Cam is out of the hospital!!!!!

We finally have some good news to post! Cam was discharged from the hospital today at 4. He is pretty much over the stomach bug and his surgery was successful. Until this morning, we were concerned that the surgery had some complications, but Dr. G. reassured us today that all is well. Tonight was one of the most special nights we have had. The Children's House invited all of the families to ride in a limo, eat dinner out at a restaurant and have a visit from Santa! Cam loved all of the lights inside the limo. It was a big Excursion limo. He fell asleep when we got to the restaurant so Chad, Nana and I actually got to eat together! Then Santa arrived and brought all of the kids several gifts. At the very end, he brought bikes to all of the older kids and gave Camden a very cool ride on truck. We can't express how much joy this brought us to see the kids so happy under such difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, Cam slept through Santa's visit, but we did put him on Santa's lap and got a picture. Tonight helped to erase some of the bad moments we have had up here. Our plan was to fly home tomorrow, but we need to stay in Baltimore for one extra day. We are flying home on Wednesday night, just in time for Christmas Eve at my sister's house (where I hear we might have another Santa sighting!). Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers throughout this trying time. We have felt the prayers from far away. We can't wait to get back to the Florida sunshine. Merry Christmas to all!
Love,
Julie, Chad, Camden and Nana (Jimmy says hello from Orlando!)

Update from Nana

Julie and Chad are both well now and busy taking care of Camden. Camden had to be readmitted to the hospital Friday afternoon. He was dehydrated and needed a couple of stitches to keep his stent in place. He definitely does not like the hospital or anyone there. I stayed with him Friday night and Sat morning I fell victim to the awful stomach bug that Julie and Chad had. Everyone said I would get it. Luckily it didn't hit me as bad and by Sunday I was ok but banned from the hospital room. Julie and Chad have been taking turns staying with him trying to keep him calm while he is there. I became the housekeeper and gopher for now. We should know more Monday when Dr. G comes to see Camden. We need to pray for Cam to be able to keep his fluids down and for good healing of his surgery. Julie and Chad are taking such good care of Camden and God is giving them the strength that they need to see him through this rough time. Camden is such a trooper and is still watching his favorite DVDs and clapping his hands even though one is covered up because of his IV. Julie and Chad had a visit from their friend Leslie Jack's mother and that meant so much to them today. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Nana

From Bad to Worse

Hey all,

Well, just when we thought things were bad enough, Chad and I ended up in the hospital. As Cam was being discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, his pediatrician was wheeling me down to the ER. Chad took Cam back to the Children's House and he started to feel ill too. Our favorite nurse, Shonda, came to the rescue. I don't know what we would have done with her. She came over and watched Cam so Chad could also go to the ER. It took me 4 hours to get in since there were 75 people in the waiting room. By the time I got in, Chad had arrived and they rushed him back. After being pumped full of fluids, Chad was released around 4 am. I still wasn't doing much better so they sent me up to an observation floor. Poor Shonda had to work the next morning, but she stayed with Cam the entire night. Talk about your own private nurse! I was discharged from the hospital Thursday evening. One of our friends Maria came over to watch Cam during the day so Chad could rest a little. Thursday night we became concerned that Cam was becoming dehydrated so we took him back to the ER. They told us it was going to be a 2-4 hour wait, but we must have looked so bad that they took him within 15 minutes. Ealier in the day, my mom hoped on a plane and flew up to Baltimore to help us out. Chad and I have never been so happy to see her! Maria's husband, Phil, picked her up from the airport. So now we are all resting at the Children's House. This has been such a traumatic experience. I think we all might need therapy! We are praying for a restful weekend. It is supposed to become very cold this weekend. Cam has a doctor's appt. on Monday and then we fly home on Tuesday. We can't wait to get home and put this awful two weeks behind us. Hope to report better news later. Thanks for your prayers. Keep em coming...we need em!
Love,
Julie, Chad, Cam and Nana

Oh what a few days...

I just realized in all of our craziness that I had not posted to the blog. Let's see...where do I begin about the past fews days..We are still in the hospital. Cam's surgery site is healing nicely and all of that is on course. However, he caught a stomach bug and has been miserable! Since he had the bug, he was put in solidary confinement! I'm not kidding. He had to stay in his room and all of the nurses and doctors had to put on gowns and gloves just to walk in his room. After the epideral came out on Monday, we were hoping to take wagon rides, but we couldn't. He was pretty dehydrated so they started the 4th (yes 4~!) IV last night and pumped him full of fluids. He had a MRI on Monday morning so he couldn't eat anything after midnight on Sunday. Once he came out of the anesthesia, he refused to drink anything for about 36 hours. He did eat pizza though. He had been receiving all of his medication through an IV, but in order to get out of here, he has to take them all by mouth. That has been fun...He has thrown up every medicine we put in him. I was the target for many of those! So we are waiting to see the surgeon and will hopefully be discharged this afternoon. We hope when we get out of the hospital, he will calm down and start drinking and eating better. Chad and I slept about 3 hours since Friday. Did I mention that our laptop broke again! We are borrowing one from the hospital. This week seems so much worse than the entire 6 and a half weeks we spent here earlier this year. Well, we are hopefully on the upswing and this will all be behind us.
I'll post when we get out of the hospital.
Julie, Chad and poor Cam Man

