Teenager In The Kaufman Home - Is This Really Happening To Us?!?!? :-) :-)

Today Cameron turned 13 years old! For those who are familiar with the story of his life, what a miracle! It truly seems like "only yesterday" that we were traveling from Apartment A-2 on the campus of Northland Baptist Bible College up to Dickinson County Memorial Hospital in Iron Mountain, MI (yes, Cameron is a "yooper" - born in the U.P. of Michigan).

Cameron was born at 10:25 p.m. The temperature that night was -20 degrees Fahrenheit (that's right, negative 20 degrees)! By early the next morning, Cameron was being whisked down to the NICU in Green Bay, WI where he would be hospitalized for 3 weeks, and where we would learn about and be taught to care for his many physical needs.

As I shared Cameron's story with a friend recently, I said again what I've repeated many times the last 13 years . . . I wouldn't wish the challenges of Cameron's life on anyone else, but I wouldn't change one thing about it for our lives! God has used Cameron to grow us spiritually in so many ways that we just can't thank Him and glorify Him enough!

Shortly we'll post some more recent pix of Cameron and the rest of us, but in the meantime, I think I see some teen rebellion creeping into his eyes and so I must go "nip it, nip it in the bud!" :-)

What a little man you are
What a little man we love
What a little man you are
You are given to us from the Lord above!

We love you Cam' from the bottom of our hearts
You're our special little treasure
The Lord above He maketh no mistakes
His love is without measure!

What a little man you are
What a little man we love
What a little man you are
You are given to us from the Lord above!

The pictures above are of some visitors we had last Friday. Randy and Nancy Vick are in the top picture. Clayton has been staying with their family the last few days. Thanks to the Vicks for helping with Clayton! Martha, Elizabeth, and Rebecca Winstead are in the second picture. Martha is our school secretary, Elizabeth is a Senior in High School, and Rebecca is a 5th grader. It was nice to have the Vicks and Winsteads stop by. Thanks!

Cameron has done OK over the weekend. He is still not handling the feedings as good as we would like, but we and the docs believe it's good enough for him to go home. We are finalizing all the details today regarding Cameron's feedings (what hourly rate would be best, what kind of formula to use, etc., etc.) Lord-willing we will be able to leave this afternoon sometime. I plan to continue to put posts of Cameron's progress on this website over the next few weeks. I'll try to at least keep a weekly update so that those who are interested in checking up on him can do so. Our home phone number is (252) 212-5175 if you would like to give us a call. We'd love to hear from you!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS, AND POSTED COMMENTS, AND PHONE CALLS, AND VISITS DURING THIS HOSPITAL STAY! A four-and-a-half-week hospital stay is a long time, but God used many of you to help make it "shorter" in a sense.

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS SUSTAINING GRACE AND STRENGTH DURING THIS TIME! HIS PLAN FOR OUR LIVES IS A GREAT PLAN! Our desire is to come through our trials "as gold." It is God's grace and strength that helps us do that. HE GETS ALL THE GLORY! Our continued prayer is that He truly would be our ONE PASSION in life.

This world is not my home, I'm just-a-passin' through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore!

O Lord, You know, I have no friend like You
If heaven's not my home, then Lord, what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore!

They're all expecting me and that's one thing I know
my savior pardoned me and now I onward go
I know He'll take me through though I am weak and poor
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Just up in Glory Land we'll live eternally
the Saints on every hand are shouting victory
their song of sweetest praise drifts back from Heaven's shore
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Visitor Pictures

Cameron had another good night on the feedings. Praise God for that! Today we will be slowly increasing the hourly rate at which the formula will go through. The rate is 45 cc's/hour right now, and we want to get to 70 cc's/hour before we go home. Thanks in advance for your prayers regarding progress on Cameron's feeds.

