Saturday, 4/30

Today was a pretty good day. Our big boy got moved to a crib!! Seeing him all bundled up in a blanket lying in that crib almost creates some "normalcy" to what has definitely not been a normal start! I love seeing him in there but it's a little hard because I had gotten used to him being in that open warmer where it was much easier for me to get my grubby paws on him! He's probably glad to get some peace :)

He did have one big "spell" where he was bradycardic (his heart rate dropped) and his oxygen saturation rate dropped really low. They had to "bag" him to get his numbers back up. This hasn't happened in a few weeks so it was pretty scary but it seemed to have been directly related to his having a lot of secretions. Hopefully it was just an isolated incident and we can continue moving on up! I forgot to mention yesterday that he has started eating again and so far is tolerating this well. It will take several days for him to get back to "full feeds" but he's getting there!

Today he also got to visit with his honorary Aunt Sue! They had a nice visit and Sue brought some more books for Dinky to read. (Thanks Sue and thanks again to everyone who sent books!!) So all in all it was a great day! We are all trying to rest up for what is sure to be a busy week!

Friday evening, 4/29

Today was a big day for both my boys! First, Martin changed Dinky's diaper for the first time! He did a great job (after he got it turned the right way :) Dinky was very patient with him! Second, and this is huge, Dinky got to wear a hospital gown and get swaddled like a big baby! You've seen him swaddled in the pictures where I was holding him, but that was only briefly. Usually he lays under a warmer with just his diaper on to regulate his temperature. But today they were testing to see if he can regulate his own. When they put that gown on him it was a huge step! HUGE! By the way Martin and I were acting you would have thought he had just taken his first steps. It's amazing how your perspective changes. He looked SO cute! With the gown on it just covers up some of the wires and monitors and let's us see our baby. I didn't think he could get any cuter but boy he did.

Family2 

Friday, 4/29

This is an early update but the doctors just rounded and so much is about to happen I just felt compelled to jump on here early. If things go as planned (IF) the next week will prove to be very scary and exciting! Dinky is doing so well with his vent weanings they are going to try and wean more over the next few days and then on Sunday or Monday try and extubate him (remove the tube in his nose and let him breathe on his own). He may need to go on C-pap (continuous positive airway pressure): Air is delivered to a baby's lungs through either small tubes in the baby’s nose or through a tube that has been inserted into his windpipe. The tubes are attached to a ventilator (respirator), which helps the baby breathe, but does not breathe for him which is still a step up! They are also tentatively planning to take him to surgery next week. YIKES! This will be the surgery to connect his esophagus and potentially tack down his diaphragm. We are definitely about to enter a new chapter. My stomach is just in knots but I am so excited about moving forward! They are also going to start feeding him today which I know will make our little man happy. To be continued...

Thursday, 4/28

Today was a quiet day, Dinky's fine, so we thought we'd just share this picture with you. This is our first family picture taken the day we moved to CHOP.

Family 

Wednesday, 4/27

Remember the patience I talked about yesterday? Mine is wearing thin. For this reason I ask you all to understand my brief post. Dinky is doing great, he really is. It means the world to me that you all look to this blog and genuinely care how he's doing and I promise to update you daily. On days like today, though, it may just be short and sweet (at least I'll try and keep it sweet :) Our frustration stems from an ongoing issue of plans changing depending on who you're talking to and when. This is not intentional, I think it's just the "nature of the biz" so to speak. As someone who has worked in the medical field I never truly understood how this impacted families. Now I do. Basically now that Dinky has recovered from his bowel issues and appears stable from a respiratory standpoint, we are just anxious to learn what our next step is and there are a lot of players in that decision and it's hard to get them all in one place at one time. I am trying to learn to just let go and trust knowing that he's in a great place. I will continue to work on this just as I will continue to try and work on keeping things brief when I say they'll be brief :) We thank you all, always, for your love and support.

