Huston William

Huston's Christmas Pic
A couple of days before our two year wedding anniversary (Aug '03), we found out we were pregnant with our first child. We were so excited! In November we found out that we would have a son and decided to name him Huston William. Then on March 19, 2004, Huston was born weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 1/2 oz and 19 inches long...and he was 3 1/2 weeks early!?!

Huston is now three years old and we can't believe how time has flown by! We have learned SO much in our role as Huston's parents and have been even more blessed. Huston is our first miracle baby. When Huston was a few days old, they found a heart murmur -- while this is common in newborns, Huston's murmur was not innocent. He was diagnosed with Pulmonary Stenosis, this just means that the valve leaflets in his pulmonary valve do not function properly (they are too thick), and to complicate matters there is a narrowing of his pulmonary artery right above the valve which further disables his valve from working properly. Then at five weeks old when Rusty was changing Huston's diaper, he saw what appeared to be an inguinal hernia...so we were off to the doctor and then to a pediatric surgeon. The next week Huston had double hernia surgery in Lubbock. Huston had a wonderful surgeon and everything went great. Those of you who have children know that being first time parents is hard enough in itself...so we were a little overwhelmed, but we didn't know any different either. We started seeing a pediatric cardiologist from Cook Children's for Huston's heart defect and at eight months old, they decided to attempt a balloon valvoplasty to "fix" Huston's valve. We went to Cook's in Ft. Worth and were very excited to think Huston would be free from the defect and would only have a faint murmur as a reminder that he ever had a problem. One of the nurses even told us during his surgery that the success rate is really high and that the "only reason it wouldn't work is if his valve was really gnarled or something". Well, you can imagine the shock when the surgeon gave us the post-op news that the procedure was unsuccessful and we would have to try again when Huston was older. Huston's more complex heart defect was pretty rare and combined with the other problems we had already encountered, the doctors decided it was time for genetic testing to see if there was a common link to his problems. While we were waiting for the results, we went in for Huston's ten month check up. They noticed a big jump in his head size and immediately sent us for a CT scan in Odessa. It was upon receiving the results of the scan that Huston was diagnosed with schizencephaly, a VERY rare brain defect/disease (it is recognized by a fluid-filled cleft running through the brain). The doctor in Odessa diagnosed, our pediatrician confirmed and so did a pediatric neurologist and pediatric radiologist from Cook Children's Hospital. We were told he would start having seizures (medication would help but not cure) and that there was no cure and nothing else they could do for him. Schizencephaly is a terminal disease, which slowly takes away vision, hearing, physical capabilities, etc. We would have a more in depth MRI performed to let us know the exact type and the advancement of the defect/disease. What could we do now? PRAY!!!! and ask everyone we knew and people we didn't know to pray for our son. We came to the realization that if God chose to heal Huston, that would be wonderful and we would give God all of the glory; but we also knew that if God chose to say no to our prayers and not heal him that we would all be okay and would strive to still give God all of the glory by the way we handled Huston and everything that would come with schizencephaly...including a premature death. A VERY long two and a half weeks later, we went to Cook Childrens for the MRI with contrast and then awaited the phone call from our pediatrician to let us know the results. We were in our hotel room one morning when the phone rang and our pediatrician told me that Huston's MRI was perfect, clear, there was nothing there except a little noted "sinusitus". GOD HAD HEALED OUR SON!!!! What an amazing blessing and so humbling to think that God chose to heal Huston. Praise God! By the way, his genetic testing results came back fine, too.

I have learned so many lessons from the different experiences with Huston. One is that our children truly are not ours, they belong to God and He is just letting us take care of them for a little while until He calls them home. I also learned what it is like to rely 100% on your faith in God and His ultimate power and control. There was NOTHING anyone could do for Huston...there was no magic medication to cure him, no super doctor with a special treatment, nothing...all we could do was plead with Him to heal our son and commit to praise God no matter what the outcome.