Big adjustments!

General updates on the Vankers:

Donny survived camp with Ty and Rustin - they all had a fantastic time and saw many students have a life-changing time listing to God's Word.

Ty is starting kindergarten on Tuesday! We found out just over a week ago that he has an opportunity to attend a small Christian school (12 kids in his kindergarten class) that is just two minutes from our church, so Donny can drive him in every morning on his way to work. Ty is EXTREMELY excited about learning how to read and making new friends and this is a real answer to prayer for us in that the school he was registered for would only have class time for 2.5 hours a day and his new school will be a full-day of learning which he is ready for.

Rustin will be missing Grandma Kerns as she just left this morning for Chicago. We are incredibly thankful for all of her help these last two months and we really could not have survived without her. Love you, Mom! Can't wait to see you again. Also, Rustin will be assuming the "big brother" role during the day when Ty is at school. He wishes he could go to school too, but he'll just have to wait at least for another year.

Bailey is fantastic, always quick to give Daddy a smile and be the best baby in the world for Mommy during the day. She's started to eat rice cereal, or at least she lets us put it in her mouth; she doesn't seem to like it much yet, but she still has a good attitude about it! Check out the video below!



Kristi wanted to thank you all for all of your prayers and encouragements. Your messages, even the ones on Facebook, have been super encouraging to her as this time has been very stressful for her. She is still mostly home-bound with Hudson's care (he's had diarrhea 10+ times again today) and will be adjusting to life without help from her mom and with Ty at school as of Tuesday. These are HUGE changes for her, so please continue to pray for help and peace.

Finally, Hudson is still doing great. He is making up for lost time in his speaking, talking NON-STOP from morning until night. He can say his ABC's and count up to 20, though he typically will not do much upon request. We will be postponing his physical therapies for a little while until things are stabilized more for him and our family, but he still has many appointments to deal with. We desperately want him to be able to walk and it seems that he now shares our desires as he talks about it and is highly motivated to move, even crawling across our gravel driveway to go explore outside. His clonus has practically disappeared, so thankfully he no lunger has the uncontrollable tremors as he recently did, thankfully. Please keep praying for his legs as it will open up his life dramatically if he can move as he wants. Also, please pray for his surgery on Tuesday as the doctor will be removing a kidney shunt through his bladder. It's not a big deal, but he'll still go under general anesthesia and will be quite sore.

Thanks!

Donny and Kristi

He has moved on

It's official: Hudson has moved on from Elmo. It's not that he has anything against Sesame Street, but he has simply fallen in love with the great international hero, Micky Mouse. He talks about the furry creature all day long!

Hudson is really doing very well right now. His medications have been stabilized for a few weeks, his vocabulary has practically tripled since the surgery as he repeats everything we say (even with funny sayings like, "Oh nuts!") and he has grown significantly. He has gained over .5 an inch and several pounds, and for a little guy like him, this is quite a lot. Hudson is an incredibly happy kid when he is not bored, though his continued inability to walk brings him to this state quite often. Please pray he will continue to grow in strength and ability as his mind wants to take him much farther than his body will.

Thank you for praying for Kristi and our family as I had the older boys at our church's high school summer camp. The camp itself was a phenomenal success and Ty and Rustin did just fine, though they were exhausted at points, and I am thankful the Lord was able to carry Kristi through the couple of days of discouragement she dealt with. Things can still be very difficult to handle emotionally at times and we do covet your encouragements and prayers.

Enjoy the video! M-i-c-k-e-y... M-o-u-s-e!

