Camp Walla Walla

Camp Walla Walla is the name of Jayden's class for the summer. His teachers Amy and Raquel have gone to alot of trouble to recreate all of the wonderful sites and sounds of summer camp. And let me tell you, they have done a wonderful job. They will never know how much it touches my heart to see all that they do for my son. The shirts these boys are wearing are made from leaves they found outside. They painted the leaves and left their imprint on the shirts, each one is unique. The campfire that you see behind them is made from their handprints. Every single time I walk into that classroom I have to keep myself from tearing up. Tears of joy to see my son being so involved with everything they do. Right now they have a tent set up in their classroom and a (fake) campfire that actually gives the illusion of a real fire and when the kids press a button smoke comes out of it. These are just a few pictures that I was able to get. Amy and Raquel have took some amazing pictures of Jayden but I won't be able to get them posted until Camp Walla Wall is finished :(

Each day at Camp Walla Walla is an adventure. Today the kids made smores. They each got to taste marshmallows, chocolate, and grahm crackers individually and then took turns pressing a button to pureed the 3 things together. I can't wait to see what they do next week!

Elmo Live

Jayden and I were lucky enough to be offered tickets to see Elmo Live at the Stockton Arena last Tuesday night. When we first arrived I found out that the tickets we had were literally out of my reach. I couldn't get his wheelchair anywhere near our seats. The people at the Arena were nice enough to accomdate us and move us closer to a section that was reserved for wheelchairs. Jayden had an AWESOME view!

Jayden actually watched the entire show. He loves anything with music and bright colors and this show had both. The show was all about Elmo trying to find a place to plant his little sunflower. During the show periodically the characters would walk off stage and say hi to the kids. Jayden was a very popular boy that night. He was visited by Baby Bear, Zoe, Grover, and Abby. They were all very sweet and grabbed his hand and blew kisses at him. While we were there we ran into Jayden's teacher Amy and her son Rocky. It was nice to do something fun with just Jayden and I. We both had a great time.

Frog Jump!

Yes you are looking at a picture of my precious little boy Jayden touching a nasty frog! Trust me it wasn't my idea.

Walton Special Center hosted its annual frog jump. Everyone gets involved. The therapists, foster grandparents, parents, early intervention teachers, people from our district office, and ofcourse the students gather around to see who can make their frog jump out of the circle first. You are not allowed to touch the frog you may yell, jump, or hit the ground to make it move. The principal of the school brought this particular frog over to Jayden so that he could get a good look at it and see how it felt. I was freaking out that Jayden was touching a yucky frog, so Tom thought it would be funny to make the frog kiss Jayden on his cheek! YUCK!

Everyone had a great time. This is just one of many events that Walton Special Center puts on during the year. Without their creativity many of these children would never experience something like this. We are greatful for all they do!

Andres 8th Grade Promotion

They day before Andres' promotion he had the nerve to ask me if I felt old because I had a son in highschool. I just laughed and told not at all I feel accomplished. Silly boy! I am so lucky and so proud to have such a kind hearted, intelligent, handsome young man. Andres absolutely amazes me everyday with his kindness and thoughtfulness. He has been my babysitter while I took classes. He's helpfull around the house. I could go on and on about this kid.

Son we love you and are very excited to see what the next four years bring you. Stay focused on what is important. Get good grades, prepare for college, and stay grounded.

Just look at him, I'm going to have to beat off the girls with a bat! LOL

Road Trip!

On May 14th my Mom, Jojo, Jayden, and I set out on a road trip to Gilbert Arizona to watch my good friend Jody graduate from ASU. I wasn't sure if taking a 12 hour drive was a great idea at first. I was worried about Jayden sitting in his chair for such a long period of time. I was expecting Jojo to complain and the drive to nothing short of excruciating. But to my delight Jayden and Jojo were both troopers! Jojo was the best big brother ever! He was there in the backseat with Jayden to entertain him or help him out if he was in a bad position. Since Jayden has the g-tube now it was much easier to feed him along the trip. My Mom thought I was crazy to teach Jojo how to unhook Jayden from the tubing from his feed, but I totally trusted him to do it. So when we would pull the car over and hook Jayden up to eat it was Jojo's job to unhook him so we could keep driving. I walked him through the steps and he did great! How many 7 year olds can do that?

Jody's daughter Jacy was so excited to see Jayden. She was all over him giving him kisses and rubbing his face. She was so genuinely happy to see him. Jacy just kept talking to him and finally she turned around and said, " I keep talking to Jayden but he won't talk to me." I just explained to her that Jayden couldn't talk but that I could tell that he really liked her. She seemed to be satisfied with that and went on her way.

