#HILLOFAJOURNEY

Eight days since our last update and it has been another marathon week full of peaks, valleys and plateaus. On Sunday we moved from the ICU to the surgical floor. This was a giant win as it meant one of the best words you can use in the hospital - STABLE. Hudson's labs and images continued to improve so the doctor's and nurses tasked Morgan and I to "set ourselves to autopilot" for a couple of days until they could decide what the next steps were in terms of his obstructed b

The rollercoaster continues here in Seattle but we end our week on a high note and we celebrate that it is FRI-YAY. Overall, Hudson and his liver are taking all the necessary steps to heal. We had to say our goodbye's to Trevor and Charlie last night as they flew back to NC today, just in time for the movers to finish packing up their house and help them on their journey to DC. Fingers crossed that Trevor's ability to multi-task and stay busy is somehow passed on to Hudson. C

I have had the fear of writing this update for a couple of days. I have this anxiety that as people read and understand our progress, the question of "what does this mean and how long for recovery?" will inherently come up and I won't have an answer for you. I can come up with averages or a range of times it has taken others but I am finding that the more expectations I make, the more defeating it is when we don't meet them. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I am human

Let us just get straight to the good stuff. Trevor Trevor was discharged from UW yesterday and will be resting at our house until he is able to fly home to Katie, Molly and Claire. Hudson Hudson spiked another temperature yesterday morning and throughout the day. Having his belly exposed increased Hudson's chances of infection so the continuous fever acted as extra motivation to the surgeons to get him back into the OR and closed up. Hudson went into surgery around 2:30 to ha

I have been struggling with wrapping my head around the concept that without Trevor, Hudson wouldn't have survived. Trevor saved our son's life. Hudson wouldn't be Hudson without Trevor. Even now, typing those thoughts, it seems surreal. Almost as surreal as these past few days. I wasn't in the room the first time that Hudson truly opened his eyes for the first time since surgery. I imagine that some would equate this to missing their child's first steps or first words howeve

It has been a long 48 hours for our family to say the least. Bare with me as I attempt to recap and over simplify the events. When writing this, I struggled to compose a clear and concise story as I kept bouncing back and forth between Trevor and Hudson's surgeries so for the sake of accuracy, I am going to detail their stories separately. Hudson, Morgan and I were admitted to Seattle Children's (SCH) on Sunday morning so they could spend most of the morning/afternoon complet

We met with several doctors and nurses on Thursday to review the itinerary for Monday and get a general glimpse of what to expect. Below is a very high level summary of what we're going to experience. Hudson will be admitted to the hospital Sunday morning. Once in the hospital, doctors will give him an IV and will do final blood draws and tests (to check his liver levels, possible blood transfusions, etc...) Hudson and Trevor will go into surgery first thing on Monday morning

Since my mom past away in 2013, all holidays have felt "different." Having that "different" feeling in the days leading up to the Fourth of July came as no surprise. I did all the things I love to do: decorate, cook, listen to music and celebrate with friends. What DID come as a surprise was that I still couldn't rid myself of that "different" feeling. It finally occurred to me that this Fourth of July WAS different and I needed to embrace and lean into it. Monday marked the