A Promise Kept

Today a promise made was a promise kept. Jackson ran after Dr. Accousti in his walker. It was one of the proudest moments thus far on this journey! And from the look on Dr. Accousti's face, it was a pretty proud moment in his life too. We are so fortunate to have a doctor who believes bumblebees can fly to---in their own way and in their own time, but they fly. What a great day!!!!

A Promise Made

Ever since we started going to New Orleans to Children's Hospital when Jackson was just a month old, I have told Jackson and his medical team there, including Dr. Accousti, that on the day that Jackson could walk, I would let him chase them down the hall. I told him this every time they cast his feet, every time time they stretched him and every time we made the trip. I knew that one day he would chase them down the hall and tomorrow he WILL!!!! I told him tonight while getting him ready for bed that I would let him chase Dr. Accousti and the cast team down the hall, it was a promise I made to him long ago. And Jackson told me he was going to chase them fast, "like a helicopter". I can't wait to see it and in the words of Jon, I will probably stand in the hall and cry like a baby, but I don't care---my bumblebee just keeps flying!

When Life Hands You Lemons...

I recently received this award from a parent of another beautiful little girl with Arthrogryposis (http://addymills.blogspot.com/). The lemonade award is to honor those people who show great attitude or gratitude, hence "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

This award comes with rules and here they are:

1. Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here are the nominees:

1. http://baby-braden.blogspot.com/
2. http://oliversmiracle.wordpress.com/
3. http://fortheloveofdani.wordpress.com/
4. http://donnamurray.blogspot.com/
5. http://rudderfamily.blogspot.com/
6. http://fromthetrenchesofadoption.blogspot.com/
7. http://forabby.com/
8. http://babystoffer.aboutmybaby.com/ (Adison)
9. http://daddymurad.blogspot.com/
10. http://www.theresalucas.com/

Take a minute and check out these awesome kiddos and adults, each and everyone of them have changed our lives!

xo,

djj

Update from our trip to Houston

Two weeks ago, we took a trip to Houston for a regular appointment with Dr. G, our uppers doctor. When planning for this trip, we had talked with Dr. Hall, who also wanted us to see a geneticist, so we found Dr. P at Texas Children's. We were able to schedule them on the same day and went down few days early to spend time with my sister, Cathy. It was a wonderful weekend and I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed hanging out with my sister and watching Jackson play with his "Cappy", as he affectionally called her! And Jackson even got to meet his great uncle Sam and his great grandmother.

Dr. P is an amazing and through doctor, who is very interested in Jackson. She met with us for over 2 hours and did extensive visual examinations of all of us. During our appointment, she asked me questions, I have been asked several times, "why do you want to know and why are you interested in this information?" These are two questions I have "struggled" with ever since Jackson was diagnosed. I've said it before, the whys don't matter, they won't change how much we love Jackson, how much we advocate for him or anything else. But the whys do matter as a mother, as his mom, I deserve to know why this happened, will it happen again and for him the whys matter because some day he may want children of his own. Dr. P also asked another question I have heard a million times over, "do you want more children?" The short answer to that question is yes. But the more complex answer deals with the whys. If the doctors and testing could guarantee without question that Jackson's Arthrogryposis is not genetic and there is the 1 in 10000 chance that we will have another child with Arthrogryposis, then sure we would have another child, but if the answer is as we suspect, not so cut and dry or if the cause is definitely genetic, then we will likely not have more children and will explore adoption. Would I have Jackson all over again? ABSOLUTELY!!! But it's not fair to any of us to go into a situation knowing it could be so much worse and that we might not be so blessed next time or to hinder Jackson or another child. We got our miracle and for that we are forever thankful!

Dr. P is running a genetic microarray test and it will hopefully give us more answers. Our appointment with Dr. G went well and she sent us home with some more stretching and will see us back in 6 months.

In other news, Jackson is back riding horses and we are getting set to participate in the International Acadian Festival Pageant again this weekend.

Thanks for checking in on us,

the heckerts