This is a quick video from before surgery. He was having so much fun! Cam is resting comfortably now after a rough start this morning. Cam has a medicinal patch that helps to control bladder spasms. It is supposed to be changed every three days. His seems to always wear off about 12 hours before it is supposed to be changed. The nurses were very quick to get him a new one, so his spasms didn't last very long. Tomorrow they are going to turn off the epidural. If his pain level is not to high they will remove it tomorrow night or early Monday morning. He has been taking lots of formula and we think once we get him up and moving he will begin to eat food again. The weather hasn't been too bad. The temperature has been around 40 during the day. We are hoping for one day of snow once Cam is out of here. Hope all is well back home. Thanks for all the comments! We love staying in touch!

Chad, Jul, and Cam

Hanging in there...

Hey,

Sorry we didn't post yesterday. Cam was having a great day of just sleeping until we noticed around 6 pm that his IV had come out. You know Cam, he can't stand to have all of these wires and tubes in him! So it was a pretty traumatic night getting it restarted. Two great nurses from the NICU came up to restart it. When he has surgery, they start off using a mask to sedate him and then they put all of the lines in so he doesn't feel them. Anyway, it is back in. Chad spent the night with him and neither one of them slept very much. They are both sleeping now! We hope to have a calm day. The doctors are still happy with his progress.
Cam's friend, Luke, had surgery yesterday and he is moving to the floor today. Yesterday, a pastor in the Baltimore area came by to visit Cam. He is a friend of one of my cousins. He came to visit several times when were up here this summer. He reminds us of Dan Myers, our friend and one of the pastors at our church back home. My school's Christmas Play is tonight. I haven't missed one in almost 10 years. It is always such a joy to see the students present the true meaning of Christmas. Cam would have loved all of the music.
On a sad note, a former student of mine was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on Monday. Please keep his family in your prayers. His memorial service is tomorrow and I wish I could be there.
Wishing we were home,
Julie, Chad, and Cam XOXO

Surgery was a success!

Hi everyone,

Cam came through surgery with flying colors! He began the day playing in the Pre-Op waiting room. He had everyone in the room laughing at his sounds and how hard he was playing. Then, it was time to go back to the OR. The hospital allows 1 parent to scrub up and walk back into the OR with their child. Chad always lets me do this, which I couldn't imagine not doing, but at the same time, it is the hardest thing I ever do as a mom. He had an awesome team of doctors and nurses taking care of him. Dr. Gearhart felt the surgery was a great success. His bladder measured on the larger side as far as exstrophy goes. We were thankful for that. He is a true fighter because when it was time to take the breathing tube out, he did it himself! He was awake when he wheeled by us on the way to Recovery. After about 1 hour, we were on our way back to the 6th floor. Cam is a bit of a celebrity here at Hopkins. Our room has been flooded with visitors since we came in. Even when Cam was in surgery, Chad was walking down the hallway and a medical student yelled, "Hey, you're Camden's dad!" Cam's roomates dad asked if Cam was singing autographs! It's nice to feel like you know people when you are so far away from home. Cam is resting peacefully right now. He has an epidural and is on quite a bit of pain medicine. We are relieved that Cam has had 2 major surgeries while he is so young and hopefully won't remember them. Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes today. We felt our support team with us. It has been a long day...we'll write more tomorrow.

Love,

Camden, Chad and Julie

Cam's all packed and ready to go!

Hi everyone,

We are up here in Baltimore. It is a little chilly! We had a great flight. Cam slept for the majority of the way here. Cam has surgery tomorrow morning. The surgery will last about 5 hours. He had an appt. with his surgeon this afternoon and he was so pleased with how everything has healed since the first big surgery.

We saw many people we met when we were up here before. Everyone is shocked at how big Cam is! Tonight he has become Mr. Independent. He was walking with this push walker and I was helping him steer. He took his hand off of the walker, pushed my hand away and then started walking again!! It was the funniest thing!

We saw the Therapy Dogs again. He saw the same dogs the night before his big surgery. We will update you all tomorrow. Please keep Cam in your prayers. He is such a strong guy!

Love from Baltimore,

Julie, Chad, Cam and Jim

Happy Birthday, Camden!