I was excited to see Jody graduate from ASU. She works hard, she's a great mother, wife, and friend. I wouldn' t have missed it for the world.

You inspire me to hurry up and finish school. Thanks for sharing your special day and me and my family. We love you!

Jayden's First Lightning Football Game

A man name Armando Moreno read Jayden's story in the Stockton Record a few months ago and it touched his heart. He contacted the reporter who put us in contact with each other. Armando said he felt compelled to do something nice for our family. He asked me if Jayden liked sports. I told him he sure did. So Armando contacted Mr. Arnaiz who's company has season tickets in a suite at the Stockton Arena. He offered our entire family tickets for their suite to the opening night of the Stockton Lightning Arena Football team. With Jayden in a wheelchair and growing bigger everyday it is getting harder for us to take him to certain events without making special arrangements. We had a great view of the field and the big screen was right in front of Jayden. He was very alert and looking around up until the last period when he fell asleep. How he could fall asleep with all that noise is beyond me. My kids were especially excited because they got to bring their cousins with them. Everyone had a great time. It was a special night and we are extremely grateful. Thanks Arnaiz Company and Armando for making it happen.

Jojo my little baseball player

Jojo is my little athlete. He just finished basketball, now we're starting baseball, and we already signed him up for football which starts in June. He wasn't looking forward to baseball this year because he thought he was going to have to hit the ball off a tee. That was no fun. He was too advanced for that and last year he was bored. But when he found out that they had an actual pitcher and you could strike out or hit the ball and get a double; he was very excited. If my Dad was here he would be so proud that his grandson is the starting shortstop and lead off hitter for the Stockton Pony Giants. Jose doesn't have the patients to teach him all the fundamentals so he put me in charge. To my surprise Jojo actually listens to me. I was practicing with him before the first game and he got a basehit. He's still learning though. He doesn't always cover 2nd base when he is supposed to, and he learned the hard way what "rounding first base" meant. But other than that he's having a blast. He plays 2 games a week. I even got a Giants shirt and hat for Jayden to wear to the games. Unfortunately it has been either too cold or too windy for him to go to the park. Jeana and Andres take care of him at home. They are a great help.

So Proud Of My Husband

Since Jayden was 2 months

I have always been the one who took care of all of his special needs. I gave him his medicine, his bottle, his food, his baths, and did my best to control his seizures. And although Jose may never be able to ALL of these things we have found something he can do. Since Jayden got his g-tube Jose has learned to how to feed him. He is very interested in all of Jayden's meds and how much he gets and how often. He knows how to prime the tubing, set up the pump, and even draw up his meds. Jose was nervous the first time but now he can just jump right in and take over. It's been really nice because Jose is very confident at taking care of Jayden while I go to school or go study with my friends. It used to be that I couldn't even go to the grocery store all by myself. Now I am able to do so many more things.

With the economy the way it is Jose hasn't worked very much in the last 4 months. This has actually been a blessing in disguise. Because he has been home more he has been there both Jayden and I while Jayden was sick and in the hospital. He was there when Jayden has his surgery at UCSF. For the first time he got to see the whole process. He has been so much more involved than I could ever imagine. I am so proud of him and how far he has come. And with perfect timing next week Jose is starting back to work. The jobs have picked up and he is more than ready. He's been a little restless at home. God has a way of working things out. We are grateful to Him for all of our blessings. I am especially thankful for my husband and all his love and willingness to learn.

Learning About The G-tube

Learning about the g-tube is simple in some ways and more difficult in others. I was a little nervous at first because I knew that touching the g-tube would hurt because it was so new. They literally poked a hole in his stomach. That's got to hurt! But after Jayden's nurse took the time to teach me how to take care of it and how to push meds through I felt very confident. My Mom and my niece Erica came to visit Jayden at UCSF. Erica took pictures of the nurse giving me instructions.

The small clear thing in the middle of his stomach is the g-tube. To use the g-tube I attach a piece of tubing to it which allows me to either feed him his pediasure via a pump or use a syringe to give him medicine or water. Every child is different and can tolerate the feeds at different rates. We are still playing with Jayden's feeds. Ultimately it is up to me to figure out how much and how fast Jayden can tolerate the feed. It's a work in progress. The coolest moment was when the nurse gave his meds through the tube for the first time. He didn't have to taste that yucky stuff and that was awesome!

We are home!

