us. Thanks for your persistent prayers.

James Update 1/3/07

An important update: James has been doing some things that made the doctors think he might be having seizures (if you have been keeping up with James' progress you will know this). Because of this, they hooked him up to a take home EEG unit (thingy). Well, an EEG reads the electric impulses of his brain. It can detect seizure activity. A standard EEG test lasts about 20 minutes or so. James already had one of these and the results were normal. The doctors thought it was necessary to have him put on a 24 hour EEG test to get a more thorough examination. This is a necessity because the EEG can only detect the type of seizure they presume he might be having in the exact moment he is having it. Thus, they sent us home with a mobile EEG unit (thingy). We just had it taken off yesterday. Be praying the results come back normal.

The EEG was absolutely inconvenient. His head was completely wrapped in gauze, because the EEG is merely a bunch of long, skinny wires glued to his head. Without the gauze he looks like a machine man. If they didn't gauze his head up, his hands would be so entwined in the mess of wires that not even the jaws of life would get him out.

Before getting the EEG on his head, we had an appointment with the infant developmental team. The meeting was both informative and a bit challenging. It was informative because Kristal and I feel like we know more about James and his needs. It was challenging because both of the doctors on the developmental team spoke with us about James' progress down the road.

Up to this point the developmental doctors have been telling us, "All kids with brain injuries heal differently from their specific injury. There is no way to predict how James is going to jump back from the injury he incurred as an infant. There is nothing we can do but to wait for James to call the shots. James is at high risk for severe motor skill disabilities. We are not sure how severe his disabilities will be, but we know that he will have them."

Well, James is almost 9 months old now and so the doctors on the developmental team are beginning to see exactly how his brain injury has impacted him. As of right now, they are convinced that James' motor skill inabilities are going to be more on the severe side.

This came as a sort of a "rude awakening" for Kristal and I. It is one thing to hear the doctor say, "Your son is at high risk for severe motor skill disabilities." it is another to hear, "Your son is now showing us that he does and will continue to have sever motor skill disabilities."

They are not sure what aspects of James' motor skills will be effected severely, they just know that he will struggle for the rest of his life. Right now they know enough to tell us that his brain damage has impacted him greatly, but they do not know enough yet to tell us precisely where it will effect him the most.

They confirmed that his problems with eating, his inability to hold up his head consistently, his inability to roll over, his inability grasp toys, and his inability to hold concentration are not the result of getting a late start, these things are the result of his brain injury. It is not as if James is too fat to move, or that he is not motivated to grow developmentally, it is that he has had brain damage, which is effecting almost every aspect of his motor development.

The doctor said, "James' issue with holding up his head and eating are not going to be fixed over night. He is not going to merely just learn to do these things--his brain injury is preventing him from doing these things."

One positive thing that the doctors told us is that James' cognitive abilities will not be greatly hindered. The doctor said, "James' ability to reason etc. will be essentially normal. He will probably have missing pieces here and there, but will have normal reasoning abilities, for the most part." This was encouraging to hear.

The developmental doctors are also concerned about his hips. One of his legs seems longer than the other. They are concerned that his hip may not be forming correctly. We are going to look further into this.

James' physical therapist (who is really cool) is looking into getting him some adaptive equipment. Adaptive equipment is designed to help people with disabilities cope with life easier. He will be getting a special adaptive feeding seat, bath tub seat, and things like this.

Although much of this news sounds a bit scary for us, we are happy to at least know where we are heading and how to take care of him.

Yesterday we had to take him back to the hospital to get his EEG unit (thingy) taken off. We were away from the house from 11 am to 8 pm. James did super well. This is the longest he has been away from the house since he went to the hospital before Christmas. He is getting much easier to take in public. This is a huge blessing.

We know that God is super huge and super compassionate and hears our every little prayer on behalf of James. We pray expectantly, knowing that God will only do what is best for His glory and our growth. We know that God is in the business of playing "April Fools" jokes on doctors. Considering the fact that He is infinitely powerful and infinitely compassionate, we know that it would only be for an infinitely good reason that God would not heal James from his brain injury.

We thank the Lord for giving us James. The Lord has already used him in more ways than we can count.

Rockin Into 2008

Here is a picture of James on his new Rocking Moose.

James Home From the Hospital Part II

I just wanted to let everyone know that Kristal and I decided to keep James off the monitor last night. We plugged him in before going to bed and he tripped the alarm almost immediately after doing so--we knew that we would get no sleep if we kept him on it. We were a bit nervous about keeping him off it, but before going to bed we prayed that the Lord would protect him as He has since the day he was born. Anyway, the Lord was good to us to keep James safe last night. James did wake up in the middle of the night because of pain from his g-tube surgery. We gave him some Tylenol, fed him, and sent him back to bed.

