How grateful we are to have him here with us! I thought I had left a lot of these emotions WAY behind way back there...but watching this video I began REALLY crying (I'm sure it doesn't help that my baby will be here in 2 days, and he & Will having b-day's only 3 days apart) but I had to look away at some of the hospital shots. It's just amazing how quickly things can change from good to bad to GREAT! We feel so appreciative for our ACTIVE little guy.
We went to see Dr. Tong yesterday. William says "do-do" for doctor.
He weighs 30 lb 12.8 oz and is 2' 11"! His weight is back around the 90th percentile and height 75th.
He is right back to where he would have been without getting sick!
His blood pressure was low enough that they can drop the dosage of his blood pressure medication. Dr. Tong said he thought William looked the best he has ever seen him and said "he has really grown into his own." He was really cute the whole time, vrooming and talking on command. He did get his Hep A vaccine but did pretty well with that also. We will get labs drawn in a month to hopefully stop the iron supplement and go back in two months to see the MD again.
It really is amazing how completely he is healing!!
He actually weighs more than my 3+ year old son. So growing, progressing, talking, and vrooming (mocking his Boppie's Harley sound, he loves motorcycles).
I just loved Danny & Sarah's latest blog post (From their personal blog) and thought it appropriate to share here in case you didn't follow their blog. What a wonderful season to feel grateful for so many immense blessings.
Summer of 2011: Gratitude & Lessons Learned
Little William in Muir Woods (up north)
This year the Thanksgiving holiday brought a greater sense of joy and sweetness to our family than it normally does. We are profoundly grateful to count three happy, healthy, strong-willed children with us as we vacation in Northern California to spend time with family. My brother Rob, along with his wife Laura and new baby Chloe, recently relocated to Mill Valley, a beautiful community just North of "The City" (what people from the Bay Area call San Francisco) so my family converged here from all over the state to celebrate Thanksgiving.
On the journey to our destination Danny and I reflected on the numerous lessons we learned throughout the two month period of William's hospitalization. Here they are in no particular order:
-We cannot control the situations in which we find ourselves here in this world, only how we react.
-Slow down and appreciate each moment, not only because we don't know how quickly our circumstances can change, but also because each moment has beauty regardless of our emotions.
-Appreciate professionalism. There was a huge difference between health care workers who demonstrated true professionalism and those who did not. Sincerity and professionalism are paramount in any profession, but when someone's life is on the line, there simply isn't room for shoddiness of work and lack of compassion. I for one have always tried to embody this as a nurse but find myself all the more aware of my actions now in light of our experience.
-God answers prayers most often through other people. Time and again when asked ourselves "How can we make this work?" or realized that Carter and Claire needed to be attended to but we needed to be at the hospital next to William and then a family member, friend, co-worker or a member of our church would text, call or "Facebook" us with an offer to help. Our family and friends were the tools through which divine intelligence provided help. We also benefited from the strength of other people's faith; sometimes people we didn't know until William became ill appeared as if out of the blue to offer helpful suggestions or shoulder on which to rest and cry.
-There is a LOT of good left in the world still. Throughout the ordeal we met the some of the most kind-hearted and wise people and although we've benefited from the charity of others throughout our lives, for the first time it seemed we found ourselves on the receiving end of the kind of charity and compassion that we never thought we'd need. The Ronald McDonald House organization, for example, was a God-send. Thanks to them we saved a great deal of money (although you don't technically have to pay, we agreed to pay a substantial amount of the operating costs in order to help others benefit from their services in the future. The amount, however, was a fraction of what it would have cost us to stay in a hotel. Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) was wonderful and their compassionate, professional staff was the biggest reason William survived this ordeal with as few chronic issues as possible. Also, I'd be remiss not to mention The Beauty Bus who gave Claire and me free makeovers on her birthday. Although that might sound trite, it really brightened an otherwise bleak period.
-Trials leave us with increased empathy and compassion. We find ourselves more understanding and sensitive to the trials of others than we were before this experience. We now realize more fully that everyone in this mortal world is in the midst of some kind of difficult trial but we simply don't know about them (and sometimes they don't either).
-Recently we heard someone say that when we look back at our lives, we will view those difficult moments more fondly than the "fun" or comfortable moments in our lives. We can already see that this is true. If all our summer plans had panned out the way we wanted them to, the summer would have come and gone and we'd be the same people. But as things unfolded our family grew stronger, our faith greater and we feel we are better people because of this experience. Of course we wouldn't have wished this on William, but we accept what happened and don't have anger and or fear regarding this situation.
-No matter how bad it is, it could be worse. We met so many families going through situations that we felt were even more difficult than ours. At the Ronald McDonald house we met a family who financed everything to come to LA from England for cancer treatment for their little girl because the doctor's in England refused to try more aggressive treatment options. A wonderful man named Alejandro was sleeping in the parent room at CHLA week after week and despite the fact that his daughter's brain tumor came back even after it was in remission, he had faith that God's will would be done and emanated faith and peace.
-Health insurance is a huge blessing. We haven't sat and tallied all the bills that CHLA and Children's Hospital Central California sent Kaiser, but two days in Madera alone caused our insurance to be billed $16,000. Furthermore, the helicopter transport from Fresno to L.A. totaled $15,000! We are so grateful to not be filing medical bankruptcy.
-Play with your kids! While William was sick, family and friends would relieve us from the hospital so we could to spend time with Carter and Claire. It was suddenly easy to be fully present and just play with them; they needed it and so did we. Now that we have been home a while it has become easier to justify doing unimportant things rather then focus on using every moment efficiently as parents, but we still remember how apparent it was then and that helps us refocus our priorities.