Tuesday, 4/26

Unfortunately the fluoroscopy didn't give us a lot of information today. I keep looking for a "magic bullet" and unfortunately I can't find it. The study basically showed that his diaphragm is impaired, that we knew. There appears to be some movement but it's hard to tell what movement Dinky is making versus the ventilator. So it looks like he will definitely be ventilator dependent until the diaphragm is repaired. So the next question is...when? This is something we hope to have answered over the next few weeks. Until then we have to be patient. Those of you who know me know this is not my virtue, but I'm trying. We are coming up on three months now and it's been a hard three months. I still struggle with how "aware" he seems and how challenging his little life has been so far. We'll get through this, though. We have to. One day we will all be riding around in his new Rolls Royce, that he will get for his 16th birthday, and all of this will be a distant memory. And hopefully for him not a memory at all.

Monday, 4/25

Today has been a much better day! We have had a great nurse, Dinky has been very comfortable, it's just been peaceful and uneventful. I did try and hold him again but he didn't tolerate it very well this time. I think he needed to be suctioned because he had a lot of secretions, so he was just very uncomfortable. Maybe we can try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning he will have fluroscopy studies of his diaphragm. This is the first step getting him ready for his next big surgery. A fluroscopy study is basically an x-ray in motion. So it looks like an x-ray but they will be able to study the movement of his diaphragm. As the doctor put it it's a "movie" versus a "photograph". His next surgery will involve connecting his esophagus and stomach and, depending on this study, plicating (tacking down) his diaphragm. It's nice to know we are again moving in the right direction.

Sunday, 4/24

Argh. Today was a frustrating day. Since this all began I haven't liked weekends. They make me feel very insecure. His regular doctors aren't there, oftentimes your regular nurses aren't there. The energy is just different. Today definitely had that feeling. Poor Dinky just couldn't get settled all day. He was very uncomfortable. That coupled with the "weekendness" of it all made for a pretty bad day. He finally seemed to be resting a little more comfortably when we left. I am looking forward to tomorrow morning when we can get back to normal...whatever normal is.

On the plus side we did have a nice visit from David and Katy today. It's a good setup here because there's a family resource room with a little playroom and library where Nye and Ruby can hang out while David and Katy visit with Dinky. It has been very nice to have them close by.

Saturday, 4/23

A quiet day today, which is always a good thing. I held Dinky for an hour which was wonderful!! He looked so peaceful and did really well! Unfortunately we didn't have the camera. He looked so good today. His swelling is virtually gone for the first time in weeks and weeks. He lost 175 grams last night and I think it was all in his head!

There really is not a lot to report. Not much happens on the weekend (which is also frustrating at times) but overall it was a good day!

Friday, 4/22

Not a lot to report today. Dinky was pretty quiet. His blood pressure has still been high. Cardiology came by to take a look but it doesn't seem like they think it's a cardiology issue. From what the doctor said it's not "dangerously high" so I think the plan is just to wait and see for a little while. Martin and I were reading up on it a little bit and it also seems like it could be related to his lung disease. As with a lot of things I think we just have to wait and see.

On the upside his x-rays continue to be improved so we are making progress with the NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis) that has been our latest hurdle. They are anticipating starting to feed him again in five days or so.

Hopefully by next week we'll be back on track and can continue to make the forward progress he had been making before the NEC.

Thursday, 4/21

Today was a better day for our little one. He was much more restful. He got to have some time on his belly which he loved! His x-rays continued to look better so we are gradually getting out of this latest setback. It will probably be another week before they proceed with the plan of working up his diaphragm and getting everything back on schedule. His blood pressures were a little better and the tests they've been doing haven't shown a cause for them to be high.

He taught me a lesson today while I was changing his diaper. I took the dirty one off and reached for the clean one while saying to the nurse, "One day I'll learn to have this one ready". Right on cue Dinky worked his magic! He's been patient with me long enough :) It's these true mommy moments that I cherish!

I just want to close by saying that we've been remembering my cousin Greg today who passed away in January. Today is his birthday. We're thinking about you Cheryl, Missy, Polly and Jan.

Wednesday, 4/20

Our little guy is still hanging in there. Unfortunately his x-rays are staying the same so there's still air in his bowel, but it's not getting worse which is the main thing. You can tell he's feeling better because he's definitely letting us know that he's uncomfortable. Remember all that talk yesterday about not crying? Well, forget it! Poor thing. This is a very uncomfortable thing for him as the air moves through his system. And to top it off he's not able to eat, you all know that would make me cry, too! His blood pressures have still been high so they've started some medication for that and are also looking at some possible causes. We'll keep you posted as they do further tests.