We took his Holter monitor off about 2 hours ago and I just went to the post office to send it back to the hospital. Pray that this helps the doctors better diagnose him.

It was such a blessing this morning to be able to get food in him even when he didn't want to eat. We are so thankful for the g-tube. Please please please continue to pray that he continues to want to eat through his mouth. We love that we have the g-tube as a cushion to feed him when he won't eat, but ultimately we want James to eat enough orally to sustain himself.

That's all I have for an update.

Thanks for praying.

James Home From the Hospital

Sorry I haven't updated for so long--I have been sorta busy--sorta. Well, James was discharged from the Hospital today at 5:30 pm. It is so nice to be home. Thank you all so much for praying. I will give a brief rundown of what happened and what the doctors are telling us.

1. In regard to the g-tube: James got had his g-tube surgery on Monday and everything went really well. He experienced a lot of pain on Monday, but now is doing much much better. It has been so nice to use the g-tube. He is full now all the time and seems to be so much happier. Continue to pray that James continues to eat orally. He ate a large amount through his mouth on Sunday, but has not eaten much orally since. Pray also that he does not get an infection from the g-tube. Over all, we are super thankful that we decided to put the g-tube in.

2. In regard to seizures: They did an hour long EEG to see if James was having seizures. The good news is that the EEG suggested that James is not having any seizures. However, the EEG only tested James' brain activity for the span of an hour. We are going to talk to our neurologist, who is now on vacation, about having a 24 hour long EEG just to make sure that he is having no seizure activity. We have an appointment scheduled with our neurologist on January 15. We are also going to discuss the possibility of taking him off his valium again in order to better detect seizure activity while hooked up to the EEG. We are not yet sure if our neurologist likes this idea or not. They are not sure if James' low heart rate was seizure activity or not at this point. It is still a possibility to them, but they seem to think of it as a super small possibility. They are still concerned the starring spells he has been having while awake--we will be talking to our neurologist about this as well.

3. In regard to his low heart rate: They are not sure what caused James' low heart rate. They all agreed that Kristal and I did the right thing by bringing him to the emergency room. They think his low heart rate could be one of four things:
A. Seizures--I've already discussed this above.
B. Abnormal heart rhythm--We had an EKG to test his heart rhythm etc. The test came back normal, which is good. The cardiologist said that the right side of James' heart seems to be a bit weaker than the left side. They are going to do some more tests this coming Monday to make sure that this is not the cause of his low heart rate. The cardiologist was confident that although the right side of his heart seems to be a bit less strong, it is not so much weaker that it would cause great problems. We are going to be doing the further testing just to make sure. We are thankful that the Cardiologist is going above and beyond just to be safe. The Cardiologist also sent us home with a Holter monitor. The Holter monitor records James' heart activity for a 24 hour period. They put him on it this morning at 9:30 and so we will take it off tomorrow at 9:30 am and send it in the mail back to the doctor. He will read the content of the Holter monitor sometime this or next week. This will provide him helpful information in assessing James' heart.
C. Reflux--All of the doctors have suggested that James' low heart rate could be the result of acid reflux that irritates some nerve in the esophagus which causes the heart to temporarily beat at a lower rate. They are not sure if this is what it is or not, but they all think that it is a good possibility. Kristal and I are not necessarily sold on this possibility, because he has been on acid reflux medicine for a long time now. But anyway, who knows.
D. They are not sure--Ultimately they are not sure why his heart rate was so low. We still have some tests to take to exhaust all of our options.

4. As of right now they seem confident that although James heart rate was abnormally low that there is nothing for us to worry about. We feel satisfied knowing that the Doctors truly are doing everything within reason to find out what is causing his heart to have such a low number of beats per minute.

5. If you read this tonight be praying for Kristal and I, because they have not yet had the chance to change the alarm settings on the monitor that detects his heart beat and oxygen saturation. We are confident that James will be tripping the monitor all night tonight, which means we are stuck with the option of staying up all night or having him go to sleep without the monitor on him--we don't like either option. If James does keep tripping the monitor we will probably just turn it off so we can get some sleep. But we are not sure yet what we will do.

6. The doctors really want us to keep him on the monitor. They suggested that we take him to the emergency room if his heart beat is consistently in the 50 beats per minute range, or if his oxygen saturation goes down. They told us not to worry about his heart being as low as 60 beats per minute so long as his oxygen saturation remains at a high level. Pray that we have no more emergencies with his heart rate.