Can you believe Cam is 1 today? What a year we have had! He is doing so well. We had a fun birthday celebration with family and friends on Saturday. It was even warm enough to swim in the pool! The party theme was Mickey Mouse! Tonight we took Cam to The Cheesecake Factory for his birthday dinner! They sang "Happy Birthday" and brought him an ice cream sundae. He didn't like it. Can you imagine that? Thanks for supporting us through his 1st year! Enjoy the pictures!

Yoda - the force is with you!

Hey, here are the pictures from Halloween!

Halloween Pumpkin

Hey guys! Just thought we would show your our little Pumpkin! We went to the Library tonight for Spooktacular Reading!! For real Halloween, Cam is going to be Yodo and Jimmy is going to be Darth Vader! We'll post pics of that! Cam is on the move. He army man crawls all over the house. He has started pulling up and has taken a few crawls. He claps, waves his hands and loves to do the motions to "the wipers on the bus!" We are enjoying every minute with our little man!

One of Cam's friends from Hopkins is having heart surgery tomorrow. We're sending lots of prayers his way. He is 7 months old and his name is Luke.

Take care and hope you are all doing well!

Love,

Julie, Chad, Camden and Jimmy

Introducing Cam's cousin Haylie!

Hey everyone. My sister and Rod had their new baby girl! She is too cute and so little! Cam and I went up to Orlando this week to meet the newest addition to our family! Kylie is a proud big sister. While Haylie slept the days away, Kylie and Camden played hard together! It was so much fun to see them interacting! Enjoy the pictures!

Julie, Chad, Cam and Jimmy

Fun in the pool and walking Jimmy

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to update you with a few pictures of Cam. He loves to swim in the pool and walk his best bud, Jimmy. He is doing the army man crawl all over the house. He had a high fever over the past few days, but it seems to be better now. Hope you are all doing well!

Julie, Chad, Camden and Jimmy

Cam Man

Hey everyone~ We are busy with life right now!! Cam had 2 birthday parties this weekend. He is doing great! You should see him roll around on the floor. He is quite a rascal now!! He says "MaMa" now when he sees me! I love it! He loves it when daddy comes home from work and chases him around the house! Cam loves his big brother Jimmy, especially when he sneezes! He loves watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and eating! Enjoy a few pictures of our little angel!!

Hope you are all doing well! Take care and drop us a comment to let us know how you are doing.

Julie, Chad, Cam and Jimmy

Cam's doing great!

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since we have updated. We have been so busy since we got home and have just been enjoying our time. As of last night, Camden began sleeping through the night. It was a long 3 and a half weeks of getting up 4-5 times a night. He has been to 2 birthday parties, swam in the pool a ton, been to a Cardinals/Marlins game, had a visit from Nana, Gampi, Aunt Jenn Jenn and Cousin Ky Ky, been to the beach, and so much more. He is almost sitting up all by himself and he is eating Cheerios! He loves sleeping on his side and he rolls all over the floor! He even smiles at the camera when you take a picture of him!!!

In this crazy year, Chad has successfully completed his Master's Degree in Educational Leadership. We are so proud of him! He is going to make a great principal one day!

Here are a few pictures of little man! Hope you are all doing well and hope to hear from you all soon!

Love,

Julie, Chad, Camden and Jimmy

cam'

Someone looks happy to be home!!!

Hi everyone! Most of you know by now, but we are home! It feels great to be back in sunny Florida! Sorry we haven't updated before now, but we have been getting about 3 hours of sleep each night. Cam is doing great! He is recovery nicely from his surgery. He is just having a hard time adjusting to being home. He had to keep his legs wrapped up for 2 weeks and we just were able to unwrap them yesterday. He likes being free! He looked like a merman (not a maid!) We can't tell if he is having pain or just wants to be held all of the time. He is also used to seeing someone by his side at all hours of the day and night, so when he wakes up in his crib and doesn't see us, he lets us know! We are finished weaning him off of all the meds. He doesn't have much of an appetite yet. Hopefully it will come back soon. He still loves his swing! We got a jogging stroller and he loves to go on long walks!

We are so glad to have our Jim Dog back with us! Cam has noticed Jimmy! He laughs everytime Jim comes near him and especially when Jimmy sneezes!

I don't know if you guys have seen "Hopkins". It's a reality show about Johns Hopkins. We watched it each week in the hospital. Since we left, we can't seem to bring ourselves to watch it. We lived "Hopkins" and while it is an amazing hospital, it brings back all of those long days and night we spent there.

Chad has been doing his internship all week and Cam and I have been hanging out at home.

