Colin's Late Night Shenanigans

It just wouldn't be Colin without some late night mischief, would it?

After getting a much needed sleep, we called over to the hospital about 6AM to check on Colin. For the most part, he spent a majority of the night asleep. However, we were told that the little bugger woke up a couple times and decided to sit straight up, again, and get mad. After a little more medication to settle him down, he was back to sleep.

When we arrived at the hospital, the doctors were in the middle of their rounds. It was then did we meet up with last night's attending physician providing the details behind Colin and events from last night.

"Mr. Grady woke up a couple times last night...the first time it took three of us to hold him down...the second time, it took four of us to hold him and get control of him...he may be tiny, but he is VERY strong," the physician detailed in his progress report to his colleagues.

Other than these late night mischievous moments, Colin is doing very well. The doctors have assured us that his Jane Fonda sit-ups and wanting to yank out every tube and wire is perfectly normal. Just to ensure that he isn't too quick on the draw, his hands and arms are now comfortably restrained.

Again, thank you for all your thougths, well-wishes, and prayers. They are certainly carrying us over these hurdles and remain a great support system for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you...

With Love,
Dan & Nicole

Colin has "Perfect" Game in Cincinnati Opener

According to Colin's surgeon, the procedure was perfect; no complications, no issues, everything went according to plan.

Right now, Colin is on a ventilator, which is breathing for him. He has a specific sized breathing tube that is inserted through his nose and down into his airway. Over the next week, he will be on this ventilator and specific sized tube. Should everything go according to plan, the course of action will be another scope of his airway next Monday with a smaller ventilator tube inserted for a day. Should that tube do fine, the ventilator and tube will be removed to see how Colin does on his own.

The above pictures are about 2 hours old. For the first time since Colin was three months old, notice no trach!

In typical Colin fashion, about 30 minutes after we arrived in his room, even under heavy sedation, Colin woke-up, sat up in his bed (ventilator tubes and all) looked at Nicole and said, "Momma" in a very quiet, almost whisper voice.

After a little more medication, Colin was back off to sleep.

We want to thank each of you for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. Certainly, we are not near the end of this journey, but we are another step closer to coming home. THANK YOU!

With Love,
Dan & Nicole

Surgery Update

We just received news that the surgery is complete.

From what we know, everything went according to plan. At this point, Colin is trach free.

We have not seen him as of yet, but as soon as we visit with the doctors and see Colin, we will update.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. They are working!

With Love,
Dan & Nicole

The Big Day

Greetings from wet and chilly Cincinnati.

Colin's procedure started approximately 12 Noon, EST. The surgeons are anticipating about a four hour procedure.

At 1:15PM, we were just updated that Colin's scope went according to plan, and now the next step is taking the rib cartlidge for use in the LTP procedure.

We will keep everyone updated on Colin's progress as we receive word.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers...please keep them coming, not only for Colin, but also Grace and Emma.

Colin Taking on Cincinnati

Big City, Meet Colin (again)

In the early morning hours of Sunday morning, Colin arrived in Cincinnati.

We had a very large breakfast of pancakes, donuts and chocolate milk. Today, we plan on playing in the hotel, taking a walk around the downtown area, and watching some basketball. Did we mention eat? We plan on having many meals, fit for a King.

Be sure to keep an eye out here for updates on tomorrow's big event.

Happy Easter

We enjoyed a very relaxing, sugar-filled Easter at home. With a small tribe of children in the neighborhood, it was necessary to have an action-packed Easter egg hunt and brunch.

Eyewitnesses confirm that there were in excess of 200 eggs hidden throughout the yard. The greatest difficulty was keeping a familiar family pet, Tex, from gathering up and keeping the eggs to himself.

It was a very relaxing and fun event with our closest friends and their families.

Grace's Roller Skating Birthday

On Saturday, February 2nd, Grace celebrated her 7th birthday with lots of her friends. The party was held at Skate-Town, a local roller-skating rink.

For over two hours, Grace, along with Emma, Colin and about a dozen friends had an exciting time roller-skating, eating lots of pizza and cake, as well as playing lots of video games.

Even Pap, Amy, and Uncle Chris got in on the roller skating fun.

After all that early Saturday excitement, Grace, Emma, and Colin decided to skip a nap and continued roller-skating once they got home.