Happy to be home

We got checked out of the hospital around 6pm, and are thrilled to be back in our flat. Zane gave big hugs to all siblings, and then he and Mary Grace danced together while we watched American Idol. Simple pleasures that bring swells of joy.

He's not yet walking fully upright. He leans over slightly due to the surgery. But it doesn't seem to bother him too much, and with mild pain meds, he's pretty much good as new.

Total cost of surgery and 2 nights in the hospital and several weeks worth of medication: $54 USD ($400HKD). Another simple pleasure that brings great joy. Headed to bed, grateful and tired.

Zane is healed!

Great, wonderful, long-awaited news! The preliminary results are in, and Zane's platelet count is now 260,000, which is in the "normal" range. He is healed!

Even with steroids, the highest his platelets have been in the past 4 years has been 65,000, and most of the time he has hovered in the 15 ,000 to 20,000 range. His bruising should start clearing up, and he can now wrestle, play rugby, and simply be a 5 year old boy without fear of severe bleeding. He'll also lose his pudgy appearance, which I'm hoping to do as well....

Thanks for praying with us for effective healing. And thanks too for all the visits, toys, food, coffee, calls, emails, etc. We are so blessed to have such a supportive and caring body of Christ around us.

Headed back to the hospital now to check out and bring home a happy, healthy boy.

Spleenless in Hong Kong

It's over. Zane is now resting as he recovers from his spleenectomy. The surgery was smooth, lasting about 2.5 hours. He bled more than expected, the surgeon told us, but other than that, all is well. He did not require a blood transfusion, at least not yet. He has four small holes in his tummy where they did the surgery laproscopically. He'll have about an inch scar around his belly button, with 3 other much smaller scars. Belly scars are the least of our worries.

He will be in the hospital for at least 2 nights. Shannon will stay with him tonight, and I will relieve her tomorrow night. He's quite content right now, watching the DVD player and telling each nurse/doctor "thanks" every time they take his blood pressure. What a guy.

The medical staff have been fabulous, and we feel very blessed to have such good quality care that is also so affordable. I'm not sure how much a spleenectomy would cost in the U.S., but I'm pretty sure we couldn't afford it. And given it is due to a pre-existing condition, insurance wouldn't cover it. So....we are blessed, and so is he.

We will know in a week or so the effect of the surgery. Prayerfully, his platelet count will begin increasing shortly, a sign that the surgery is having the desired results. Please join us in praying for this very thing.

18th anniversary!

Zane's surgery was supposed to be on Thursday, May 3rd, but it was moved to Monday, May 7th. Other than the slight inconvenience of having to re-schedule days off, etc., this was not big deal.

But another implication was that we now were "available" on our anniversary to actually celebrate. We had our 18th on Sunday, May 6th. Previously thinking we would be in the hospital, we didn't make any plans.....So I had to scramble.

But with some great suggestions from friends, I made reservations at an unbelievably fun restaurant called, "Le Boat". Oui, oui. It is french. Great, set-menu dinner, served al fresco on a red-sailed boat parked in the harbor. You take a little "sanpan" boat out to the bigger boat, and then are served, a wonderful, lingering, 3 hour dinner. Not cheap, mind you, but very much worth it for an anniversary dinner. So much better than celebrating in a hospital.

Have you seen my spleen?

Zane spent yesterday (Monday) getting IVIG, a blood product to increase his platelets to prepare him for surgery. We were scheduled for surgery on Thursday, but it has been changed to Monday. Only reason it was changed was due to the surgeon's schedule. Not a big deal, but will now need to rearrange life, work, etc. to accomodate the new schedule.

His spleen removal will, God willing, heal him of his blood disorder, called ITP. He can then be taken off steroids, which are obviously not good on his body. (It also disqualifies him for the Tour de France, but that's not a big worry right now!)

Pray for him please. He has been in and out of hospitals quite a bit in his short life, and is amazingly brave. So maybe you ought to pray for his parents even more. The surgery success rate is 90%, and that is not even based on the power of prayer. Join us in praying for a completely healed little 5 year old.

Our favorite beach: Shek O

The weather is fine (finally), and we're back in the beach mode. Here's a shot from last week's inaugural beach trip. Zane hates the water still, but our other three are fish. We're hoping to get Zane some swim lessons soon to take away his HUGE fear. Until then, he's happy to play in the sand.

The graceful Mary Grace

Mary Grace continues to love ballet. She goes every Saturday morning, and is under the tutelage of an ancient, hard-core, British ballerina. Mrs. Campbell takes ballet VERY seriously, and until she breaks a hip, she'll be dancing and yelling at her compliant minions. And still, Mary Grace love it. She performed the annual recital last week and was "7 o'clock" in a dance about time. And yes, she made "6 o'clock" and "8 o'clock" look awful!!

The Christmas Photo

Like a lot of families, we try to take a family photo every Christmas. And like a lot of families, it takes a million shots to finally get a good one. And when you're trying to get 6 smiles simulateously, the chance for error goes up significantly. Here's a few of our "failures". We had a great time in the process, though...

Hangin' with the siblings

Friday night it definitely felt like we had 4 kids. Mary Grace hurt her ankle at school, and it was quite swollen, so Shannon took her to the hospital to get an x-ray. Our good friends Mo and Tona were spending their last night in HK and we wanted them to see the church office. So I, Brett, took them to the office on a double-decker bus, along with Zane, It was youth group night, so I dropped off Abby and Abby's best friend, Erica, at the church as well. Meanwhile, Hudson was at his school fair to working the booktable.

Gracie has a very bad sprain, and the doctor offered Shannon two metal crutches for 3 days. The crutches were bigger than Gracie. Shannon declined, saying, "I have a 10 year old hyper-active boy, a 4 year old with a bleeding disorder, and I don't think we really want large, metal, sword-like objects in our home". He smiled, and Shannon carried Gracie out of the hospital, with a really good ace bandage. She is on 3 days of piggy-back rides and loving it.

The upshot (among many) of having 4 kids is that they help each other. Gracie has her two older siblings trained quite well in how and when to carry her, and thus maintain her "princess status".

Batman goes to Disney

Our friends, the Ottingers, had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go to Disney Hong Kong, so how could we say "no"? We took Zane on a Thursday, while the other 3 kids were in school. The best thing about the day was when we got home, and Abby, Hudson, and MaryGrace were all
so excited to hear about Zane's day. No jealousy, no bitterness, just genuine pleasure over seeing their new brother so happy. We're blessed with 4 really great kiddos.











He kept asking, "Can I go on another ride?" He was amazed that there was more and more and more. Favorite ride of the day was the "tea cups", though he thoroughly enjoyed every morsel of the day.

Long time, no blog

Here is a great friend of ours from Memphis, Tona Ottinger, who just adopted a chinese girl from Hong Kong TODAY. We just met them for ice cream and to meet their little 3 year old girl, Mallie. Congrats Mo and Tona!




Zane was given this Batman costume by a good friend. He takes it off for baths, but that's about it.





Here are our friends, Mark (Mo) and Tona Ottinger at a coffee shop on the Peak. We really just wanted a pic of them, but Zane has become quite used to being in all photos, and insisted on snuggling in with them.




Dad (or BaBa, as he calls me) and Zane at the Peak.