Merry Christmas 2020!

Our family is no different when it comes to the craziness of the year. A few highlights for us include Audrey An and Chan are now both driving. They also changed schools this school year as they began their freshman year. I’m super proud of them for jumping in and making new friends and adjusting so beautifully. Abigail moved into the her sorority house as a sophomore at Samford and finished a strong semester even with being quarantined with covid. All three kiddoes worked incredibly hard in school- in true Meletio fashion. After a challenging academic semester, they all conquered well. David’s job came to a screeching halt on April 1 (not a good April’s Fool joke!). Since the aviation industry was bleeding money, furloughing pilots, and dropping load factors into the single digits early pandemic, his instructor position ended along with his particular aircraft being retired. We did avoid a furlough, and he was reassigned another fleet. After completing that training and only flying it two weeks, he was yet again reassigned to another aircraft. We are awaiting his training date in 2021.

We’ve seen many many blessings through 2020. We’ve had lots of family time. Abigail had an amazing summer driving a boat, teaching vball, & getting to know some awesome college coeds at a christian sports camp in Missouri. We’ve done more road trips than we ever have! Audrey An started her own hand lettering sign business (and have expanded to Chan contributing as well- well, actually, everyone in the fam has had a part of the business!).

All of us, too, have mourned the loss of normalcy and freedom in so much. I’ve just ended quarantine from covid and wonder when all this will end. I’ve battled being angry & frustrated with hopeful & content, yet I know God’s hand is in all things. I do know that I’ve prayed more for our country and leadership than I ever have before. Shame on me for not be so fervent in those particular prayers before now. I pray not only for truth and integrity in our country, churches, and schools, but TRUTH (Jesus Christ) to be revealed to all. “I (Jesus) is the Way, the Truth, the Life. No one comes to the father except through me.” John 14:6

Love,

david, christa, abigail, audrey an, & chan

I’ll be home for Christmas has new meaning!

Yesterday morning Chan let a smile spill out with his hero doctor (surgery #6 with him). He had a very active day. PT came and walked him twice then David and I walked with him. He was just wiped out and slept alllll afternoon (even when his best bud came by!). Yesterday and this am his sweet personality just changed. He was just frustrated and ticked off. We had a little come to Jesus meeting and he calmed down. We all did to be honest! He apologized for his snarkiness.  He’s just having hard time understanding that he's not going to be pain free right now.

1:30...WE ARE HOME!

We can’t seem to get away from anything airport related. His wing was decorated for Christmas with a travel theme. Baggage check was at the nurses’ station. Xray machine and all!

My little elves were hard at work when we walked through the doors. I sure do appreciate my gals being flexible, holding down the fort, and trying to keep some normal going. Love you, gals!!

Traditional Christmas Eve dinner from Tony’s Pizza- take out this year!  We home. We tired. We thankful. We ‘bout to hunker down and watch our annual Nativity Story movie.
(Yes, I know that’s not proper grammar!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!🎄

Unexpected Turn

And who wouldn’t want four teenage girls performing a TikTok for him??

Since Chan was not having remarkable improvement we moved forward with a scan called a myelogram. We had four scenarios going on which I won’t go into detail, but the Lord saw fit for us to be able to have the test done on Saturday instead having to wait for Monday which we had been told. What should have taken about 60 seconds to do this scan turned into a two hour ordeal...and no sedation. Ugh. You guessed it. I lost it again, but who wouldn’t when hearing their child screaming behind a very thick closed door knowing he was in great pain. There was blockage of dye, so his dream team graciously and eagerly offered to go with the next step: surgery. They needed to expand space in spinal column to alleviate the pain from nerves. 

Today’s (Sunday) events:

8:15am Chan’s now in the OR...it’ll take 1-1.5 hours to attach all the 50ish electrodes for neuro monitoring like last time then procede with surgery. 

9:45am nurse just called and they’ve begun the surgery. Took a little longer than expected to get him positioned. Nurse said, “oh my goodness he’s the sweetest kid! He was thanking us all before we knocked him out.” ❤️

3ish hours start now. 

10:58 They’re finished and closing him up! Will talk to docs soon. That’s two hours earlier than expected. Maybe it was an “easy” fix?!

11:45 Ok, good report. Dr. Orthopedic said they addressed 4 areas where there was a constriction in the spinal column. He said they were confident they addressed the source of Chan’s neuro pain. They utilized both the MRI and myelogram to guide their removal process. He said that there should be a reduction in pain over the next 48 hours. Praise Jesus!! THANK YOU FOR ALL WHO HAVE PRAYED! Once again, I’m just amazed at modern technology, incredibly brilliant doctors, but most of all the goodness of God!