In all the activity Monday I failed to mention that that's the day he was due. It's so hard to believe. While I would give anything, anything, to take away all of the pain he's going through, a part of me thinks that if he was born last Monday he wouldn't be the same Dinky that we have now. And I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Tuesday evening, 4/19

Dinky is continuing to hang in there with this latest bump. His x-rays are improving (they are following the air in his bowels) and in general he's been doing pretty well. They are again concerned about his blood pressure which has been on the high side since his surgery. If it was directly related to the PDA surgery it should have resolved by now (it's been one week since his surgery) so we'll watch that.

I wish I could accurately describe just how sweet this child is. I sat by his bed last night and spent a lot of time just holding hands with him and staring at him. He really is incredible. He can cry like any baby can cry (albeit without sound) yet he rarely does. Even when he is getting poked and proded you can almost see him trying to keep a stiff upper lip as he cries just the tiniest bit. It breaks my heart just to write about it. He is really something. (That last sentence was typed after just staring at this screen for a while trying to come up with the right words to communicate what I am trying to say. There are no right words, only this feeling, and I am so lucky to feel it.)

Tuesday, 4/19

Well, so far Dinky is fighting this with the same gusto he has everything else. He had a pretty good night and things are moving in the right direction. The doctor isn't prepared to say that we're out of the woods yet but she is encouraged and said it would be unusual for this to take a turn for the worse after he has begun to show some signs of improvement. Whew!! I will update you more tonight but wanted to let you all know that his night went okay.

Monday, 4/18

Unfortunately not a good day today. We have encountered another very scary bump. Apparently a small part of Dinky's bowel is necrotic, or "dead". This can be treated with strong antibiotics but it may require surgery. They are doing x-rays every 6 hours to see if air is escaping from the intestines at which time he would require surgery. I really just can't believe this is happening, things were going so well. Our little buddy just can't get a break. He won't be able to eat for 10-14 days while the bowel is treated. They are encouraged that he doesn't look any more "sick" than he does so hopefully this course of antibiotics will do the trick. Please pray for our little man and we'll keep you posted.

Sunday, 4/17

Not a lot to report today so I thought I'd just share a picture of our little one. His nurse, Veronica, would often take pictures of him and add the sweetest little notes. This one is our favorite. He hasn't been able to be on his belly in a week now but boy he loves it. He was very quiet today but will probably have a busy week.

Some of you (Dobie) have asked us to describe our boy. He is difficult to put into words. He has eyes that are often hard to open because he's a little swollen but boy he's sure cute when he tries. His forehead crinkles up and travels half way up his head. When he does get them open their color is up for debate. I say brown, Martin says a really dark blue. As you can see from the picture he has the cutest button nose in Philly. And now that his breathing tube is in his nose he is discovering his cute little mouth and tongue and loves to blow "raspberries" with it. He has long hands and feet with slim little fingers that like to grasp everything within their reach, especially a finger. When he straightens out his scrawny little legs he has the wrinkly, fleshy knees of a baby elephant. And I mean that in the best way. He is eye candy, that's for sure.

Dinky on his belly 

Saturday, 4/16

I am doing this post from David and Katy's house. It's so nice to be in Philly, close to family. Today was a pretty good day for Dinky, a frustrating one for his mom. He was doing really well but there were times when I felt like he was in pain and it wasn't being addressed. I often struggle with wanting to get along with everyone but also trying to advocate for Dinky, which is my number one priority. There are times that it's a fine line, and today was one of them.

The highlight of today was that Dinky had 2 visitors! Pat, one of the head nurses from the hospital we just left came by to visit. It was so nice of her to want to see how Dinky was doing. We had a nice visit with her. Then Sue came to visit and got to meet our little feller. She was a great support to me today. Speaking of Sue, it seems that she's been up to a little something, a "book drive" for my 2 babies (Martin and Dinky) to have their story time together. THANK YOU ALL so much for sending in such special books. We were completely surprised and touched. Thank you again. Sincerely.

Friday, 4/15

Another quiet day for Dinky but I feel like we got a lot of information today. This morning I met with the surgeon to start talking about next steps. The plan is to do some tests next week that will determine how compromised he is by the paralyzed diaphragm. This will tell us whether or not they need to "plicate" or tack down the diaphragm when they do the surgery to connect his esophagus and stomach. These tests will also tell us how much he depends on the ventilator.