Thanks to the Single Career Ladies ABF for the goodie basket (especially the Swiss Cake Rolls! :-). Thanks to Sue Howell for the miscellaneous "blessings" she had waiting for me at home Wednesday afternoon. Thanks to the Terrills for the goodie basket, including the health food granola bars! Thanks to those who have posted encouraging comments on this website (the Nichols, Beth Calvert, K4T team, parents, etc.). Thanks for the phone calls to check up on us too (Pastor Shelburne, Brandon Godwin, Mindy, Bob Legg, etc.).

The pics are of the Shelburnes latest visit. We showed them how the love seat in our room pulls out into a double bed. The Shelburnes also sang as a family to Cameron which he really enjoyed! Thanks again for the visit. It was a welcome surprise!

Psalm 119:126 It is time for the Lord to act . . .

"Care Conference" Update

From 3:15-5:30 p.m. this afternoon we discussed Cameron and his medical needs with 3 General Peds doctors, the Surgeon, a Clinical Social Worker, a Dietician, and a Discharge Planner. To summarize, everything went very good as far as us being able to voice our questions to the Surgeon to get a read on what he was thinking as well as to have him explain to us (and the others in the meeting) exactly what Cameron's stomach/intestinal anatomy is like and how that affects or does not affect different issues that Cameron is facing now. We were also able to discuss a plan for getting Cameron up to his necessary feeding amount so that we might be able to go home soon. Thankfully, he has been tolerating his feeds better over the last 2 days. He slept OK again last night, and had a better day today.

We did discuss briefly the idea of getting a 2nd opinion from a different hospital. They would be very gracious in helping us do that; however, the hospital that is best noted for the Gastric Dissociation surgery that Cameron has had done is located in London, England. From our brief research, our surgeon here at Chapel Hill is probably one of only 2 or 3 surgeons in America who has even done this surgery, and he's only done it twice - Cameron being the second one. So that answers that question that we were considering. We certainly didn't want to think about going somewhere farther from Rocky Mount, but we were willing to do that if it would be helpful to Cameron.

THANKS TO ALL WHO WERE PRAYING BEFORE AND DURING THIS "CARE CONFERENCE"!!! We believe God was honored as well as some good strides taken in helping several other doctors better understand Cameron's anatomy. We'll keep udpates coming, but we wanted to at least get this on posted since we knew many were interested in how this meeting went.

Praise God for his loving sovereignty through all this! He gets all the glory!

Care Conference Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Please Pray!

Cameron had a better night than expected being on his feedings. Praise God for that! He wasn't quite as comfortable as the previous 2 nights, but nevertheless, he did OK. He's on a special formula (Peptamen) that has a high caloric density so he can get the calories he needs at a lower volume per hour. The latest activity is that the doctors are having the secretions we suction from his trach and mouth tested for fats and sugars to see if he is refluxing formula up that far. If fats/sugars are present, it would send us down another path of considerations that might point us to the source of his pain/discomfort.

As you see in the title of this post, the Care Conference with several docs from different teams (Gen. Peds; Surgery; Radiology; Nutrition) is set for tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Please pray that we will be able to communicate our thoughts/concerns in such a way that is loving and gracious, but also firm and clear. There are a number topics and details that we want to address, and we need wisdom to know how to bring them up and in what order to bring them up. We may bring Clayton (Cam's 8-year-old brother) into the meeting with us! :-) He has started to give input on possible solutions for Cameron since he's been around more this week during his Easter Vacation!

On a lighter side, the TV/DVD Player/PlayStation 2 Game System was requested today by another family on our floor. It is gone now, and there is a void! :-) If this isn't a "sign" that we should go home now, I don't what is! :-)

JEHOVAH-ELYON - The LORD Most High (emphasizing God's honor, authority, and character)!
Psalm 7:17 I will . . . sing praise to the name of the LORD MOST HIGH.
Psalm 9:2 I will sing praise to Your name, O MOST HIGH.
Psalm 83:18 That they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the MOST HIGH over all the earth.
Psalm 92:1 It is good to . . . sing praises to Your name, O MOST HIGH.
Psalm 97:9 For You are the LORD MOST HIGH over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.