This is Jayden when we first arrived at UCSF before they started messing with him. He had a sleep study done there and luckily all is well and he no longer needs to be on the concentrator at night. What a relief! That's just one less piece of equipment around here. I am running out of room! I was very suprised to see all of the stuff a sleep study entailed. He actually slept really well considering all of the things he was hooked up to. Before his surgery his Neurologist Dr. Sullivan stopped by to say hi and see how Jayden was doing. His seizures have been the same for awhile now. Nothing was new to report to him.

A representative from Child Life at UCSF came to visit Jayden and see if there was anything they could do to entertain Jayden. They typically brings toys or books to the kids and help them understand procedures that they are about to go through. Jayden got a bubble machine that he could control with a switch. That was pretty fun! The bubbles were everywhere! Jose showed up bright and early Friday morning and brought Jayden's doll Larry. Jojo sent it with Jose so that Jayden wouldn't have to go to surgery alone. The nurse was even nice enough to give Larry a name tag so he could be there with Jayden. I thought that was really sweet. Dr. Ree, Jayden's GI, was very nice and explained the procedure in detail to us. Although I was apprehensive I knew that Jayden was in good hands. Jayden did very well in surgery. Everything went as planned and the g-tube was placed high enough as not to affect him wearing really cute clothes. You know that is really important. LOL. Jayden stayed in recovery for a couple of hours while he woke up on his own. But the minute we went back to his room I knew something was wrong. He spiked a 103 fever and got really bad chills. He was screaming and was in lots of pain. They gave him morphene and tylenol right away. Then decided that he needed to have an x-ray of his stomach to make sure that everything was in it's place. This was just a precaution, they were concerned about the fever. The x-ray came back normal and they just decided to hold off his feeds for a little bit longer. By Saturday afternoon we began to give Jayden 1 ounce of pedialyte per hour. He tolerated this well and we were on to pediasure. By Sunday he had tollerated 2 feeds of pediasure and everyone felt confidant that I could take him home and take care of him. I wanted to get home as quickly as possible, afraid that the longer he was there the more at risk he was for getting sick by someone else. We are home now, adjusting to a new way of life. The feeds are taking longer than I expected. But I am told that as he gets used to it the time will decrease. He is still in pain, a little whinny from time to time. But that is to be expected. He is my little trooper! It amazes me how fast he is able to bounce back. We are just going to take this adjustment one day at a time. God is good, He made Jayden well enough for this surgery and brought him home safely. I am grateful.

Surgery This Week

We just got the news yesterday from UCSF that they found room in the OR for Jayden's g-tube placement. His surgery will be this Friday morning at 8:30. Jayden and I will leave for SF tomorrow afternoon to have a sleep study done that night. This procedure is to tell whether or not Jayden will continue to need to be on a concentrator at night. It's really not a big deal. Friday morning is the procedure that is giving me anxiety. I am praying that Jayden will be well enough to undergo this procedure and will come out without any problems. Please keep him in your prayers.

Big Decisions For Our Family

I have been struggling for a long time about whether or not Jayden truley needs to have a g-tube placed. Doctors have brought it up to me in plenty of past appointments, telling me how great the g-tube is. I have really taken pride in the fact that I am able to give Jayden all of the nutrients that he needs by feeding him bottles of pediasure and feeding him pureed foods. I think most of you would agree that he looks like a typical healthy four year old. Most people who are involved in his care are suprised to find out that he doesn't have a g-tube. This last episode of spending time in the hospital only confirmed what I have been dreading. Although I knew it would eventually happen it doesn't make it any easier to come to terms with. Jayden is tentatively scheduled to have surgery on March 31st. The docs tell me it is a fairly simple procedure, they do it all the time. This does not make me feel any better. I haven't been able to sleep at night because the minute my head hits the pillow I start thinking about all of the things that are about to change in the up coming weeks. In the past Jayden has always passed his swallow tests. This basically means that when he swallows the liquid or food it goes down his esophagus and not into his lungs. But with his last episode with pnemonia it is clear that he is silently asperating. Slowly but surely I am realizing that Jayden doesn't enjoy eating, infact it is a lot of work for him. I spend a good chunk of my day feeding him and trying to get his meds in him without him choking. With all of the time and energy I will save on feeding him a bottle I can use that time to focus on his other needs. This week I took him to physical therapy and they brought it to my attention that Jayden's left arm is getting a little tight and wanting to stay relaxed with his palm down. That just means more massaging and stretching for Jayden. I am sure he won't mind very much. Please keep Jayden in your prayers. Pray that we will make it through next week without any major problems and get to come back home quickly.

