San Antonio or Bust!

The Nault's arrived in San Antonio Texas on Wednesday December 27th and right now living out of a Motel 8. They will be given the keys to a housing on Post on the 10th, the day that Travis has to report. They are getting familiar with the area by driving all around. Here's a picture of Bryson that I got for Christmas.

Yesterday, they met with another family, the Poulin's who live there in San Antonio that also have a Trisomy 13 child, Sofia. They are also a military family stationed there. Sofia will soon turn 3 in January. Sofia is a real cutie. She has such beautiful blue eyes and a sweet smile. This is Sofia's first visit with Santa with her big brother Johnny. Thanks to the Poulins for their hospitality.

Santa Baby

While at Great Grandma and Grandpa McDowell's house, Dana & Travis found the Santa Doll that was always a decoration put up year after year. They dressed Bryson in his Santa Suit as this was his first Christmas. Who's the doll now?

In this Season of Giving...Be Touched by an Angel

In this season of giving, please consider giving to a charitable organization that can help families of children with Trisomies or other rare chromosomal disorders. There are many charities out there that bring in a lot of funds for those diseases that are known to the general public.

Your support can help a family that has received a rare or negative diagnosis of a syndrome or disorder for their infant. Your generous donations will go to support families through networks established by other families that have been "Touched by an Angel" in their lives. Many parents of Trisomy children have heard all too many times either prenatally or postnatally, how their child's condition is "not compatible with life". The textbooks need to be re-written to reveal to the world that there is hope. The medical community has to be more cognisant of the fact that there are many survivors of these rare chromosomal disorders and that their care and compassion can allow these children equal access to the medical treatment they need.

In the first 6 weeks of Bryson's life, we met with and interviewed 9 Pediatricians and never found one to have anything more to say than what they found in out dated material or mortality rates from the internet. A strong alliance of families and those in medicine must be established so that one day "not compatible with life" will be a thing of the past. It has been my main focus to bring awareness of Trisomy 13 via this weblog and those of other Trisomy families and it is my hope that you will learn more and tell others that miracles do happen.

Please consider your gifts of love to any of the following:

http://www.trisomy.org/index.php
http://gregoryarritola.tripod.com/emmanuels_foundation.html
http://www.noahsneverendingrainbow.org/index.html
http://www.trisomykidsarespecial.com/buy_bracelets.php
http://www.childrensmiraclenetwork.org/index.php

On the Road

Bryson, Dana & Travis hit the road for their move to San Antonio TX yesterday. They stopped off at Niagara Falls. They arrived there at night. The area was very well illuminated casting a beautiful glow and the mist shows thousands of rainbows.

They traveled on to Indiana where they are staying with my mother & father, Bryson's Great Grandparents. This will be their first meeting. It's also the first time they have met Travis. I only wish I could have been there to witness a coming together of the generations.

Upon arriving in Elkhart, Bryson's left eye was all bloodshot and it looked like there was even blood behind the iris and in the pupil. Since Trisomy 13 is the cause of many problems with the eyes, it's best to have things thoroughly checked out. Glaucoma, cateracts, micro-opthalmia, blindness, are all potential problems in infants with T13. The tear ducts can be sometimes be blocked, then sometimes in congenital glaucoma in infants, the trabecular meshwork can fail to drain with the fluid increasing the pressure within the eye. It is very important to be seen by an Opthamalogist immediately before any pressure causes permanent damage to the eye. Bryson is already blind, however, with such a problem, he could end up losing his eye if not properly treated. They went to Boling Eye Center in Elkhart where Dr. Richard Boling took a closer look to see what was going on. Aparently it was a broken blood vessel. He gave them some eyedrops and instructions on how to administer to him and to have a follow up visit with him after Christmas.

Spam No more!

As the comments on this weblog are moderated by myself, I now have found it necessary to add "word verification" when someone wants to post a comment. This is a minor inconvenience to you, and your comments are still very welcome, but this was needed because I was getting a lot of automated spam for viagra, phentermine and inappropriate ads for websites daily in my e-mail as "Anonymous" posts to the blog. You are welcome to still be anonymous too, I didn't want it to get to the point of just deleting anything from Anonymous. Word verification has the commentator type in letters or numbers as they appear in a box, probably case sensitive. This prevents automated spam to be able to post comments (which I of course was not publishing). Thanks for your understanding.

"A Very Merry UnBirthday"

This Saturday on the 9th, Bryson will be 6 months old. To celebrate the occasion and to thank the many professionals and volunteers involved in Bryson's care and treatment, the Naults will be hosting a very merry "UnBirthday" party for Bryson.

Texas Bound

It's official!! Travis has received authorization to be stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio Texas. He and Dana are really excited about their upcoming move. The movers are due to come on the 14th to "pack out" the apartment and ship their belongings to Texas. Before they report, they plan to spend some time with family in Indiana. My parents, Great Grandma & Grandpa McDowell have never had the pleasure of meeting Travis and of course their great grandbaby Bryson. I really wish I could be there to enjoy it with them. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they will have to travel over several days to San Antonio.

My husband and I just returned from Texas (Gulf Coast) last week and they really had some freaky weather. It dropped 30 degrees in a half hour! It went from 74 to 44 and the wind and rain came with a vengence. We were there visiting Mark's Father and Stepmom.