Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Life Happens

Many of you got this in an email from us but just wanted to post it here to document it.

As many of you know with each pregnancy Daniel and I take a 50/50 chance that I will pass along my genetic disorder of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) Type 4. And as all of you know, Brayden and Teagan did not inherit my gene and so they do not even have a chance to carry it on in our family. Well on Wednesday December 14th we got a phone call at 5:15 pm from UNC that Colton did in fact inherit my gene. So Colton does have OI - type 4. We were not expecting the results to come back so soon because with Brayden it took 6 weeks and Teagan about 3 1/2 weeks. This time we find out just shy of two weeks.

Daniel and I haven't told many people yet and even typing this email is hard for me. I think telling people makes it seem more real and makes me have to deal with it more, so I have just avoided it. We didn't even tell our families for 2 days just not knowing what to say to them and needing some time to process it ourselves before sharing with others. Of course we have a HUGE range of emotions we are going through and there has been a lot of tears. Emotions ranging from grief, anger, sadness, guilt, fear, and many more. Not all positive emotions for sure.

But we are telling all of you to ask you to just be praying with us and for our sweet Colton. There are still a lot of unknowns and that may be the hardest part. We don't have any answers or other specific things to tell you about it right now. All we have been told is that I have to call on Monday to schedule an appointment with a pediatric genetic counselor and we will go from there I guess.

Some specific prayer requests...

* Pray that we get in to see the pediatric genetic counselor sooner than later. I was told it can take months

* You can begin to pray that Daniel and I deal with all our emotions and not let them stay bottled up. And that we try to deal with them in a somewhat healthy way

* You can pray for Colton...that the OI would present itself in a minor way in his body and lifetime as it has for me. Yes I have broken several bones but overall have been able to live a pretty normal life but there are relatives I have that have the same type of OI that I have who have had A LOT more issues related to the OI and have not had such a mild case of it. To my understanding we will not know how it will affect him right away...

Also as many of you know I fell almost two months ago and hurt my left arm pretty badly. Well also last week, we found out I have to undergo outpatient surgery this Tuesday Dec. 20th. I found out recently from an MRI I have torn my tendon/tricep muscle area. I have broken this arm several times in the past, so hurting it again is just a frustrating thing for me having to deal with another OI related issue. So you could just be praying that my surgery goes well on Tuesday. :) WHAT a week huh?

This year has been an emotional one for our family...from the tornado, having to move out of our house for 6 weeks, falling/surgery, Colton's diagnosis. Really hoping 2012 comes with a lot less emotions :)

Thanks for living life with us!
As many of you know with each pregnancy Daniel and I take a 50/50 chance that I will pass along my genetic disorder of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) Type 4. And as all of you know, Brayden and Teagan did not inherit my gene and so they do not even have a chance to carry it on in our family. Well on Wednesday December 14th we got a phone call at 5:15 pm from UNC that Colton did in fact inherit my gene. So Colton does have OI - type 4. We were not expecting the results to come back so soon because with Brayden it took 6 weeks and Teagan about 3 1/2 weeks. This time we find out just shy of two weeks.

Daniel and I haven't told many people yet and even typing this email is hard for me. I think telling people makes it seem more real and makes me have to deal with it more, so I have just avoided it. We didn't even tell our families for 2 days just not knowing what to say to them and needing some time to process it ourselves before sharing with others. Of course we have a HUGE range of emotions we are going through and there has been a lot of tears. Emotions ranging from grief, anger, sadness, guilt, fear, and many more. Not all positive emotions for sure.

But we are telling all of you to ask you to just be praying with us and for our sweet Colton. There are still a lot of unknowns and that may be the hardest part. We don't have any answers or other specific things to tell you about it right now. All we have been told is that I have to call on Monday to schedule an appointment with a pediatric genetic counselor and we will go from there I guess.

Some specific prayer requests...

* Pray that we get in to see the pediatric genetic counselor sooner than later. I was told it can take months

* You can begin to pray that Daniel and I deal with all our emotions and not let them stay bottled up. And that we try to deal with them in a somewhat healthy way

* You can pray for Colton...that the OI would present itself in a minor way in his body and lifetime as it has for me. Yes I have broken several bones but overall have been able to live a pretty normal life but there are relatives I have that have the same type of OI that I have who have had A LOT more issues related to the OI and have not had such a mild case of it. To my understanding we will not know how it will affect him right away...


Also as many of you know I fell almost two months ago and hurt my left arm pretty badly. Well also last week, we found out I have to undergo outpatient surgery this Tuesday Dec. 20th. I found out recently from an MRI I have torn my tendon/tricep muscle area. I have broken this arm several times in the past, so hurting it again is just a frustrating thing for me having to deal with another OI related issue. So you could just be praying that my surgery goes well on Tuesday. :) WHAT a week huh?

This year has been an emotional one for our family...from the tornado, having to move out of our house for 6 weeks, falling/surgery, Colton's diagnosis. Really hoping 2012 comes with a lot less emotions :)

Thanks for living life with us!