One Sick Little Boy

My poor baby Jayden has been a pretty sick little boy these last couple of weeks. He even had to spend a few days in the hospital with pnemonia and RSV. Couple of weeks ago I put Jayden to bed like I usually do and all of a sudden he started crying. I mean really crying! He started to "chill" like you do when you have a fever. His crying and "chilling" went on for about an hour before I could see from a thermometer that he actually had a fever of 102.5. And then ofcourse came two huge seizures in a row. Jose and I were both trying to console him. We had him sandwiched between us, I was rubbing his back and he was rubbing his legs. Then during the second seizure Jayden threw up ALL over me! YUCK! I was more concerned with him asperating than I was about the vomit that unbelievably got all over me and not all over him. Jayden's breathing become short and quick and I got a little worried. I gave him a breathing treatment which didn't seem to help. The next day I took him to the doctor and his SAT's were about 90. For the next four days around the clock every two hours that kid got breathing treatments. And even with all that effort I couldn't keep him out of the hospital. He was admitted at a SAT of 89. Once he was hydrated in the hospital he was a totally different kid. His eyes were wide and bright, he was vocalizing all the time, and he was very opinionated. All of this showed me that I really I am not keeping him hydrated the way he needs to be. He went home with a concentrator at night (oxygen) and is still getting breathing treatments every 3 to 4 hours. I am so glad he is home. He was doing so well for so long and then all of the sudden everything hit all at once. We have decided to further look into Jayden getting a feeding tube (mic key button). Right now I am syringing all of his bottles in him. Eating for Jayden is not pleasurable but hard work. This was a very tough decision for me as a Mom. It was the last thing I had control over with him. I am trying to look at it on the bright side, it's just another tool to help me better take care of my son. I guess I could use all the help I can get. He might be having surgery as soon as the end of this month, depending upon if I can get him well enough to go under. Keep him in your prayers.

A Second Chance At Life

This morning my husband with teary eyes came into the bedroom and woke me up to show me the wonderful article written about Jayden in the Stockton Record by Joe Goldeen. Jose is a tough guy, but the article touched his heart. A couple of months ago Jayden's Neurologist Hutch asked me if I would be willing to share Jayden's story. Cyberonics, the company that makes the VNS, wanted to share success stories with the public. There are so many people out there that don't even know what a vagus nerve stimulator is. For our family it's a life saver. When Jayden's seizure started to worsen it never occured to me to describe them as life threatening. I guess that is nothing short of denial on my part. On any given occasion a seizure can be life threatening. Especially when they are lasting a minimum of 45 minutes! A good example would be John Travolta's son. He had a history of seizures, still no one would've thought that a seizure would take his life. Jayden's underlying cause for his seizures is still a mystery. But this doesn't change the fact that he is an awesome boy! It is amazing to me that a boy who has never uttered a word can send such a huge message and touch peoples hearts. I find strength to get through each day just by looking into Jayden's eyes. He makes me a better Mom, wife, and person. I think as we go through life we tend to take things for granted. Jayden helps keep us grounded. We are grateful for everyday that we have him. We are grateful that God chose us as a family to take care of Jayden and He keeps finding ways for us to tell Jayden's story. Special thanks to Hutch for thinking of Jayden as a success story, Colleen for contacting all the right people, Joe Goldeen for writing a great article, and all of you for following Jayden's progress. We appreciate and love you all.

Our Little Star

Jayden has turned into such a popular little guy. He was on the front page of the Stockton Record last Sunday with his teacher Amy Terra. With the state of California in such a budget crisis the future of Jayden's school Walton Special Center has seemed uncertain. Sundays paper reported that the $15 million dollar renovation and modernization to the school will not be delayed. Jayden attends Walton Monday through Friday along with 12 other students that are medically fragile. The classroom he is in is too small for the needs of the children. With all the equipment that is necessary to supply these children with adequate care our teachers at Walton do an awesome job. Just think how much better things will be when they have more room. We are all very excited to see how things work out. Look for Jayden to be in the Record again this coming Sunday. He is telling his story about how his Vagus Nerve Stimulator changed his life.

Cool Gifts

Grandpa Joe bought all of the kids gift certificates to the mall. While Andres and Jeana took off walking on their own I took Jojo and Jayden to Beary Sweets. It's kind of like a build a bear shop. Jayden and Jojo both wanted bulldogs like Thor. They got to pick out the animal they wanted, then Jojo helped by stepping on a button that allowed the girl to stuff the dog as full as he wanted him. Then after each dog was stuffed both boys got make a wish on a star and stick it inside their dog. Jojo dressed up his dog in a leather jacket and jeans while Jayden decided to make his look like an electrician like Daddy with a tool belt. Thanks Grandpa Joe for the great gift.

I love my Mom!