Blessings in the Lord,
Donny

Discouraged

My soul is discouraged. Today was a tough day for me. I am having a hard time dealing with "my life." I am just tired!! I hate sitting here crying about all that my son has to endure. I am tired of having over 12 appointments a week. I want my boy to walk and eat normally (preferably right now.) I want to be able to go on a real date with Donny, not one where we can only be out for a little bit before we have to come home and hook him up to food, or give him his medication. I want to not feel stressed . I want our family to be able to go on a vacation. I want Ty to be able to go to a better school. I want to be redeemed from my past (which I am in the process of working on). I want more Lord and I want a break. I want to always "trust in Your lovingkindness"- Psalm 13:5. Lord, please fill my heavy heart. I need a bucket full of peace, patience, and grace. I trust in your plan. Please allow me to be able to stand back and look at the forest, b/c right now I feel like I am in it. I love you Lord, you are good.
Kristi

Making Comments

We've heard a lot of people say that they're having trouble posting comments on the blog. For some reason, there is a problem with Blogger, and the site is not remembering people's information when they create an account (or loading very slowly). Because of this, we wanted to let you know an easier way to make comments. If you click on "Name/URL", it will allow you to put type your name and post a comment with no problem. We've also added Donny & Kristi's e-mail address on the right side of the blog.

Thank you so much for all your notes of encouragement. Though I am just the aunt, it is so encouraging to know how many people are praying for Hudson, Donny, Kristi & the whole gang.

Blessings,
Emily

God is answering

I took Hudson in for his labs this morning. I didn't get much sleep last night because I was worried that I wouldn't stop his feeds in time and that I would miss my alarm. But, thankfully I got to Children's on time and it went really well. Hudson was saying hi to everyone that he saw and then when the blood draw was all done he turned to the technician and said, "all done." I am so proud of him. He puts up with so much. Since I got there early I was able to make it home before Bailey woke up to eat. I called Children's to ask how his numbers came out so that I would be able to tell Donny this morning, but our nurse told me that she couldn't see his information in the computer. I didn't understand what was going on. I asked if they lost his blood and she said that she would call me back and figure out what was going on. Well, God was testing me right away. I didn't want to have to come back tomorrow morning since I have 2 other appointments there tomorrow in the afternoon. It would have been a long day for us all. But, our nurse tracked our tech. down and he had left the blood viles in his pocket. Crazy.

His numbers came back really well. His creatinine is still .3. Our doctor told me that they have never had anyone else have a .3 creatinine. Go God and go Scott. Hudson's anti-rejection levels are between 10-12, which is exactly where they want him to be. I am so thankful for what God is doing in our Hudson.

Donny is having a great time at camp. He said the boys are doing fantastic and that he is trying to think like me throughout the day. He is becoming Mr. Mom and I couldn't be prouder. I got a chance to talk to the boys this morning and Ty was telling me how much fun he was having and that he really missed me. Then I talked to Rustin and he said that he missed me a little bit, awesome. Just a little bit. I love it. I am so happy that everyone is doing well. I will continue to update you all.
Kristi

Home alone-well almost!

Today Donny, Ty, and Rustin left at 5 a.m. for our high school summer camp which will be from today thru next Sunday. It took our youth group 12 hours to get to J.H. Ranch in California. Donny called me throughout the day to let me know how the boys were doing and to check on me with Hudson and all of his home care. D said the boys were great, they even took a 2 hour nap on the bus, could I say "all-stars." I am at home with Hudson, Bailey and thankfully my mom. It would not be possible for Donny to have gone to camp if I didn't have my mom here. I don't know how to explain all that my day entails with keeping track of Hudson's care. Thankfully, I have felt God's peace today.

Tomorrow I will leave super early in the morning for his blood drawl and then try and rush home to feed Bailey before she wakes up. It wouldn't be as hard if I wasn't still feeding Bailey, but she is just 4 months old and I still feel like it's important to keep nursing her, for now. Donny was concerned to leave me while Hudson is still not a month out from transplant, but I know how important this week is to set up the rest of the year with our students. I look forward to next year when I will finally be able to serve along side Donny in ministry. I am serving along side of him now, but I long to be more active in the lives of our students and staff. But for now I am continually trying to learn patience and that God is good all the time, not just most of the time, but all the time. I have realized that if God is not good all the time, then He is a liar and I definitely know that He's not a liar. Each day, sometimes each hour I have to choose to believe that God is good, no matter if I feel like it or understand. Please don't think that I have accomplished this, oh I only wish, but I am striving each day to live out my dad's favorite verse, Romans 8:28. It is amazing how now, even 14 years after my dad's death, I am still learning from him. I would love if you all could pray for me to believe and know that God is always good this week while my stress level is much higher without Donny being here. Please also pray that Donny will have some much needed bonding time with Ty and Rustin and that God's presence would be evident and active with our staff and students at camp. I will keep you all updated as this week progresses. I have yet to see what the Lord has in store for our family this week.