7. Thank you all so much for praying for Kristal and I. The Lord was very good to us to give us excellent health care. We had excellent doctors and nurses while up at Darthmouth. All of the doctors were compassionate. We were thankful that they all told us that we did the right thing by taking him to the emergency room because of his low heart rate. We are also thankful that the g-tube surgery went well. We are also thankful that we can now continue to keep James nourished even when he doesn't want to eat.

The Lord is so good to us. Hopefully I can write some of the stuff Kristal and I talked about while at the hospital. Each and every trial is a blessing from the Lord. They are not fun, but they are so effective to produce Christ-likeness in us when we let them do their work on us. We love Jesus. Pray that the Lord would continue to draw us closer to Himself. My friends, endure your trials with joy. Don't get masochistic, but endure them knowing that they are useful to draw you close to the infinitely glorious King. Pray for us that we would continue to have a biblical view of suffering no matter how bad times get.

James to the Emergency Room

Please be praying for James. Last night we had to take him to the emergency room around 11 pm and are still at the hospital.

Here's what happened: We hook James up to a machine that detects his heart rate and the percentage of oxygen in his blood. This machine has an alarm that goes off if his heart beat gets too low. Well, the alarm kept going off last night. This happened a few months back and we brought him to the emergency room--they told us that babies have low heart rates so to not worry abou it. Well, his heart rate continued to plummet last night and at one moment it hit 55 beats per minute, which is 25 beats lower than the alarm settings. We tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't wake up. It took a good 40 seconds of rubbing and talking to him to get his heart beat back to the safe zone. I called 911 during this time. By the time the ambulence got to our house he was fully awake and crying his head off.

They took him to the emergency room. They put an iv in him because he was dehydrated, took some blood, and analyzed the data. Right now they are concerned that James is having what is called "Silent Seizures." Silent Seizures are seizures that cannot be detected. They are going to send him up to a different, more-specialized hospital (Darthmouth Hitchcock--the same place he went after being born) in order to do an EEG to see if he is having seizures.

We are going to be leaving from this hospital (Concord Hospital) in a few hours and will be up at Dartmouth until, Lord willing, Tuesday. As you already know, James' surgery to put in his g-tube is scheduled for Monday. They are still planning on doing the surgery.

We thank the Lord that Kristal went against the advice of the Doctors and continued to hook him up to the machine that detects his heart rate. If she did not continue to do this, we would not have been able to tell that his heart rate went so low.

We are also thankful that they put an iv in him, because we have been concerned about him going into surgery dehydrated. In regard to James' iv: He has already been stuck 6 times with the needle to get an iv into him. He is going to be on an iv until Tuesday and so will possibly have to have the iv moved a time or two more. They are having a hard time finding and hitting his viens (as Kristal was concerned). Pray that his veins hold out so that he can continue to be hydrated throughout his surgery.

Also, be praying that the doctors would get to the bottom of what is happening with James. Pray that they come to a solution. Pray that if he is have seizures that they are not harmful to him.

The Lord has been so good to us to give us hospitals. He has especially been good to us to give Kristal such a sensitive motherly instinct. I am so very proud of her and her boldness--she knew that the doctors would see her as an overly protective mother if she called 911, but did it anyway knowing that James' issues were bigger than they were made out to be.

Praise the Lord! James' primary care doctor just came in and said that Dr. Morse, James' neurologist, is on call this weekend! This is a blessing because this means that they will be able to look into this suspected seizure activity once we get up there, Lord willing.

Pray that James gets rest. Pray that the Lord provide him comfort--he is pretty uncomfortable right now. Pray for me, I got about 1 hour of sleep last night. Pray for Kristal, she got about 10 minutes of sleep last night.

Thank the Lord that I am finished with school for the semester. I have no obligations and so am able to devote all my time to Kristal and James at this point.

I will be keeping everyone updated via this blog. As soon as we find out anything more, if I am able to grab a computer, I will update.

Last night, Kristal rode with James in the ambulence and so I drove myself to the hospital. In the car on the way to the hospital the Lord put it on my heart to belt the song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." I think I added a verse: "He's Got James' Health in His Hands." Why on earth would anyone find any comfort in the thought that God is not absolutely in control of all things.

Surgery on Monday at 11 am

Kristal just scheduled James' g-tube surgery for Monday at 11 am. We have to get there early to put an iv in. Kristal, the phlebotomist, says that James' veins are really small and hard to find and that they will be smaller and even harder to find because he has been eating and drinking so little. Pray that getting the iv in will not be an issue. Also pray that James does well with the surgery--he is already weak and not eating which could cause complications in surgery.

