Carly’s Surgery
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Carly
After a two-year process of establishing a problem and getting the proper diagnosis, Carly had surgery for “Tethered Cord Syndrome” on Wednesday, April 29. The surgery was performed at Emanuel Hospital by Dr. Wehby. We had to have her at the hospital at 6:00 AM and she went into surgery about 8:00 AM. The surgery consists of making a small incision (about one inch) in the lower back and going into the spinal column between two discs. A simple snip of a cord that is below the spinal cord and it is done. You can see a picture provided by the doctor that was taken during surgery. It was taken through a microscope and you can clearly see the cord that needed to be cut. I don’t know the scale, but remember the whole incision is only about an inch long.
The surgery was finished around 9:00 AM and she was in recovery until about 10:30 AM. My long-time friend, Mark Kingen, sat with us through the surgery, and later Kathy’s mom and step-father came to visit. Late afternoon, Siddharth, a student at PSU from India, also came to visit Carly. Siddharth and Carly became friends when he visited us for dinner earlier in the school year.
Apart from severe crankiness later in the afternoon/evening from missing a nap that day, she did great. The next day it was hard to tell that she had surgery and that has generally been the case since then. We have a follow-up appointment with the doctor on Thursday, May 7.
Emanuel hospital does a great job with children and she was actually looking forward to “having a sleep-over” at the hospital. However, when the time came, in her missed-nap crankiness after the surgery, she was requesting that the doctor be informed that she wanted to go home NOW.
She is to have “reduced” activity for about two weeks after the surgery, but apart from riding her bike and playing outside a lot, she does mostly what she normally does with occasional reminders from us to “take it easy.”
For some personal reflection by Greg, see “If God Should Take My Daughter.”
April Birthdays - Sophie and Carly
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Uncategorized
Sophie turned seven April 24 and Carly turned five April 14. This year seemed to be “birthday celebrations to the max.” In addition to each having a birthday party, there were additional celebrations at both their Nana’s and Grandma’s and some celebrating at the coast.
Carly is most pleased to be five. So far, 2009 has been a big year for her. She has learned to buckle herself in the car, ride her bike without training wheels, and snap her fingers (something she finds useful given her temperment). She also got to have a sleep over at the hospital when she had surgery April 29.
Sophie is very excited to have some pets: two fishies. She is also taking piano lessons and learning Spanish in school. And she was VERY excited to receive a camera for her birthday. She has proved to be very deadly to the Eveready Bunny with that thing.
Depot Bay, April 22-24, 2009
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Uncategorized
[Links below will take you to locations on Google Maps.]
April 22-24, our family had the special treat of two nights in Depot Bay at the WorldMark resort just north of town. The forecast was for rain, but God gave us a special treat with sunny skies and a beautiful sunset Thursday evening. We shared a two-bedroom unit with Derek and Breezz Jenkins. Breezz is one of our FOCUS volunteers who works with the FOCUS Homestays Program.
On Thursday, we made several stops along the coast, starting at Fishing Rock (a great place to explore), then Boiler Bay, Devil’s Punchbowl, and then to the Nye Beach area for lunch at the Chowder Bowl, where we celebrated Breezz’s and Sophie’s birthdays (which are actually on April 24). It is hard to believe that in all my times through Newport I have never been to the Nye Beach area; definitely worth an afternoon. Then we spent some time at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse before heading back to the apartment.
A highlight for the girls was two trips to the swimming pool. A highlight for me was getting to see from our window several whales spouting in the ocean.
On Friday, after checking out, our family spent a little time in Depot Bay at the Visitor’s Center, and then lunch at the fabulous, not-to-be-missed, Otis Cafe [marker is placed a bit too far west of actual location]. Along with many other reasons, we are very grateful to Russ Norris for telling us about this place.