I just want to let you all know that each day Hudson is getting stronger and stronger. He is crawling like normal again and one of his physical therapist said that it wont be too long until she believes that Hudson will walk. I can't tell you how exciting that day will be for our family and most importantly, Hudson. Thanks for standing along side of us. We love you all.
Kristi

Great and suprising news

This morning, Hudson's creatinine number was all the way back to .3 and the doctors are no longer concerned about anything! Also, he seems completely over his cold and even the clonus appears significantly milder than just a few days ago. Nobody knows why or how these things happened, but we all (including our doctors) are just very happy and relieved. We did not really do anything differently except pray much more as I know many of you did, and we are thankful that the Lord listened and helped our son. The Bible says in Psalm 141:2 and Revelation 5:8 that the prayers of God's people are like incense to Him, a sweet aroma to His senses, and He loves to hear them and then respond. Thank you for lifting them up before the mighty God.

Also if any of you are interested, there is a television show called Hopkins about things that take place in John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore that recently aired an episode that really resonated with things we have been through with Hudson. The link is:

http://hopkins.abcnews.com/episodes/6

This is an amazing episode to watch (#6) if you want to see what happens during a kidney transplant and also when a premature baby who is not supposed to be able to breathe is born. The steps they took are extremely similar to what they did with Hudson when he was born, though the cause of the condition is not the same. My only caveat: this is terribly sad at parts and we sobbed through much of it. However, I still highly recommend it.

Uh-oh. This isn't good

Hi all. Hudson had a fantastic day on Friday, his first really good full day since the transplant as he seemed completely recovered from the surgery itself and is now just dealing with the effects of balancing the medication. Today, however, his blood work had some discouraging news for us.

His creatinine (which shows kidney function) increased from .3 (amazing!) to .5 over two days. A creatinine of .5 is still really really good, but the change is really dramatic in such a short period and is unexpected if there are no complications. Essentially, there are a few things that could cause such an increase: dehydration, levels of his anti-rejection medication that are too high, or beginning stages of kidney rejection. His fluid level intake that we measure leads us to rule out dehydration and on first glance, the level of the medication in his blood is far too low to be causing these problems. Obviously this is not good for Hudson. Please pray for this as we will be rechecking his blood early tomorrow morning. If the creatinine remains high, we will be doing a series of blood tests on Monday to once again determine if we can give him lower doses of the medicine more often during the day to keep from spikes that could cause this problem with creatinine. We will also be doing an ultrasound on Hudson's kidney and bladder to make sure there are no obstructions and that everything is draining well and there is a likelihood he will need a kidney biopsy to make sure the body is not rejecting the new kidney. This would certainly mean that Hudson would be re-admitted to the hospital for a time, which is always difficult on our whole family. Please pray that his blood work would come back well tomorrow and that this problem would be solved.

There is another problem, though, that is also very disturbing. Hudson has always had a very small residual degree of a condition called clonus, which is involuntary twitching in his feet and ankles that happens after stretching out. Clonus can be indicative of all kinds of issues, but his condition had decreased over time almost to where it was non-existent and we were not concerned about it. However, since the surgery, it has progressively grown worse, much worse, and is now not only highly noticeable but even prohibitive of him doing simple things like standing while supported or pushing off with his feet while he is on the floor. His leg will twitch uncontrollably until Kristi or I hold it still. This is terribly difficult for us to experience as it seems uncomfortable and confusing for Hudson and we really don't know what to do about it. All we can think of is that this is another side effect from his medication which can cause tremors in 40% of patients, though our doctors have never seen the medication effect the legs, only the hands. Hudson also has a runny nose now, which may be a sign of him trying to fight off some kind of virus.

Please pray for us as we are all quite exhausted and concerned for our son. None of these developments are good, in fact they are all potentially devastating in different forms. We are trying very hard to just trust in God's provision and not be discouraged, but this is proving to be very difficult.

Donny