Thank you all for following our journey with us. We have felt the love from our family and friends during this difficult time. We have also met some incredible people throughout this whole ordeal. We know that God has big plans for our little man and we feel honored to be along for the ride. We started this blog when we left for Baltimore back in October 07 so we could keep in touch with everyone back in Florida while we were away. It's funny... we met so many great people in Baltimore and from all over, that we want to keep in touch with all of you that are far away now. Cam received the most amazing care up at Hopkins. The nurses, doctors, and the others are top notch! We are so grateful for the care he got up there and we know he will be just fine because he was there. We met people from so many other states and countries while we were there. We will try to update Cam's blog every so often so you can see how much he has grown! We will be back for another surgery by the end of the year so we will update from Hopkins again! We just don't want to think about that right now! Hope you all have a great weekend and we can't wait to see everyone again soon.

Love from Deerfield!!!

Julie, Chad, Camden and Jimmy

Cam is out of the hospital! It is the best feeling to have him back with us. We feel like we have a new baby again. We are all exhausted, but happy. Cam was discharged at 11:00 and by 12:30 he was in the car taking Nana to the airport! He had a funny expression at first in the car...like, "Wow, it's been a long time since I have been in here!" Actually, the windshield wipers in our Trailblazer quit working the other day, so Chad took it in to the dealer at 7 this morning and we had to rent a car for the day. We didn't want to take a chance driving without working wipers!

Cam slept for the majority of the day. Several volunteers provided an awesome dinner tonight at the Children's House and we got to eat dinner with Jack and his parents! Jack is having surgery tomorrow. The boys rolled around on the floor tonight while Chad watched the All-Star baseball game. We had to give Cam more meds tonight to keep with the weaning schedule. He has still been getting sick, but the docs don't seem concerned. We hope it stops soon. We plan on doing nothing tomorrow! When Cam sleeps, we are going to sleep! Thanks for the continued prayers for safe travel home.

Love,

Julie, Chad and Camden

Pack your bags, Cam!

We got official word that Cam will be getting out of the hospital tomorrow!!!!! Words can't even express how happy we are! It has been 46 days since his surgery here at Hopkins. We have received incredible care while Cam was here. Some days it seemed like the nurses and doctors were taking care of us as much as they were taking care of Cam! He has been so strong through all of this. We are so proud of him.

My mom is flying home tomorrow and we are planning on leaving on Friday. We will stop somewhere in the Carolinas Friday night and then in Orlando (we will get Jimmy!) Saturday night. We should be home by Sunday!!! Chad has flown home a few times and he said our house seems so big compared to the corner of Cam's hospital room that we have been living in! We are going to enjoy our last few weeks of summer!

The picture is Dr. Gearhart holding little man. He is Camden's surgeon. Dr. G. is truly a wonderful man and surgeon. He came in and scooped Cam right into his arms.

We did schedule Cam's next surgery for November 21. We don't even want to think about coming back up here so soon, but we should only be up for 2 weeks then. We seem to be making it a tradition to be in Baltimore for Thanksgiving.

Check back tomorrow to see pictures of Cam outside of the hosptial! What an answer to prayers!

Love,

Julie, Chad, Cam and Nana

Camden's Adventure Continues!!!

Cam's playing doctor!

Well, we thought we were cruising right along into the home stretch.....until Camden decided to practice his doctor skills. A few hours after the doctor removed 2 of his tubes, he decided to remove the last tube himself! We were in shock. He literally handed me his tube! I was like, "What is this?" We went into panic mode for a few minutes because we thought he was going to have to go back to the Operating Room to get it reinserted. This would have set us back a few days. Thankfully due to the doctors quick response they were able to reinsert the tube without a trip to the OR. One of the residents who was operated on Cam happened to be at the hospital so he came and did the procedure. This was a God thing because being a weekend it is hard to see a doctor you know. The tube was scheduled to come out today or tomorrow, but they needed to do an ultrasound first and then measure all sorts of things with the tube still in.

He also developed a little rash so we are trying to get rid of that. He has begun eating better than he did on Friday so we are happy about that.

On a happier note, a group came and set up this model train set. We took Cam down in the wagon to see it. The sound of the trains put him right to sleep! We met the host of Bindo yesterday. She was excited to meet Camden!

Please pray for a calm day today! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Love,
Julie, Chad Camden and Nana

We have had a few eventful days!!! As you can see from the other pictures, Cam is out of bed and we can hold him! It is the best feeling to hold him again! He is so heavy and long!!! The pins and fixator were removed on Thursday and two stints were removed today. He only has one more tube in his little body. Yesterday he was going through a little bit of withdrawal from all of the medications he has been on. They are slowing weaning him but he is showing some signs of withdrawal so they had to slow it down a little more. He has done ok for the past 12 hours so hopefully we can keep weaning tomorrow. The plan is to have an ultrasound of his kidneys Sunday or Morning, then remove his last tube and leave the hospital 24 hours later!!! I can't believe we are actually saying, "Leave the hospital!!!" We will stay at the Children's House for a few extra days and then hopefully we will be on our way home by the weekend!!!!