Update on Carly’s Back Problems
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Carly, Steward Family
The following is from Kathy:
Praise God we received some much anticipated answers to Carly’s back issues. She indeed has tethered cord syndrome and is scheduled for a surgical correction on Wed. April 29th at Emanuel Hospital. The pediatric neurologist that we met today described in detail (almost too much detail!) the findings from the MRI and the surgery to fix the problem. She will do the surgery and she seems very confident that everything will go well. Carly will have surgery which consists of going in between the lower vertebrae and clipping a non-essential cord that extends from the spinal cord but contains no spinal fluid and which is putting pressure on the nerves that extend from the base of the spinal cord into the lower back causing her bladder, bowel and scoliosis (the MRI shows 10%) issues. She will stay in the hospital one night for observation and to recover any lost spinal fluid while lying flat in bed. She will need to lay low for seven days and then take it easy for another seven. So two weeks recovery time, not bad for back surgery.
April is a huge month for us. Easter, a three day Focus retreat for Greg (April 15-17), both the girls’ birthdays (Carly turns 5 on the 14th, Sophie 7 on the 24th) and now a surgery at the end of the month. Pray that God would keep us calm, give us wisdom, creativity, energy and joy. Our month could be full of so much worse things! Hallelujah we can praise a risen Lord and celebrate his resurrection and the births of two beautiful girls and correct a long standing problem all in one month! Whew! But God is good all the time. He hears our prayers and answers them. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement. It means the world to us.
Christmas 2008
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Christmas, Photos, Steward Family
While it was still cold and snowy outside, we had a nice, warm Christmas inside. As is our Christmas tradition, Greg’s mom joined us for breakfast, we read the Christmas story, and then we opened presents. Later that day we travelled to Kathy’s mom’s and spent a couple of nights with them.
Sophie and Carly’s Christmas Greeting
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Carly, Christmas, Photos, Sophie
Sophie and Carly would like to send you their Christmas Greeting.
Snow in Beaverton
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Photos, Steward Family
In Beaverton, we are experiencing some record-setting snow. In my 52 years as an Oregonian living in the Willamette Valley, I have to go back to the late 60s to remember this much snow. Below are some pictures.
Steward Family Photos in 2008
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Birthday, Carly, Christmas, Dylan, Kristin, Photos, Sophie, Steward Family
Here are some pictures of the Steward family during 2008. During 2008, Kristin turned 23, Dylan turned 21, Sophie turned 6, and Carly turned 4.
You can view this as a large screen slide show at http://picasaweb.google.com/gs777bs/2008StewardFamily/. More Steward family and Greg’s FOCUS photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com/gs777bs
Three Holidays with Chen Chen and Wang Pei
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under International Friends, Steward Family
The day after Thanksgiving, we had Thanksgiving #2 at our house. Joining us were
- Wang Pei and Chen Chen with children Grace and Max. We met them while they were studying at PSU. They have since relocated to the Seattle area where Pei works for Microsoft and Chen is working on finishing her PhD (which is tough to do as a mother of two).
- Yao (Tony) Xin and Li (Mary) Jingping. We also met Tony and Mary through our connections with PSU and FOCUS. Tony (a brilliant individual) is doing research at PSU. His wife, Mary, also completed a degree while at PSU in financial analysis. She previously completed a degree in textiles and has combined these two areas of study into a job at Columbia Sportswear.
- Not pictured is our friend, Rick Cordell.
Below is a slide show of three holiday gatherings. The common thread is Chen Chen and Wong Pei as our guests.
The first one was in Christmas Eve day, 2004. At that gather there were also Chen’s father; Susan and Wushou and son Jiadi (Robert), who are now back in China; Yao (Tony) Xin, who had just arrive that year (his wife, Mary, had not yet arrived from China; Rick Cordell and Philip Burney.
The second one was Thanksgiving, 2005. At that gathering were also Na and Jianfeng; Rick Cordell; and Kathy’s mother, Jeannie and step-father, Duke.
The third one is detailed above.
Carly and Grace are very close in age. It has been fun to see them together through the years.
Wilson Sibling Rivalry
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Uncategorized
While at our Thanksgiving gathering, three of the five Wilson “children” posed for some pictures. Wayne, Kathy, and Pam. In Maryland were Gary and Ronnie.