This afternoon we met with three of the doctors on his team along with the social worker, who is wonderful. We just wanted to talk about the long term picture. They were reassuring in that, barring any complications, Dinky will pull through all of this. However, he does have a long way to go. My "mini" goal has always been to have him home by July 4th and they agreed that this is still a realistic goal. In general it was a reassuring meeting.

Dinky did get his g-tube (the feeding tube that was surgically inserted in his stomach) changed today. I washed out the old one and saved it for the baby book. Some people have locks of hair, we have g-tubes. We'll take it :)

Thursday, 4/14

Today was a good day for our little man. In fact, not a lot to report which is pretty good 2 days after surgery! He had had a chest tube in following surgery to drain out any fluid in his lungs and that came out today. His blood pressure has been better although still a tiny bit high. His biggest problem today has been an upset tummy. He has had quite the sound effects!! During a particular episode a doctor looked our way quizzically and I quickly had to clarify that it wasn't me!

There probably won't be a lot to report each day as a lot of where we are now is waiting and watching. Waiting for his lungs to heal, watching him get bigger. He still has a lot to get through, most notably his next big surgery, but he's a lot stronger than the 2 pound giant he was when he had his first one.

On a personal note (I guess these are all personal notes :) I want to thank Kim for coming out from Oregon to meet our little guy. Her support during his surgery meant so much. I love getting to show our little guy off and I can't wait until he meets each and every one of you. We thank you all for the many ways that you support us.

Oops

I told you I was tired! When I said it was my first night leaving Dinky I forgot we came home Sunday night. It just feels like the first night! :)

Wednesday, 4/13

An early update today. There is a wonderful family resource center here so I have access to a computer pretty easily.

Dinky is doing pretty well. He has still had some blood pressure issues and they have given him some more medication for that. He has been "brady"ing a LOT but we think it's because his tube is so low. It taps on his carina (the area at the end of the trachea) which triggers the bradycardia. He also has some swelling issues in his head again so we'll have to see how that goes. The good news is his blood gases have been better than ever so they have been able to wean his ventilator settings a little bit. All in all he's doing well after a pretty major surgery!

This will probably be my only update today. I am pooped! Martin and I will head home pretty soon. I'm nervous as this will be the first night I've spent so far away from him (we're about an hour and fifteen minutes away). It feels like the first day I left him at the hospital!

Tuesday, 4/12

Our little trooper has continued to do well today. He has had some blood pressure issues (it was much too high) but that has improved. They've also been able to wean his ventilator settings so we're moving in the right direction! What a day it has been! He has done better than anyone expected.

One nice thing about CHOP is they have some "sleep rooms" for parents. I will be able to sleep soundly (as soundly as soundly is these days) knowing he's just 6 floors down. Poor Martin had to go home this afternoon to teach but will be back in the morning. Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers and positive thoughts....they helped!

Tuesday, 4/12

I knew all of you would be thinking about Dinky (by the way, I have given up on trying to call him Edison) so I wanted to give you a quick report. His surgery went well this morning! WHEW!!! He did have a very large PDA that they were able to tie off AND clip (usually they just do one but they had to do both for him). Based on some observations the doctor doesn't think this was a huge part of his problem so we're not sure how much "better" he'll be afterwards, but it had to be done. So far he is recovering well but his blood pressure is running high so they are watching that. I will post again tonight to let you know how he's doing but I just wanted you all to know he is out of surgery and it went well.

Monday, 4/11

Our first day at CHOP has not been a smooth one. Dinky, excuse me, "Edison" has just not had a good day. He has had multiple, multiple episodes of bradycardia and desaturations, some of which did not resolve very quickly. He has not been this way the past several days so it's been very concerning. They made some adjustments to his ET tube (the one in his airway) and are hoping this will help things.

We are scheduled to have the PDA ligation at 8 am. We are pretty nervous about this next step but hope that it will help with some of his ongoing issues. We saw his X-ray today and his heart is definitely enlarged so this has to be resolved. They will do a bronchoscopy just prior to the surgery to reevaluate the airway and the bronchus.