We had a few visitors yesterday! Our friends, Merryl and Austin Reynolds were up here for a some doctors appointments and they stopped by to see little man. I have known the Reynolds family for a long time and had the privilege to teach Chrissy and Austin. It was so nice to see friends from Florida! They have been so helpful to us through this whole ordeal.

Cam is keeping Daddy, Nana and me busy! He loves to read books and watch Veggie Tales. We are counting days the days til we get out of the hospital. We have had such a good experience here with the nurses, doctors and everyone else who works here. We thank God everyday for bringing us to this hospital for Cam's care.

We'll keep you posted on Cam's big exit from the hospital! It may take us three wagons to get out of here. One for Cam and 2 for all of his stuff!

Love,

Julie, Chad, Cam and Nana

To The Playdeck!!!

God's Presence and Great News!

Hey everyone~

Cam got his xray this morning! It was orginally scheduled for Monday and yesterday we heard that they would do it on Friday. This morning the Ortho team came in and said they were taking the xray this morning!!! Everything on the xray looked good so the pins and fixator come out and off tomorrow morning at 6 !!!! This means we get to hold Cam! We are so excited! Chad is flying back tomorrow and he is going to try to take an earlier flight. All of the nurses can't wait to hold him too! They are going to be lined up outside of his room! I'm going to have to fight off Chad, Nana and all of the nurses!! Once the pins come out, they will wait a few days and then start removing the tubes. If all goes well, he could be out of the hospital by early next week!! Today is day 40. It's hard to believe we have been here this long. He has had a great day. But I can tell he is ready to move around. He has been flat on his back for 5 weeks and 5 days. Thanks for all of the prayers.. they have been heard and answered!

I finally went to see the Jesus Statue at the hospital. It is breathtaking. The story behind how Hopkins got its name is pretty cool too. A man named Johns Hopkins (Johns was his great-grandmother's madien name) became a successful business man and wanted to give back to the community. He wanted a hospital that would serve all people so he donated 7 million $ and started the hospital and university. This was back in the 1800's. This statue has remained in the hospital and it has been said that is why so many miracles take place here. God truly has blessed this hospital. There is a book that you can write a note in and leave a picture. We did that for Cam today.

Please pray for the little girl next to Cam. She was in a near-drowning accident. She is the most beautiful little girl. Her family is so strong.

I have enjoyed spending quality time with my mom and I know she has loved being here with Cam. We read him a book last night and he laughed through the whole thing! His spirit is so bright. I am so glad he didn't lose that sparkle while he was stuck in bed. If anything, he is even more animated than before! The picture is with 4 nurses who love Cam so much!

Hopefully tomorrow we can post some pictures of him sitting up or going for a wagon ride around the hospital! Keep the prayers coming!

Love,

Julie, Chad, Cam and Nana

Nana and Cam

Hey everyone. Cam is having a good day so far! He drank 10 oz of formula overnight! He is starting to get his chubby cheeks back and it is so good to see.

Our niece, Kylie, is missing her Nana so we put a picture up so she could see her. Nana misses Ky Ky. Kylie also misses her best friend, Baby Cam. He misses her too!

We received a package from Alisen and Rebekah and their boys, Johnny and Judah, with lots of movies, magazines and a soft book for Cam! Thanks you guys!

We keep seeing miracles up here. There was a little baby girl from Honduras who had a hole in her heart and she was going in for surgery this morning. The doctors came in last night and said the medicine is working so they didn't have to operate today! Cam is our everyday miracle with how well he is doing!

Please keep a few others in your prayers: The little girl who had a portion of her brain removed had to be readmitted to the hospital and please pray for Jill's mom (Grandma Smith). Chad teaches with Jill.

The scripture verse on our blanket reminds us that, "With God all things are possible"!

We'll keep you all updated!

Love,

Julie, Chad, Cam and Nana

Cam's had enough!

Hi everyone! This picture of Cam (well the blanket and his arms) shows us that he has had enough of this hospital!!! Just kidding. He is actually doing really well. He seems content and happy most of the time. When the nurses come to his bedside, he pulls the blanket or his shirt over his head! It is the funniest thing! Also, when he wants to go to sleep, he pulls the blanket over his head. He can sleep with the blanket over him at the hospital because he is hooked up to all sorts of machines, but when we get home, he is going to have to forget the blankets. I think it has something to do with the light and noise in the hospital!

Chad is on his way back home today. It is always hard when he leaves, but he will be back on Thursday. My mom is still up here so Cam is getting spoiled by Nana.

We had fun celebrating Chad's birthday in the hospital. The nurses helped us decorate the halls and Cam's room and then they came parading down the hall singing Happy Birthday! He said he felt like he was at the Olive Garden! We all ate yummy cake and then Chad and I went to the Orioles game for a birthday date! It was nice to get some fresh air, even though it rained on us a little. The Mays family gave us tickets to the game and the seats were awesome. We were on the 5th row right next to 1st base!

