Colby's Journey

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Colby was born 4/16/03 with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Colby, age 3 1/2 has had five open heart surgeries and two angioplasties before the age of 3. His last open heart surgery, the Fontan, was on November 7, 2005. We came home 7 days later and Colby is doing great!
Colby loves to play with his twin brother, Ethan and his 6-year old brother, Dillon. The Lord has given our family much strength and peace during our journey and we pray that you will be as blessed by our little man as we have!

Journal

Sunday, July 20, 2008 7:34 PM CDT

My apologies for the lack of updates... Things have been very busy this summer... and only one ambulance ride!

In May, the twins had a nice graduation ceremony at their preschool. They looked so cute in their caps and I was so proud when they crossed the stage.

Dillon is now an official "second grader" and is really turning into a beautiful loving child...

The boys attended VBS at our church the week after school let out and they had a great time. The twins didn't fuss about it, which was really nice!

The twins are now attending preschool for the summer twice a week, and are loving it. Dillon is taking ice skating lessons once a week and he is liking that as well. Dillon is enrolled in a cooking camp this next week, so Jason is hoping he can teach me a few things. HA HA

Other than that, the boys are enjoying going to the neighborhood swimming pool and playing with one another so much. They get along pretty well, fortunatey. Ethan even told me that he loves his big brother and the twins are always telling me they are each other's best friend. I need to find some wood to knock on here! :)

I am enjoying my new job at Cooke County EMS, which is located in Gainesville, just 20 miles north of Denton. It's about a 45 minute drive from the house, but I'm learning a lot and the people are great to work with. I'm still working part-time at CareFlite and of course, still love that. :) My last shift at Little Elm Fire Department is next week, and I'm sad to leave my crew, but they have been great in supporting me in this new chapter...

Well, about that ambulance ride... In mid June, Colby woke us up at 6am with a croupy cough and the treatments I was giving him wasn't working. He started to panic and I knew he wasn't going to get any better, so I called one of our CareFlite ambulances and they took us to the hospital where one of our flight nurses happened to be working in the ER. She got us in and out in 1 1/2 hours with blood work, chest x-rays and a dose of steroids for the croup. Life was good and then the next week he ran 102 fever and we never figured out why... Dr. Goebel thought it was a viral thing as the strep test came back negative. Of course, the twins share everything and the next week Ethan ran the same course of fever and viral sore throat.

Well, things are going great now and we hope to stay healthy the rest of the summer. Colby will see the cardiologist sometime in September and we are anticipating a heart catherization procedure next summer. I still listen to his heart and am only concerned about his heart rate getting into the 70s or so when he's asleep. I'll continue to monitor this as a lot of kiddos with his heart defect are having pacemakers implanted due to slow heart rates.

In other news, I had the honor and privilege to be a speaker at the CareFlite Emergency Care Update where 500+ people attended various lectures. I spoke about "Blue Babies" and talked about the various heart defects that make babies blue, the treatments and what EMS providers need to be aware of. I shared Colby's story and played a slideshow at the end to the music of "Heroes" by Mariah Carey. It was beautiful... I was honored that Mellissa Myers of Children's Medical Center helped me with the presentation... we made a great team! I have already been contacted by a fellow fireman in Garland who is having a baby in the next few days who will be born with a very similar heart defect. It has been a blessing to talk with him and hear their story. Please keep Lia Kate Stone in your prayers... www.liakatestone.com

I also had the privilege to speak at an American Heart Association meeting this past week. Colby attended with me and of course was a big ham throughout the presentation. He kept going up to the projector and playing with the light and pointing out things in the pictures... he kept the audience laughing, yet in tears too... what a precious and amazing boy he is.

I was asked to come back next week to speak at the national American Heart Association meeting and give the same presentation. I will take Colby with me again, as he just makes the presentation more "complete". :)

Thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts. They mean so much to us. I will update the site again with some pictures tomorrow when I get off shift. I took the boys to the portrait studio to get their picture taken and they turned out adorable!

Love to you all,

Sheila

Hospital Information:

Patient Room: HOME

Children's Medical Center of Dallas
Motor Street
Dallas, Texas

Links:

E-mail Author: sheila@elliott5.com

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