Another Surgery Scheduled

Bryson is scheduled for surgery on February 7th. This time the surgery will be to repair his cleft palate and remove cataracts from his eye(s). I will again be traveling to San Antonio to be with the family as support. We are all hopeful that this surgery will allow two things. First the palate repair will help with feeding issues, speech, breathing, etc. The removal of the cataracts will hopefully allow him to have more vision than he currently has. This will be a Godsend as you can imagine to be able to see, will mean to be able to better learn and develop. I am especially excited over this aspect. My parents both had surgery to remove cataracts and they both said it was a miracle how well they could both see after the surgery. My father said he was able to see colors, literally for the first time in his life and didn't realize how blue the sky was. It brought tears to my eyes to hear that. Now we can't tease him about colorblindness. That's a good thing!

On another note, we have just received word that Travis, Bryson's daddy will be deployed on March 1st. It is looking like the Army will be sending him back to Afghanistan, in Kabul. The Army is in need of medics to relieve those that have been over there for a long time. It is my deepest hope that he will be in the Hospital on post rather than out in the field as he was back in 2006, just before Bryson was born.

When Bryson was born and the diagnosis of Trisomy 13 was received, it was rather bleak and thought that he wouldn't survive as most with such a diagnosis. As a result, Travis did not have to return to Afghanistan. However, since then, Bryson has been really doing well, is healthy and has these surgeries to repair the things that Trisomy 13 brought him. I felt very heavy hearted to learn of this news, but Travis, is an excellent medic and a valued asset to the U.S. Army and this is what he was trained and prepared to do. We, also as a military family understand this and give him our full support and prayers. We love you Travis!

I am so proud of Dana and Travis and how they have handled every thing that life has sent their way. These are people that the media should focus on. People who make the difference in the lives of those they encounter. Why don't they have stories on the news about them instead of those icons Hollywood and the music industry produces, that set their paths to self destruction and chaos and don't really do anything for anyone else. They are all so self absorbed. Travis is a great combat medic who has saved peoples lives! He is the Greatest Daddy to Bryson. Dana is a photographer, taking babies' first pictures in the hospitals in San Antonio. She recently did bereavement portraits for a family of an infant that was stillborn. She gives her heart to her work, you can see it in her pictures. She shares in the families' joys and in their grief. She lavishes love upon Bryson. She is my best friend and a daughter I am most proud of. Dana, if I could have had 10 of you to bring into this world to make it a better place, I would have! (But the labor and delivery would have to be easier!)

Happy 2008

I am so thankful for our blessings in 2007. We look to 2008 as being a year of many firsts for Bryson. He is healthy and keeps changing into this playful, funny fireball of energy. To those who thought he would die inside a week, I say, "See?, God has a plan for this little boy." He is here to teach us all not to expect what is the norm. Expect the unexpected!

To those of the medical community and those who write your medical journals, may your minds be kept open to give your patients and their families the benefit of any doubt about what Trisomy 13 is and ALL of it's possibilies. Be sure that when you inform a family of the diagnosis prenatally or as in our case after birth, that you also tell them the truth about the survivors. Tell them that there are many of them and that with the proper care and treatment which should be made available to them, the possibilities are endless!

We have so much yet to learn about the wide spectrum of Trisomy 13. Why are some children mildly effected and some have the worst possible case scenarios? In any case, children with Trisomy 13, or any rare Chromosomal Disorder should be not be judged by the statistics, but as the individual with different, yet specific needs to be addressed.

Initially, we were told so many things about Bryson. That he was a "textbook case", and we have come to find that many of those findings were just not true. Don't let the textbook lure you into believing all that's been written to be true about Trisomy 13. Bryson is writing his own version daily!