So many people have sent us nice packages. The Trentecoste family (Cathy was our labor and deilvery nurse at Hopkins) sent us a wonderful selection of fruit, The Schneider family sent us tons of goodies to eat and magazines to read (The National Enquirer was very entertaining!), Brandy, Brett and boys sent us this great a Game Time basket with great snacks and checkers!! The Mitchell Family (who we met at The Children's House) sent us this super soft blanket with a Bible verse on it. Each of you are so creative and thoughtful! Thank you so much! The many cards have been so uplifting! Each one is appreciated! We are so blessed by our friends and family. We couldn't get through this difficult time without all of your thoughts and prayers. We can't wait to see each of you soon!

As it stands now, Cam will have an xray on July 14 (next Monday) and then things will start rolling. I hope we are home by the end of July so we can enjoy a few weeks of Florida summer. It is kind of cool here for July. Last night I wore long sleeves and pants and was a bit chilly! I know I'm a wimp, but I love the Florida heat!!!

We miss you all!
Julie, Chad, Camden and Nana

Daddy's Birthday!

Daddy's Back!

Hey everyone! Cam had a great day! His daddy came back up to Baltimore and it brought the biggest smile to his face! Many doctors came by today and all of them said he is doing great. He is still "talking" up a storm and it is so cute to hear his little voice. One of the great nurses at Hopkins bought Cam a shirt for him to wear when Chad came back. It says "I got my muscles from my dad!" Chad got the biggest kick out of it! Yesterday Cam won Bingo and he got the cutest Winnie the Pooh hooded towel. Tomorrow is Chad's birthday. We have lots of surprises for him. Chad and I plan on going to the Orioles game and Nana will stay with Cam at the hospital. We heard we can see the fireworks from the hospital so we plan on watching them. We hope you all have a Happy 4th!

Lots of love,

Julie, Chad, Camden and Nana

New tricks!

Well, who says you can't learn anything in the hospital? Cam is talking up a storm! He learned how to high five. His newest trick is he pulls the blanket over his head whenever a doctor or nurse comes by his bedside! It is really funny! We keep telling him, "You can't run, but you can hide!" He tested out his heart monitor lead on his tongue the other day. From his expression, it didn't taste too good!

He is eating much better now. We are trying to get him some protein so we asked for a meal pureed for dinner. I put the smallest bit of chicken on Cam's lips and he instantly had a gag reflex! We're sticking to sweet potatoes and fruit!

Right now Cam is scheduled to have his xrays on July 14 and then hopefully he will get out of the hospital a few days later. This is a little longer than we expected, but its ok.

We miss daddy so much! He is loving his internship, but I know he misses his little man.

When we see Cam's sweet smile or hear his adorable laugh, we are reassured that God is taking care of him. God gave Cam the perfect temperment to stay in bed for this long. I don't know many people who would be this happy in bed for so many weeks. His Nana loves singing to him and he loves to hear it.

Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers.
Love,

Julie, Chad, Camden and Nana

What a weekend!

Sorry it has been a while since we have posted. It has been a whirlwind of a weekend. My mom came back up on Thursday so Chad and I could go to the annual picnic on Friday and Saturday. We met people from all over the world and their kids were so cute! The surgeon gave Cam a shout out over the mic that he was the newest member of the crew! These doctors are brilliant and we are so thankful that they are taking care of Camden!

Chad flew home today to start his internship tomorrow. He didn't want to leave his buckaroo, but he did get to fly home on first class thanks to my Aunt Betty and Uncle Hank! We miss daddy, but he will fly back up on Thursday just in time for his birthday and the 4th of July!

Our friends from Maryland, Julie and Justin came to visit Camden today. It was so great to see them again. We spent so much time talking and playing with Cam. They are expecting a baby in November!

I am so ready to come home. Cam is handling it all better than me right now. He loves all of the attention he is getting from mom, dad, nana, and all of the nurses! The bubble machine found its way back to Cam's room and it is keeping him entertained. With all of the medicine he is on, it must look pretty cool. We need comments to keep us going!

Love

Jul, Chad, Cam and Nana

Goodbye Dr. Ernie!

Today Cam had a great day! He seems to have given up on trying to jump out of his bed and has come to terms with the fact that he is going to be here for awhile. He still has his fight in him, he is just finding other ways to entertain himself. He loves to pull the leads from his heart monitor off his chest, wait for the machine to beep, and then laugh! It is so funny to watch him! He likes to ride his "handle bars" as we call them when he holds onto his fixator. He was "talking" so much tonight! He has momma down and now we are working on dada. When I say dada he shakes his head 'no' and then goes on to say "momma". Chad and our nurse, Shonda, were giving him his bath today and Chad told Cam to say thank you and he said something that resembled "thank you". They were both impressed! He responds to his name now! All of the nurses and doctors say his name so he has really learned it!