James will be in the hospital overnight and we will be staying with him in his room.

He will have the slinky hose like g-tube for 4-6 weeks and then we will get to switch it out to a Mickey Button.

The doc said that there is a 15% chance of James getting an infection in the stomach wall during surgery.

We are going to try our hardest to lay low and protect him from stimulation before his surgery. He is not really in a good spot health-wise to be having surgery so really be praying.

James into Surgery

Thank you all for diligently praying for James. Yesterday he had a doctor appointment with his primary Pediatrician. We talked to her about his eating problems. She assessed and concluded that James is not eating enough to sustain himself. She suggested that we put the g-tube back in his belly. After talking to the doctor Kristal and I both concluded that not putting the g-tube back in his belly is not an option. The fact is that James is not eating enough, and has never consistently eaten enough since the day he was born. The doctor told us that if he gets sick and has no g-tube to rely upon he will surely end up in the hospital with iv's and everything else. We told the doctor that we are ready to schedule an appointment to put the g-tube back in. She said she was going to schedule it for sometime next week. We are not sure what day or time the surgery will be (I will make keep you all updated via this blog).

There are some good and bad sides to the g-tube. As you probably remember, James had one for the first 3 months of his life. We hated the g-tube because it is uncomfortable and is hard to manage. However, we will be getting a different type of g-tube this time around. He is now old enough to get what they call a Mickey Button. The Mickey Button stays flesh against his skin and cannot move in an out of his belly--unlike the g-tube he had when he was younger. The other g-tube was a long hose that stuck out of his belly about 7 inches or so. It was a hassle and caused great discomfort. They may, at first, have to put in this longer tube until a track is formed (takes about 4 weeks) before they put in the Mickey Button.

The one major positive aspect of the g-tube is that we don't have to worry about James getting dehydrated or malnourished. If he won't eat we simply hook the tubing up to his g-tube and pump it right into his belly. His not eating has been all-consuming for us at the Snowden household, because he has been on the verge of dehydration for such a long time now. We are always concerned that he might not be getting enough to sustain himself. The g-tube will take away these worries.

The doctor said that James' refusal to eat is his way of protecting his airway. Every time James swallows food it goes into his lungs. The reason this did not stop him from eating before was because he was on his muscle relaxing medicine, which numbed his senses. Once we got him off the medicine his senses were heightened and so he could feel the liquid get into his lungs--which is uncomfortable. The doctor said that James has to choose between the discomfort of getting fluid in his lungs or going hungry, and he has chosen to simply go hungry. I feel bad for the little guy--either he eats and is extremely uncomfortable or he doesn't eat and is constantly hungry.

I will list some of the concerns we have:

1. If we put the g-tube in James' body may reject it.

2. James has to have anesthesia for his surgery.

3. Putting the g-tube in is a surgery and there can always be complications with surgery.

4. The doctor told us that many kids stop eating through their mouth altogether after getting the g-tube because they realize that they can feel full without having to eat through their mouth. Sometimes this can cause kids to absolutely hate anything going into their mouths. This reality hit Kristal and I last night. We both realized that James may never eat through his mouth again once we put the g-tube in--he may be dependent upon a g-tube for the rest of his life. This is a hard thing for the both of us to think about.

5. Even though James is getting fluid into his lungs every time he eats we still have to work on feeding him orally. Our doctor told us that if we do not continue to work on his oral feedings now then he will never eat through his mouth--for some reason kids who are not used to oral stimulation reject anything entering their mouths. I said, "Well, isn't he at high risk for pneumonia?" She said, "Yes he is." She then went on to tell us that as bad as pneumonia is, it is a worthy risk to train him to eat orally. She said that we will have to stop if he starts getting pneumonia chronically. But she said that we need to do whatever we can to get him to eat orally so long as he doesn't get chronic pneumonia. Even after we put the g-tube back in his belly, we will still have to work on his oral feeding--so putting the g-tube in is not going to lessen his chances of getting pneumonia.

6. Pray that the surgery does not stunt James' developmental progress. He has been making huge strides developmentally over the past few weeks. Strange, he is happiest when he eats less--he definitely did not inherit this gene from my side of the family--I don't think such a gene even exists in the larger part of the Snowden family. He is super happy and has learned to interact with Kristal and I so much better. Thank the Lord for this, and pray that the surgery doesn't ruin his developmental progress.

Please continue to pray for James. Pray for his surgery. Pray that his body doesn't reject the tube. Pray that he learns to eat--Pray that he will not need to g-tube for the rest of his life.