Sweet Words

It's morning time in the Guerrero household, and as part of my morning routine, I get on Facebook and see what's going on. Well I came across a poem that one of the other HD moms ( as I call them) had posted, and it was so sweet, that I HAVE to share it.
As much as we have been through with Mateo, the tears of joy, the tears of fear, the stressfull tears, the surgeries, the hospital stays, the at home procedures, etc. I would NOT trade him for the world. I love my son with all of my heart and soul, and NOTHING will ever change that. This poem struck home for me, so I would like to share it here on his blog.

I STILL WOULD HAVE CHOSEN YOU- By Terri Banish

If before you were born, I could have gone to heaven and saw all the beautiful souls, I still would have chosen you.

If God had told me, "This soul would one day need extra care and needs", I still would have chosen you.

If He had told me, "This soul may make your heart bleed",
I still would have chosen you.

If He had told me, "This soul would make you question the depth of your faith", I still would have chosen you.

If He had told me, "This soul would make tears flow from your eyes that could fill a river", I still would have chosen you.

If He had told me, "This soul may one day make you witness overbearing suffering", I still would have chosen you.

If He had told me, "All that you know to be normal would drastically change", I still would have chosen you.

Of course, even though I would have chosen you, I know it was God who chose me for you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing catch up

Wow... So much to catch up on... So, Mateo has been doing GREAT! We have not been in the hospital since baby Aneli was about 3 weeks old! So that's almost 9 months! This is a record breaking streak for us! Mateo is doing wonderfully. He is above average for his height and weight, and does everything any other kids his age do. Dr Terry, his gastroenterologist just recently opened his diet, so he can pretty much eat anything he wants minus sugars and regular milk. Not too long ago, we got Mateo off the bottle ( at 3 almost 4 years old!) and we are so proud of him! He is drinking his neocate ( elemental formula) from a sippy cup now and has been weened down to only 3 cups of formula a day. He is eating more food now and tolerating it well.
On the CMN front, because of his story, his strength and his will to thrive, he was chosen as Children's Miracle Network's Champion ( ambassador) for the entire state of Oregon!!

Mateo was celebrated as the Oregon Champion by having a "Cars" themed party right in the main lobby of Sacred Heart Medical Center @ Riverbend! Family, friends, and hospital staff were all there to help us celebrate, and Mateo got a HUGE suprise! Before his party, Eugene and Springfield Fire came to our house with TWO FIRE ENGINES! Mateo got to honk the horn, spray the hose, and was given a hat and sweatshirt that say Springfield fire on them! Better yet, the bigger fire engine drove Mateo and his papi from our house to his party!! How cool is that?! After his party, Mateo expected the engine to be there to pick him up like his personal car! LOL!!
So what being the Champion means is that we keep on doing what we are doing: going to CMN events, sharing our story, etc. And here in 13 days,we get to go to Washington D.C. and to Orlando, Fl ( Disney World!). We will be on our trip for 7 days promoting CMN with 50ish other CMN families! We are so excited and cannot wait for our trip!
One event we got to go to for CMN this summer was a Klamath Falls Gem's baseball game! Mateo got to meet Ms. Oregon and got to throw the first pitch of the game! It was a great weekend!

We are so gratefull for CMN Hospitals and all they do to help us as well as families like us! THANK YOU CMN!!

No more tube!!

So, I realized it's been quite some time since I have blogged. I need to go back almost 8 months to catch up!

Pre- op

Post-op eating a popcicle and watching cartoons!

So, Mateo has been doing quite well, like I said in the previous post. He is truly exceeding every expectation from every one of his care givers. We were not using his G-tube anymore, except for the occassions when he would get sick, I would hook him up to a drip of pedialyte to fend off dehyration. Dr Wadie, Mateo's previous surgeon wanted us to keep the G-tube for convenience, which would be fine, but the G-tube would leak, leaving wet stains on Mateo's clothes, and being wet, it would get yeast infections, and cause "granulation tissue" growth. Granulation tissue is more or less scar tissue. This would bleed on occassion as well, making more stains and needing more care. After several doctors appointments and several visits to the Wound and Ostomy Clinic, and after so many cauterizations at home ( HATED doing that to my little boy!) we met with our new Surgeon, Dr. Zallen at Doernbecher Children's Hospital. His first statement was that we needed to get rid of the G-tube. A biopsy was done of the "granulation tissue" and turned out to not be granulation after all. It was his stomach lining growing up and out of the stoma. This meant that Mateo's G-tube removal wouldn't be as easy as just taking it out and letting it close. It meant another surgury. So surgery was scheduled, and on January 24th of this year, we made the 2 hour drive up to Portland and Mateo had surgery #5. Mateo was incredibly brave and strong and did quite well. We were only at the hospital maybe 5 hours, and we went home tube free!! One less thing for us to care for and be concerned about, and one less thing to set Mateo apart from everyone else! WE were ecstatic! Since the G-tube removal, we have not missed it or needed it at all! He is continuing to do amazing! Dr Zallen was a great surgeon, and we are happy to be working with him.