One of the medical students that has been following Cam for the past few weeks has really shown a special interest in our little man. He finished his rotation on our floor today, so we wanted to give him a special shout out from Camden! Cam made him a special card and he gave it to him today. Thanks, Dr. Ernie!

We received some incredible packages today! Cam got Bert and Ernie puppets, along with some very cool shirts from the Milanese family. We also a package from the Heyward family. It was a very tasty collection from Harry and David, which happens to be one of Julie's absolute favorite stores. Just when we thought the day was done, one of our nurses came in carrying this great big package from our neighbors Marc and Doris. It was a collection of gourmet snacks! We have both gained a few pounds snacking by Cam's bedside, but we love it! Please know that we truly appreciate all of the cards, letters, emails, and packages. Each and every one brightens up our day. We are so very thankful to feel so loved from so far away. We feel blessed to have such great friends and family. It is something we thank the Lord for every night.

Chad, Julie, and Cam Man

Send in the Clowns!

Cam had his first experience with clowns today. It didn't go so well. The clowns have been to his room several times, but he has always been sleeping. So when they came in today he was actually awake! He liked them for all of 3 minutes so we could snap this picture and then he started wailing. They were blowing bubbles at him and it didn't help. I'm glad we didn't go with a clown theme for his room!

His surgeon came back and saw him today. He thought Cam had gotten bigger in the week that he was away. He also said that he usually sends his patients home when they have too many toys on the bed. Bring on the toys! He was very positive and thought Cam's recovery is going great.

We received some great packages from Jill, Al and Grandma Smith, my family in Savannah, Julie, Loyal, Benjamin Addisu, and Baylee, Donna and Dave Knudsen and several students from Eagles Landing have sent giftcards. Our nurse, Shonda, bought Cam his bath soap and lotion! She also bought us some Tasty Cakes! We don't think we can get these in Fl so we may have to bring a few boxes home.

This Friday will be 4 weeks after surgery. We feel like we are on a really bad vacation that will not end. We left home on May 24 and can't believe it is now June 24. Counting down the days til we can hold Cam again.

Love,

Julie, Chad and Camden

Sleepy Day

Cam had an uneventful day that consisted of sleeping all day! It probably has something to do with the fact that he was awake all night! He has his days and nights mixed up! The good thing was that he would take his bottle even while he was sleeping. It was the most unusual thing... but hey he's eating! Cam and I watched the gymnastics olympic trials together and now he is sleeping again. Chad had a bad day in the MLB world when the Cardinals lost in overtime.

I am tired of posting pictures of Cam lying in the bed so I put up a picture of us in Patterson Park. The whole gang went there the day before his surgery. The week he is out of the hospital and we have to hang around Baltimore, we plan on spending a great deal of time at the park. He needs some fresh air and sunshine so badly! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. He is doing great!

Love,

Jul, Chad and Cam

We made it through a Friday!

We have been pretending that today was either another Thursday or already Saturday because the past 2 Fridays have been too eventful. The epidural felt out the first Friday after surgery and then the IV fell out last Friday! Thankfully nothing fell out today and we still haven't needed the feeding tube.

On a fun note, he has started saying, "Mum Ma" or that is what is sounds like. We aren't sure if he really knows that is me because Chad will say "Dada" and he replies with "Mum Ma". Even the nurses have heard him talk! He has been laughing and his new favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus". He especially likes to do the hand motions.

I am putting some pictures on with us and the one of me is awful, but Cam had the biggest smile. I did get a 3 hour nap today, but from the bags under my eyes, you can't tell. We enjoy every precious moment with our little man.

Owyn was moved to a hospital near his house in Pennsylvania today. We are so happy that their family can be all together again. The Children's House had a cookout tonight for all of the families and the food was great. We miss everything about Florida. There is a channel on the TV at the hospital that has beach scenes to relax patients and we can't wait to really see the beach.

Love,
Jul, Chad and Cam

Eat Up Cam

Cam has had a great 2 days. He has been happy and playful. This morning got a little scary when the pediatricians came in and told us he wasn't eating enough and they were going to have to give him a feeding tube. We have known that this is a possibility, but we were hoping he wouldn't need one. He needs calories to heal his body. 5 minutes later the dietician came in and calculated his food intake and said he had taken enough food and didn't need the feeding tube. What an answer to prayers!

As the day went on, he slept for the majority of the day and didn't eat enough. So tomorrow morning we are prepared to hear that he may still need the tube. It will not be permanent and he can still eat and drink by mouth with the tube. He just doesn't like to keep tubes in his body, so we are afraid of how many times he will pull it out. He is a little fiesty like his mom!

