Questions. Answers?

For those of you that have questions about Ian, here are some questions that have been asked a few times.

Why did Ian get SO sick?
We don't really know.
Short explanation - He caught a cold.
Long explanation -  He has been sick since coming home in Jan, and recovered fine. He just hasn't been this sick. We were told that there is a bug going around right now that seems to hit preemies harder... (Ryan has a cold, but seems to be handling it just fine. Same cold? Don't know.) 

For now we are going to keep Ian home from places he is likely to catch something for a few weeks (church nursery etc. ). We will give him a rest so he can recover completely, try take him again in September or so and see what happens...

Will Ian get this sick from a cold/flu again?
We don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. Putting all of Ian's medical history together we know from his intestinal surgery last September that Ian had a lack of oxygen to his intestines at some point in his life (strange pattern of blood vessels going to the intestines). If he had a lack of oxygen to his intestines, then he could have had a lack of o2 to his whole body at some point. 

When did this happen? There are 3 times we can think of that he could have had this lack of oxygen.
1. Just before the ttts surgery in Toronto.
2. During the ttts surgery (lasered the blood vessels connecting the twins on the placenta...Ian ended up with 20-30% of the placenta after the surgery)
3. Just before birth, since Ian's portion of the placenta was so small, and it was a long/strange portion, it was possibly dying off just before he was born. The Dr's in Toronto only expected Ian's part of the placenta to last to 30 weeks...if my water didn't break first. Ian and Ryan were born at 34 weeks.
  This may be why Ian had such a hard time with his lungs when he caught this cold.  

Or maybe its just because he was a preemie... (2 lbs 11oz at birth, 2lbs 6oz before is first surgery...tiny) Preemies are often more susceptible to sickness. (At birth the twins were both on cpap  (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) for a bit to help their tiny lungs, but just room air (didn't need extra o2))
So really, we don't know for sure why Ian got SO sick. 

Often in the past and still now people ask me. Is Ian fine now? He's fine now right?
The question " Is he fine?" isn't really something we can answer with a yes or no.
'Fine' means MANY different things.. 

Right now when I answer that question I think...  Well, he's bouncing around in his bouncer, babbling, smiling and overall doing quite well. To me that's fine. 

In the past when people have asked that question 'yes' just meant he was alive...so he was fine. 

Is he ever going to get seriously sick again? Maybe. Maybe not.

We are incredibly thankful God has guided the hands and minds of all the medical teams we have worked with. These people have been blessed with dedication and caring for their patients and the patients families and are truly remarkable people! Thank-you!  

Dr. Ryan and his team in Toronto.

Dr. Dicken and the GI team in the Stollery. 

Dr. Duff and the team in the Stollery PICU. 

Are a few of the teams we have worked with more closely.