1:30 He’s in quite a bit of pain right now so still in recovery. 

2:30pm back in room now. 
As of now the doctor is hoping to send us home in time for Christmas...hope so!

Monday 10:30am- He had a good night and woke up feeling better. PT has already walked him and he was moving pretty good. He still is feeling pain, but doc says it’s not going all go away suddenly due to inflammation from surgery He is snarky and agitated (as would I but not his normal self!) with tears in his eyes (shhhh, don’t  tell him!). I think it’s more from frustration though.  In the meantime he’s brushing up on his chinese, russian and arabic on his duolingo app. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Funny enough i have a picture right here doing the same thing (minus Abigail) when Abigail had an appendectomy about four years ago!

The early morning support crew! Thank you to many who have come to visit and lend moral support!

Chan surgery update

Our family is so thankful for all the prayers, texts, and concern for Chan. As many of you know, he had major back surgery November 19. It was a successful surgery which involved his fabulous orthopedic surgeon plus a neurosurgeon to make the needed dream team. In fact, it went better than expected. A disc was removed easier than anticipated and corrected a 90 degree curve to a 29 degree curve- incredible. He was up and walking 15 hours after surgery (a 7 hour surgery!) and home 48 hours later! 

Fast forward a bit through A LOT of heavy pain meds, follow ups, almost daily calls to nurses, tears, screams, and even physical therapy. Unfortunately, driving Chan anywhere is quite an unwanted task for our brave boy. Let’s just say I can pretty much tell you which highways and neighborhoods are fairly pothole free and not! Wednesday was his follow up with ortho. About 20 minutes prior to arrival his pain sky rocketed, and we entered the doc’s office in full tilt explosive pain. Fortunately, his doc saw for himself the dire need of pain relief (and I got to finally meet the nurse who has become my phone BFF ). He sent us straight to the hospital after taking an xray and seeing that all hardware is in tact but unsure of the source of pain. 

Looonger story short, Chan had a contrast MRI yesterday while he was fully sedated. Upon waking up, the sedation team couldn't get him comfortable. To put this in perspective, at the height of his pain, the doc (not even the nurse!) grabbed iv morphine to give him, and it did nothing. NOTHING. We kept thinking as she administered the morphine, that any moment it would kick in. Unbelievable. Getting him to his room was horrible- absolutely horrible. Transferring him from the gurney to his bed... oh my. No words! During all this and my tears (all of our tears!) I pulled out my phone and blast texted about 4 prayers groups in a panic plea for prayers. Now, for ME this is the greatest part! Within just a few minutes of that call for prayer, Chan’s pain began to lessen tremendously. God was and is with him (us) in it all. Morphine didn’t help but Jesus, the Great Physician did!

David had nite duty. Chan did good thru the nite. He had pain first thing this am.  Big decisions need to be made, but within 1 hour of my arrival back at hospital this am I think we may have the answer. Neuro and ortho still haven’t seen final report of MRI but both have been in to speak with us. Option 1- Surgery. Dr said “ I am not convinced surgery will help”.  It would involve clearing bone from the spinal column. Yes, clear bone to relieve stenosis and open up spinal column more. Option 2.  Treat pain, use heat, and issue new meds to relieve muscles/pain in back and legs. 

Both doctors plus the pain team (and ummm... EVERYONE) prefer to treat pain and hope for improvement of his symptoms. Pain team has a plan for the day which he’s started. If you think about it, correcting that significant kyphosis has got his brain, muscles, and nerves finding a new normal. Lots of spasms. Ugh. 

Friday 5:15pm: neurosurgeon just left, and he, of course, has been talking with ortho. If chan doesn’t have steady improvement they’ll do a myelogram on Monday which gives a better picture than MRI but also requires a lumbar puncture. Praying we won’t be here that long and we won’t need that. 

Sooooo, there ya have it. 

Now I’m including posts from surgery day below just so Chan can read what that was like and remember how God has been working!

November 18, 2019

We would appreciate prayers tomorrow. Chan will be having a very extensive and tedious back surgery beginning bright and early. We are so thankful for a great team of doctors and trusting in THE GREAT PHYSICIAN to guide skilled hands and wisdom for brilliant minds to adjust to anything unexpected with no complications & no infection!

