Fall is in full swing in Pittsburgh, and with it comes beautiful colored trees, cooler weather, and of course flu season. As the weather permits around here we continue to try to take Judah out of the house as much as possible, but sadly October brought Judah’s last visit to daycare at The Child’s Way as more and more kids begin to get sick, and with Judah still trached we just can’t risk him catching anything. In addition to some pretty major doctors visits, this last month has brought us many opportunities to get out and play, before the real winter lockdown begins.

Judah loves to play with the other kids and has such a great time at daycare, but since he talks with his hands, he also loves sticking his hands and fingers into other kids faces. If Judah were to get even just a cold, it would land him straight back to the hospital, we don’t even want to think about how a flu would hit him. While we’ve gotten out into the world a lot to play, we’ve also had to change some of our habits and stop going to some of Judah’s favorite places like the Children’s Museum and even the mall because with so many people and kids around, there are germs everywhere. That still doesn’t stop us from finding fun ways to see the world.

While temperatures are still in the 50s and 60s around here, we can still go to the parks and playgrounds, October brings incredible pumpkin patches at local farms (where Judah got to meet his first goat), and even our traditional yearly trip up to Seven Springs for mommy and daddy’s anniversary.

Judah continues to amaze everyone, his doctors, his nurses. his therapists, and of course his parents and family. He is growing taller, stronger, and smarter every day. Judah keeps picking up additional sign language words, is doing well with multiple word phrases, and really understands what we say. His therapists praise him for picking things up so quickly and making such great progress, and following two major appointments just this week his doctors couldn’t be happier with him. The first appointment was with the dentist who was pleased with all of Judah’s teeth and how they are coming in, and just today Judah had a major cardiology followup that went fantastically! Back in June Judah had an echocardiogram that showed some troubling changes to his cardiologist, who expressed a concern that if the trend continue Judah would most likely require another open heart surgery within a year, but after the follow up echo today the doctor couldn’t have been more impressed with the lack of change since the last one. If Judah can maintain pressures and bloodflow in his heart like they saw today, the doctors feel there is no need in the foreseeable future for any procedures or interventions. While we know eventually Judah will need more catheterizations and heart surgeries, it is a huge relief to hear that anything like that could potentially be years away. way to go Judah!

Judah (and mommy and daddy) appreciate all the love, kind words, thoughts and prayers sent our way. Judah is growing so quickly, and we’re all so happy to have you following along.

Our love

J-N-J