-Find joy in the journey. There were often times we would want everything to magically be returned to "normal" and for it all to be over, but as we gained clarity we began to see each moment as an opportunity to learn from our trials, meet wonderful people, learn about ourselves and find joy, no matter how bumpy the journey.
First off my home computer crashed, so I have not had a computer since Will's Party, so please excuse the delay....
We cannot tell you how wonderful it was to get together with many friends and family (some, actually most, of whom I had NEVER even meet yet in person). It was such a wonderful celebration of LIFE and of MIRACLES and of friendship and of SERVICE and caring. How wonderful. Here is a slide show of the fun we had on the day of WILLIAM ANTONIO TODD's "P" Party Celebration.
Also through this experience we cannot begin to express the love, gratitude, support and prayers we have felt through this miraculous and trying experience. Most people already knew that our families are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So we have great faith God and in our Savior Jesus Christ, and we believe in the power of prayer. So we have truly felt the prayers of those from ALL walks of life and faith. It was amazing and SINCERELY heart warming to have people, who don't even believe in God, tell us that they felt touched and amazed by Williams story and that their positive thoughts and care went out to him. These words of encouragement meant as much to us as the prayers and we just hope that EVERYONE knows how much we APPRECIATED the support from ALL sources!!! My husband found this video he showed me the other day and I just cried and cried and cried as I watched it. As I have just recently had a good friend loose her niece, and knowing all that we went through with William. We really felt the pull, the support, the LOVE from all of you. And again sincerely thank you!
So a FEW of the amazing people that were able to attend the party for William....
Megan Ramaglia & Kristin Badawi
(Danny works with Kristin)
I actually just started crying when I meet these two girls in person! Really. They are truly beautiful inside and out. They did SO much (we can hardly thank them enough) for ALL they did for us (to take away burdens and help our family). We know they sacrificed a LOT from their own families because of the time, talents, and emotions they invested in this whole ordeal. We love you and thank you again! My new BFF's!
Brenda Sparks & Amanda
Sarah and Danny actually met them at the hospital (one of the many stays) while Brenda was also enduring a HUGE TRIAL with her older son. We found it amazing the strength she has had through her experience, and profound when she said, "It doesn't matter if they are 2 or 22, it still crushes your heart."
Christina and Trish
Sarah's Co-workers (Nurses)
Kelly Willis
Another stellar rock through this whole ordeal, and co-worker and friend of Danny's
Spencer and Amber Jones
Good Family Friends & Support
Cindy & Stacy Newey
OLD family friends from our Ontario Days
Derek Naegle
Danny's twin for the night (I teased)
Garthes and Carly Sorenson
Todd Family Friends
Greg and Kristyn Trimble
Family Friends
Jennifer
Our sister, Hayley Hamilton (in red) & her "super supportive" friend/old co-worker
Martha & David Newton
Dave is one of Danny's oldest BF's and a "BIG" family friend as well!
Sheri & "Grammie" Kathy Rex & Katie
Sheri knows I have love for her, my husband worked with her for years AND she is a good Todd family friend. And Kathy Rex is not the kids really Grammie, but I think they really do call her that, so if that tells you anything about how much love they have for them.
Melissa and Jeremy Agrelius
Sarah's best friend from HS and truly one of the most "sincerely" nicest couples you could EVER know!
The Lewis Family
Sarah's extremely nice & friendly nursing school friend and her uber cute lil' boys!
Veronica Dunlaps Girls
Eric, Sydney & Kollin Carter
Sarah's brother & his adorable family
Uncle Eric (who I think William resembles a bit)
Wes (aka Uncle Wessy)
and of course the one and only WILLIAM!
Cousin Asher & Will
WILLIAM ANTONIO TODD 2011
My other sister April Aleman, her hubbie Wes, and sweet little Peyton
US: Ned & Heidi Broberg (mind you this is AFTER all was said and done, about 8pm my 5 year old took this picture!)
Sorry to all of those who were there and I never got around to photographing you! And we know so many of you wanted to be there and weren't able to make it. TRUST me of all people and through this ordeal we have a new understand of the busy schedules of life and things that go on.
So many of you have told me, with heartfelt tears in your eyes of how much this has meant to you, and seeing those tears in your eyes and really changed our whole perspective on LIFE in general. It is sometimes hard to say, but we ARE GRATEFUL for this trial (Especially Danny & Sarah have said so) and all they have learned and come to appreciate through it all. You all are amazing, don't forget to appreciate life and live it to the fullest!
As we left the park that night, I had a little personal ceremony (my mom & my family witnessed) as I tore the decal (thanks Howard Brown) of "Support William" off the back of my car. I was waiting for this momentous day to do so. And in doing so I hope (although I will provide periodic updates on Will) that I am signing off for good and thanking you just once again for your love and support!
An very informal gathering to celebrate William's amazing recovery. We will be bringing pizzas and punch.
If you are up to it, bring something that starts with the letter "p." :)
We hope to CELEBRATE with you there.
Even if you cannot make it to celebrate with us tomorrow...Sarah/Danny & all the Todd/Carter Families want toTHANK YOU for all the support, love, and prayers. We feel SO SO BLESSED....
He is full of energy and screams a lot. His favorite word is "Maaaa!" which means both Mom and "I want (fill in the blank)." He was already a "spirited" boy before the illness, but after spending 2 months with a one-on-one nurse, he thinks the world revolves around him. Haa!