It's hard to say how well we're settling in. Today has definitely not been a good day so that doesn't help. It's also hard to get used to a new group of folks who aren't very familiar with him. He's in a room with 6 other babies, most of whom are also on a ventilator, so there are a lot of eyes on him, but that also limits our privacy and quiet time with him. Lots of adjustments. We'll just take it day by day but definitely up those prayers and positive thoughts right now :) Our Dinky, EDISON, needs it. (and his mom and dad do a little bit, too :)

Sunday, 4/10

WHEW!!!! What a day! Dinky made his move just fine. He went by ambulance at around 11. The transport team was really nice. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone at RWJ, they have been so wonderful to us.

He was quickly settled in at CHOP and didn't seem to realize anything had happened (they doubled his Fentanyl, that's sure to help). There has been some confusion about when exactly they will ligate his PDA. Initially we thought it would be at 7:30 in the morning but that has now changed. We now know, "within the next 48 hours". It's a little up in the air but we feel very comfortable with their interaction with him so far so we are trying to just go with it.

It has been a very long day and we are all exhausted so that's all for now. I may start trying to post the blog in the morning as the nights will be so late but I'm not sure. We'll just have to see how this new schedule works out. Just know that we will definitely keep you posted!

Saturday, 4/9

Sorry about the blog, I don't know what's going on with the format. Anyway, today was a good day for our little man. He slept most of the day and seemed pretty comfortable. I was a bit thrown off when I called this morning and discovered we had a nurse we had never had before. She was great with Dinky but it would have been nice to end our stay there with someone we know well. Hopefully tomorrow will be different. I am pretty nervous about the move. Not knowing what time everything is set to happen adds to the anxiety. Hopefully it will go smoothly and Dinky will continue to do as well as he is now. We will definitely let you know!

What day is it?

Finally! The blog is back in commission! I don't know what was going on. The plan is for Dinky to head to CHOP on Sunday. So far he has been really stable on the conventional venilator and is just hanging out, ready to go. We are nervous and excited about this next step. My friend Kim flew in from Oregon to visit our little one today. She thinks he's awfully cute. So do we :)

Since I wasn't able to post the blog last night I'll post it here. The only thing that has changed is that now we know more the timing of when we're leaving. Here it is:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well it looks like things are in motion. Our doctor spoke with CHOP today and they will be taking Dinky as soon as a bed becomes available. The tentative plan is to do the surgery Monday and they will pick him up anytime between now and then. So we're sort of on standby. They did switch him to the conventional ventilator today and he tolerated that well. They had to give him more sedation because he is really getting so strong (a good thing) and restless and it is causing the tube to give him a reaction where his heartrate drops (a bad thing). So he was pretty conked out when I left.

I had a long talk today with the doctor we had a few weeks back who was so helpful to us. "Dr. H" has really been a support to us througout our stay. He was the attending the night Dinky was born but we didn't meet him until a few weeks later. Because he was on that night his name is on Dinky's arm band. I am so glad that we will have that to remember him by for years to come. (Although we would never forget him anyway). There are so many people that we feel that way about and whenever we try and name them the list gets longer and longer. ...Veronica, Pat, Venus, Nelda, Ken, Val, Randi, Linda, Donna, Dana, Rosa, Mylene, Regina and on and on....It is an amazing group.

Since things are so up in the air blog postings may be a little erratic. I will continue to try my best to post every day. But, since we'll be in Philly (an hour from our house) my days will be longer and so the postings may be later. You all are so important to us and I will really try and post every day at a reasonable time. Thank you so much for caring!!!

Wednesday, 4/6

Not a lot to report today. Unfortunately one of our NICU friends was pretty sick and so the doctors were pretty involved there and weren't able to make much forward progress on our move. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get more information.

The main news to report today is that Dinky's wound on his neck is virtually healed and they've stopped doing dressing changes. Thank goodness!

Sorry for the brief post today. Hopefully we'll have more info tomorrow.

Tuesday, 4/5

It is definitely turning out to be an interesting week. Today the cardiologist came by and we talked more about the PDA. It's been a while since I posted the definition but a PDA is a "small blood vessel within the heart that fails to close after birth. Premature infants are at greatest risk of PDA. Babies with PDA are treated with a medication called Indomethacin to try to close the vessel. If medication attempts do not close the PDA, surgery may be required to “tie off” the vessel. This surgery is called a PDA ligation".

