Purpose!

The purpose of this blog... way back in 2008, was to keep our friends and family updated about our journey with our son Brennan.  Little did we know how it would be used to help other families, most of whom we have never met.  We have been able to share our joys, struggles, heartaches and triumphs throughout the years as we have prepared for and now have been through the various surgeries, Dr. visits and many appointments to help our son through his Microtia/Atresia... including, of course, all of the other difficult and exciting times in our lives along the way.

I truly believe that all things happen for a purpose and with our journey we have ventured through, I wouldn't change it for the world.  It's helped us lean more on God, grow closer as a family,and gain everlasting friendships with people we wouldn't have crossed paths with otherwise.  Brennan has grown so much through it and I can't wait to see what else is in store for our little guy! 

I'm hoping to make it easier for other Microtia/Atresia families to search my blog. Throughout the past 2 years I have documented his whole experience with Atresia repair surgery and Medpor surgery for Microtia.  I've documented his journey with pictures and journals for how things went for each post-op visit, daily and weekly.  It was good for me to be able to post pictures for friends and family and just type away and vent sometimes. I also knew that it would be helping other families in the future. 

I'm hoping I can set up links that will take you directly to the Atresia repair surgery info or the Medpor Microtia surgery info.  I'll also post more pictures of Brennan's ear!  The best thing is when people say... "Which ear is it?"... ha ha!  It's such a wonderful thing! 

I'm also hoping the info and pictures I've posted throughout the last couple years can bring encouragement, hope and education to other Microtia/Atresia families! 

Enjoy!!! 

Please feel free to email anytime if you want more info!
katrunner66@yahoo.com

WOW... it's been a while...

So, it's been a LONG time. I noticed my last post was on Thanksgiving. Let's see... so much has happened between then and now (aside from Christmas and the New Year of course :) I will do an update soon, and maybe even get some pictures from my camera, loaded onto my computer to put on the blog... soon, I promise! But just know, we are doing well!!! I'll be writing more soon!!!

Thankful

These 2 remind me daily of what really matters in life!

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving month and remember all the things to be thankful for!!!

God Bless!

Surgery Anniversary!

Today marks 1 year since Brennan's Atresia Repair surgery (creating an ear canal and ear drum)!!!

I can't believe it has been 1 whole year. In the middle of all the surgery stuff, I would have never thought we would have made it this far with such great results! It was so frightening to go into surgery knowing about all the surgical risks involved, possible facial paralysis, possible infections and even the surgery not helping at all. Through lots of prayer, we went into the surgery process completely at peace trusting that God would take care of our little boy! We have been so pleased with the outcome! His hearing as changed dramatically, observed by us (of course), my family, friends and even his preschool teachers! We are so thankful for the friends and family who lifted us up in prayer throughout this journey. We are so thankful for the countless people who helped us financially. We are so thankful for the doctors and their staff who have made this surgery even possible. We praise God for his love for us even when I had my selfish, doubting moments. Praise be to God!

6 Months Post-Op

We had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Lewin today. I still can't believe it has been almost 7 months since his "New Ear" surgery.
It was a quick appt. They took different pictures from different angles. Brennan doesn't have to wear tape on his arm anymore! AND... he probably won't need the "stage 2"/second surgery!!! It's such great news. Dr. Lewin said that we will see how his ears look as he gets older and we can decide then if we need to make any changes, but for now, it looks great and she doesn't think she will need to do any touch-ups!!! We are so excited!!! His right ear technically has stage 1 microtia so she couldn't match his new ear perfectly to it, so there will be a difference with both ears... but that's fine with us. We don't expect perfection. We just wanted to give him 2 ears and we are so very pleased with how it looks. We will just wait and see when he grows up if she can do anything "non-surgery" related that might help match his 2 ears better.
Also, we don't have to have another appt. until 6 months from now (his 1 year surgery anniversary), then once a year after that.
Here are a few picts from today...

This is one of his pictures from Febuary, 1 month before his surgery. Notice his "little ear"

I needed to pin some of his hair back for the pictues to show his ears better

He looks thrilled doesn't he? :)

Taking pictures

And a picture with Dr. Lewin of course!!!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers this past year. It's almost been 1 year since his first surgery. We are so thankful that his hearing has improved and his new ear is healing perfectly. We've had a tough year but seeing how well Brennan has done has been a huge encouragement to me and strengthened my hope! Thanks for taking part in our precious little guy's life!!!

PERRY!!!

Talk about spontaneous... I didn't even know that "Disney's Live Phineas and Ferb Show" was touring around here. I saw a post on facebook from a friend of their son waiting for the show to start. WHAT???... Phineas and Ferb??? Live show??? Brennan's FAVORITE show ever... I had to check it out. Joel got Brennan and I tickets for the next night's show! My mom watched Faith for us and I took Brennan for a surprise adventure! It was about an hour away and he had no idea where we were going. We wore our matching "Perry the Platypus" and were on our way!!!...

in the theater with our matching shirts


He brought his Perry friend with us

Before the show, we grabbed a bite to eat... or should I say HUGE PIZZA!

Yeah, we were hungry :)

In the lobby waiting to go in... lots of people wearing Phineas and Ferb shirts... yet he still has no idea :)


Waiting for the show to start... now he thinks it's going to be a movie... ha ha

7th row... good seats!!!

I made a sign for him to hold up :)

Oh yeah!!! Brennan was in shock through the whole thing! He did his "Brennan Bounce" (jumping up and down shaking his arms in the air) the whole time

Perry (or as B still calls him "Kerry") and Dr. Doofenshmirtz

The characters were so funny :) They used a pre-recording of the voices etc... so everything was just like the actual show

After the show... happy boy!

Picture with his favorite character!

Right next to the stage

I'm so glad we were able to go and that it worked out so last minute. I even snuck in a few video clips so Brennan can rewatch a few of his favorite scenes over and over again!

Field Trip

Brennan had a field trip today with his Tuesday Preschool class at church. We took a train down to Union Station and did some shopping and sight seeing, then took the train back.
Brennan LOVED it!!!

Some of the boys waiting for the train


Lil Pnut got to tag along for the ride!

Family Pict while waiting for the train

Pict with daddy

There it is!

Waiting for it to stop

All Aboard!!!

2nd level seating!

Here we go!!!

Excited to go!

Me and my cutie!

Yipee!!!

We're here! Time to get off!

All the kids!

Here we are!!!

The whole group!

Picking out a toy... he liked the monster trucks... but got what he really wanted... a guitar!!!

Looking at all the toys with his friends

Checking out the city's old fire station

Picture with friends

Taking a break before we head back to the train

Taking a seat at the train station

Bye bye LA!