We are sorry the pictures don't get more exciting than Cam laying in bed, but that is all he is allowed to do. We put his play gym on his bed and he has been having a ball! We won links in Bingo yesterday and they were the perfect addition to his gym! Its his Baby Einstein Sea Creature gym that Lisa and Casey Farmer gave him! Each time a new nurse comes to visit he stretches his arms up as if to say, "Will you pick me up because nobody else will!" It has been 3 weeks since we have held him and that is one of the hardest parts. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since his surgery and the halfway point! All of the nurses are fighting over him and they have been so wonderful! We know that Cam is in the best place possible and that ultimately the Great Healer is taking care of him. We can't wait to come home! We hope you are all doing well! I received an envelope with letters from my 6th graders at SRCS. We have decorated Camden's room with the sweet cards! Thanks for all of the support!

Love,

Julie, Chad and Camden

Happy 7 months old!

Hi from Baltimore. We have had a whirlwind of a few days. We're not really sure where to begin....Today Camden is 7 months old. We put up his play gym in his bed and he loves to play with his toys! Of course today was Bingo and we won new links for our gym! Chad even got into Bingo today so I had to share my board with him! This morning a group of professional BMX and skateboards came to visit the children in the hospital. It was outside on the 3rd floor playdeck so Cam couldn't go. Chad and I went for him and got to talk to one really nice BMX guy named Jamie Bestwick. He has a 3 year old son so we shared stories about our little guys. There is a big event here this weekend at Camden Yards so they are here to compete.

Cam's procedure went well yesterday. He went into surgery at 2 pm and was finished by 3. He had a tough time waking up from the anesthesia. Once he woke up a part of his fixator came lose and we had to page the orthopedic doctor at midnight. He came to fix it and they took an xray this morning and everything looked like it did in last week's xray. He is still having trouble with his medication, but I think that is going to be a battle until we get out of here. We also removed the air mattress he has been laying on to see if that will help keep him still.

Jack, Leslie, Mark and Izzy came to visit us yesterday! It was such a fun time! Jack is as cute as he can be and all the nurses were so excited to see him. He was almost walking by himself through the halls! Jack and his family have been such an inspiration to us! They brought Cam a Veggie Tales video and some wonderful homemade salsa and chips! We know that God is in control of this whole situation because we were having a rough day and it really brought our spirits up to see them.

We continued to be showered with love from home! We received some beautiful flowers from Anita and her family. The cards are so appreciated! We are hoping to have an uneventful next few weeks. This Friday we will be at the halfway point. Thanks for following our journey with us. We will be so happy to have this part behind us. Here is the picture of Chad and the BMXer.

Love,

Julie, Chad and Cam

Back to the OR

Hi everyone! Well, after having a fun Father's Day, Cam was supposed to get his Pic line on Monday morning. They wanted to try to do it at his bedside so they wouldn't have to put him under anethesia. The line wasn't going in right and Cam got hysterical. I have never seen him so upset. It didn't seem like he was in pain, just mad. It took 30 minutes to calm him down once they stopped the procedure. It was a pretty traumatic experience for all 3 of us. The rest of the day was fine. He slept for quite a while after. Today, he has to go to the OR to have the line put in. The procedure should start between 12 and 1, so please keep little man in your thoughts and prayers. He hasn't been able to eat since midnight, but he is sleeping comfortably right now. (so is dad!)

We are so thankful that God is wrapping His arms around our little man. He is giving us all the strength to get through this. Thankfully the hiccups we have had have been more with keeping him still instead of with the major surgery. It has been 2 and a half weeks. 3 and a half more to go.

They are cleaning Cam's room today so we had to move to a different room. We we get back from the OR he will be back in his clean room. Every 21 days, they have to move the children so this will count as his move.

I'll post a picture later.
Love,
Jul, Chad and Cam

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of you dads out there! We hope you had a great day with your families! We made the best of Chad's first Father's Day in the hospital! He received all kinds of gifts from the hospital gift shop! My sister sent Cam a camoflage shirt that says, "My Dad Rules" and I found a matching "World's Greatest Dad" shirt also in camoflage! They looked so cute together! We did take out for brunch this morning at a little diner called Jimmy's in honor of our Jim Dog!

Cam and Chad had so much fun playing together today. It was nice to see Cam so comfortable and happy. He gets his new pic line in the morning so please pray that goes well.

We have received so many encouraging cards! Thank you all so much! Gail Nugent sent a beautiful Creative Memories album and we love looking at all of the fun pictures of Cam. The Milanese Family sent some awesome puppets that I think Chad and I are enjoying as much as Cam! He also loves his Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Thanks to all of you!

Our little buddy, Owen, was moved into our room tonight. We are so thankful that he is out of ICU. His parents are both teachers and are staying at the Children's House, too.

Still counting down the days til we can hold our little man again.

Love,

Chad, Julie and Camden