As most of you already know my Mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2007. She battled long and hard and I am very proud to call her a "Survivor". She went through the whole thing so gracefully using Jayden has her inspiration every step of the way. This week she went to visit Dr. Mehdy who gave her a clean bill of health. He even asked her if she would be interested in talking to some of his other patients who are going through it now. He was amazed with her strength through such a trying time. She never waivered and kept her faith strong. She has officially finished all of her follow up appointments. Way to go Mom!

Goodbye 2008 Hello 2009

Another year has come and gone and we have lots of things to be grateful for. One of the things that I am most grateful for in 2008 was Jayden's stability. Because of his stability I was able to actually go to class at Delta.He has been growing like a weed. He's had no major issues this year other than a small cold. This is huge for a child like Jayden. He continues to eat pureed foods and drink bottles, relying on Mommy for his total care. In July my Mommy van was modified with a wheelchair lift, it makes life so much easier.

Jojo has had a really great year too. He played basketball, baseball, and football. He is doing well in school. The day after football season ended he was already talking about the next season and asking when it would start. He is a great big brother to Jayden. He kisses him goodnight every night. And sometimes tells me how he wishes Jayden could walk and talk so that they could play the Wii together. That breaks my heart. On New Year's Eve Jojo couldn't wait to open the bottle of sparkling cider. And ofcourse he had to drink it in a wine glass. He felt so grown up.

Andres and Jeana have done very well this year academically. Both these teens made the honor roll this year. We are very proud of them. Jeana is half way through her first year of High school and loving every minute of it. She's a cheerleader for the Stagg Delta Kings and is considering playing softball. Andres finished his final year of Northwest Trojan football and has been working out to prepare for High School. They are really great kids!

This is our super dog Thornelius Correa. He joined our family this year and has been a joy. Jose likes to play the tough roll and act like he doesn't like the "stinky dog". But we always catch the two of them playing around with each other. Thor, as we call him, really likes Jayden. He likes him so much that Jose almost had a heart attack when he found that the dog had jumped on the couch to,"play" with Jayden. He is very interested in Jayden.

It's been a wonderful 2008 and I am really looking forward to 2009 and what it has in store for our family. We hope that you all are happy and well and enjoying each day that God has made. He has truly blessed our family and we pray that he will bless yours as well.

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas! I guess I didn't realize until this year how much my children count on our little traditions that we have established for our family over the years. The day after Thanksgiving the Christmas decorations come out. Infact, this year we started even earlier. The kids were so excited to get started. I on the other hand was not. I was overwhelmed with school and finals. The last thing I wanted to think about was decorating the house. Now that Andres and Jeana are getting older they have become in charge of the tree. I no longer have to go down to the basement and drag stuff out. The two of them took pride in getting everything together. With Jojo following them up and down the stairs like a little puppy dying to tear into everything, they managed not to run him over and be graceful doing it. They did all the work and I just supervised. And I might add that our tree was absolutely beautiful! This Christmas we really enjoyed spending time with our family. The first stop was my Mom's house where Lori and all her kids and grandkids gathered together with us to open gifts. Our next stop was Jose's Tia Esperanza's house where we would eat her famous,"pasole". Jose didn't eat anything all day in anticpation of all the food at his aunts house. Our final stop for Christmas Eve was to see Jose's Abuelita Graciela. She was very excited that we came over. We really enjoyed visiting with Tio Frankie and Tia Ophelia as well. We should really get together more often. Christmas Day was spent at my Mom's eating turkey until we were all beyond stuffed. Our family is growing like crazy, our latest addition is my neice Renee's son Adrian, aka Rocky. It was nice to have everyone together visiting and realizing how blessed we truley are to have each other.

Jayden Bakes A Cake!

Can you believe that tomorrow is Jayden's 4TH BIRTHDAY? In honor of Jayden's birthday we decided to help Jayden make his own birthday cake to share with his class. In our class we use a lot of switches to help the communicate as well as play or do art activities. Making a cake was a perfect opportunity for Jayden to be hands on in

the process. His teacher Amy hooked up the blender to a switch. Jayden's job was to hit the switch with his head to make the blender turn on.

But first things first. Jayden had to help put the cake mix into the bowl. Then with assistance from Amy he put in the water. Cracking the eggs and puttin them into the mix came next.

I think I was more excited than Jayden was. After the cake was blended Amy put it in the oven to bake it. When it was done we took it out and let it cool off because tomorrow we plan on helping Jayden put the icing on. And then after all that work we'll turn around and blend the cake back up so the kids can taste it. Hey it's the thought that counts. It looks yummy! Thanks Amy!