The Road Home

Kaleb continues to progress and we are hopefully looking at a discharge within the next two weeks! 

Once again, we are filled with gratefulness for all of you, your prayers, words, and gifts. The weekend had some minor setbacks with Kaleb, but nothing surprising.

FEEDING

He struggled with his first go at intermittent feeding through his NG tube, so they paused that for a couple days and began again yesterday morning. He seems to be tolerating them well so far! 

The Lord has also specifically answered our prayers for Kaleb to show interest in and be able to breastfeed! Kaleb has caught on quickly (no pun intended) and it has been a sweet gift for Brittany.  

Because he is doing well with feeding and swallowing, Brittany got the green light to start breastfeeding him whenever she's at the hospital. The plan right now is to send him home with the NG feeding tube, but Brittany will continue to breastfeed or bottle-feed him and they will remove the tube as soon as he proves he can feed sufficiently by mouth.

BREATHING

The doctors (all of them) are still a little puzzled by Kaleb's breathing. He still needs oxygen to remain in a good place (somewhere between 0.3-0.12 L). They tried a couple different things yesterday (blood transfusion and diarrhetic) to try to help him but neither changed anything. 

They've asked the pulmonary team to come and examine him further. They are doing a sleep study soon to see if he has a sleep apnea issue. This will need to be done before they can discharge him.

No matter the cause, it doesn't look like he needs oxygen badly enough to keep him in the hospital longer than necessary, though we are still praying that the doctors find answers soon.

HEART

We've had some encouraging conversations with the cardiologists about Kaleb's heart. It hasn’t gotten worse post surgery, which is good news, but the main trouble maker at this point is the arrhythmia (SVT) which is being treated with oral medications for an indefinite time.  The way it is now, he would be able to come home (barring any sort of emergency situation) with some extra loving care and attention. We are so grateful! 

MIND

As we continue to process Kaleb's physical well-being, especially neurologically, it's been sobering. Being so close to going home feels a bit like everything should "be ok" now, but the findings on his brain remind us that he may have issues that unfold as he gets older. We don't know what those issues might be, so we continue to wait on and look to the Lord to be with us and care for us every step of the way. 

Please pray:

• For Kaleb strengthen in his ability to feed by mouth and that his stomach can handle intermittent feeds instead of continuous.

• For Kaleb's lungs to strengthen and for the doctors to identify the source of his lox oxygen levels.

• For Kaleb’s SVT arrhythmia

• For renewed peace, faith, and wisdom for us as we look to the future.

• For a happy homecoming before Christmas 

While Kaleb has been hard at work in the ACCU, Todd has been hard at work preparing for CROSS 2025 for GCC. He's heading up a 30x30 booth space and multiple promotional projects for the conference. We are so excited to get these helpful resources into the hands of CROSS attendees! Topics like: 

• Missions in an Urban Context

• The role of small churches in missions

• Families on the field

• Who makes a good prospective missionary?

Please pray for Todd as he juggles this and preparing for Christmas and to welcome Kaleb home! 

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