Dinky's PDA is pretty large and definitely appears to be impacting his respiratory status. How much we are not sure but they believe it needs to be ligated. So...the plan is for us to be transferred to CHOP (Children's hospital of Philadelphia) by the end of the week. In order to do this they have to get Dinky off the jet and onto the regular ventilator so they will work on that the next few days. We're not sure how he'll get down there but it will be either by ambulance or helicopter. Even though flying makes me nervous I hope that's the way they go because it's only a 15-17 minute flight. This is exciting in the sense that I feel like we might make some headway after surgery, it's also very scary. The surgery will no doubt set him back a little bit and that is concerning. But they do feel like the benefits outweigh the risks at this point.

Leaving the NICU at RWJ is going to be tough. In the 8 weeks and 4 days we've been there we have met so many people who have been so wonderful to us. That is going to be a tough day on many levels.

Monday, 4/4

Things....are....happening....verrrrrry.....slooooooowwly. That's how I feel about this whole process. We know some things that are definitely wrong now (the PDA, the collapsed bronchus) but it just feels like plans take forever. The ECHO was done today but it was ordered late morning so it didn't happen until afternoon so we won't know the results until tomorrow. I'll be surprised if we have a firm plan in place by the end of the week. I'm concerned because his blood pressure was running high today and I'm worried it's because of the PDA.

The good news is he had his 2nd eye exam today and there's still no sign of retinopathy. The doctor continues to think that may be a possibility but Dinky continues to prove him wrong. HA! Dinky is also getting incredibly strong. Today he practically lifted his head all the way up (he was on his belly) and seemed to be starting to turn it. This was scary because he has the tube in his mouth but it was also exciting because he's getting very strong.

Now that he's back on the jet ventilator I am not able to hold him. (I've only held him that one time). But I did get to do a modified version today. He was in his isolette with the top open and the side down and I was able to hold his head while he was reclined into my hand. So his back was off the bed and my hand was cradling his head. It felt so nice. I told Martin we have to start calling him "Peach" because his head feels so soft and fuzzy but I think we'll stick with Dinky :)

Sunday, 4/3

Another quiet day today. Dinky continued to do well. He still needs a lot of suctioning but hopefully that's because all of this mucus is clearing out of his lungs! I think this will be an interesting week as plans take shape for his PDA. We will keep you all posted every step of the way. Thanks again for everything.

Saturday, 4/2

It was a rainy, windy day but luckily for our little one it was pretty quiet. He had a good day today. His ventilator settings stayed the same and he had very few "episodes". When he did it usually meant he needed to be suctioned but when he was doing well he was "sating" 98% on room air (that's great!) The plan is to do an ECHO on Monday to check his PDA and then we'll discuss options for that (again).

I have to say, the older he's getting the sadder I'm getting. I keep wondering if he's unhappy, if he's bored, if he's in pain. I think I am attributing more of an understanding on his part but it breaks my heart. Martin and I were reassuring him today that one day, when this is all over, he can have any kind of car he wants. :)

Friday, 4/1

Sorry for the late update today!! I just couldn't tear myself away from his side. Actually, I was trying to stay until they fixed his PICC line but at 9pm I gave up. His line just needs to be "reanchored", it's just a quick stitch. His night nurse assured me she would stay on them to do it.

In general he did well today. He didn't have too many episodes and it was pretty quiet. We did meet w/ the doctor who started on service today (we've had him before) and the doctor who will be coming on in 2 weeks to start discussing the plan. One thing that seemed to come out of it is we'll likely move at some point. There are 2 things that need to happen before his main surgery (where they connect his esophagus and stomach). He'll probably need a "stent" placement in his left bronchus that's collapsed, and they'll need to repair his PDA (the ductus in his heart that is still open). They are going to look into where the specialists are in this area but our guess is we'll probably move either to Columbia (in NYC) or CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). We are pushing for CHOP because it's near David and Katy, it's closer for us, and it's the #1 neonatology program in the country. It could be an interesting few weeks shaping up.

Finally, a very special Happy Birthday to Dinky today. It was 8 weeks ago today that his journey began. It's so hard to believe. There are times it feels like just yesterday and times that it feels like a lifetime ago. So happy birthday to him..."and many more...."