Update-(11.19) rolled him back at 7:40...1.5 hours of prep (got FIFTY-ish electrodes hooked up to monitor his nerves (ah. Mazing!). Nurse said actual surgery started at 8:53 and doing well with anesthesia.

10:40 &11:40 spine exposed and doc doing the instrumentation. Going well!

12:55 neurosurgeon been working on him about an hour (removing the disc portion and VERY tedious part due to location and nerves). His portion is probably another 30-60 minutes. So I guess all the hardware is in place. Orthopedic will bookend surgery. Going well praise Jesus! Please pray no infection- high risk due to being opened up so long.

1:45 Met with neurosurgeon. His portion is complete, and he was very pleased. Disc portion is out, no problems with neuro monitoring, and now ortho is placing rods in.

3:00 PRAISE JESUS FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!! Dr. Orthopedic was sooo pleased with how surgery went! Better than expected! He says he looks amazing. Scoliosis is gone. Kyphosis significantly better. Disc is removed. Rods in place. He thinks this will pop him up at least 1.5- 2”! He had NO issues with nerve endings so doesn’t anticipate an issue but wont know until he wakes up. REJOICING in God answering this prayer today! Can’t wait to see my boy! We give God all the glory!! God’s creation of man is simply amazing. The physical body is amazing. The church body is amazing. So grateful for prayer warriors. For God to give man the mind, skill and training to do surgery like this... just. Cant. Even. Begin. To. Tell. You. How. Grateful. I. Am!! Go God! Go Chan, my brave and courageous son! Go Dr. Neurosurgeon, Dr. Neurosurgeon, neuro monitoring specialist and all the nurses!

November 21-

Praying for those DIVINE SHOCK ABSORBERS for car ride!! Headed home today...completely amazing! 12:30ishET is the magical hour if you’re into specifics like I am... one last dose of pain meds then we’re clear to go.

Update 2:00pm

HOME! He did amazing and was a smooth ride for most part!! As we were praying David remembered he could change a setting in car to make it smoother. God answering! He turned to his daddio in the car and said “thanks” (daddio not known for driving slowly and gingerly-ha). He’s so grateful. Went straight to bed but have already gone for a walk loop around inside the house. Learners permit came in mail. He downed a milkshake. Now he’s watching some show about aircraft carriers. Praise Jesus! Doc said next 7-8 days could be pretty rough at times (may go in phases), but he’s on a road to recovery! CANNOT believe he was on the operating table 48 hours ago having such MAJOR surgery. 😳Thank you ALL who have prayed and checked in. Looks like someone from the Operation Divine Shock Absorber team  brought welcome home/get well balloons in our front yard!! Thank you!

Pomp & Circumstance!

Yup, it's September, and Abigail graduated HIGH SCHOOL on May 18, 2019.  Behind with life...again. Here's some highlights.  My parents and David's dad were able to join us with the festivities, and we were so grateful!

oh my!

She did it!  Abigail graduated with honors and ranked #5 in her class. She earned the top scholarship from the state of Georgia based on grades and SAT score. Although she did receive these honors that would need to be redeemed at a university in our home state, you go where God leads...in another state!  I'm extremely thankful for her hard work throughout her high school career.  You're going to do great things!

Frontline Choir (youth choir from church) led worship on Senior Sunday.  Abigail sang on the praise team along with several other seniors.

David and my recorded Senior blessing (about 2 minutes) to Abigail played at Baccalaureate can be played right here

Baccalaureate Dinner

Abigail's table to reflect her accomplishments and milestones

The gang's all (well, part of it!) here!  

Love this so much...proud Nana!

Cougar Walk on day before graduation...seniors walk the halls of the East campus (where the went to elementary) then walked across the bridge to West with the entire school lined up clapping for them.  So fun!

Precious friends from church at her party

some favorite Senior school CCA friends/graduates

Three generations

Church buddies at Senior Sunday

Senior Sunday with Pastor Mel at our church.

LOTS of schools represented from our church on Senior Sunday...there's many more!

LOTS of family and friends came to celebrate our graduate!  SO VERY THANKFUL!

Audrey An made this sign for Abigail's dorm room!

The weekend BEFORE Abigail's graduation, my oldest nephew, Steven, graduated from Baylor with his Master's.  The weekend AFTER Abigail's graduation, my other nephew, Jonathan, gradated from high school as well. The kids and I jumped on an airplane and made to J's graduation, but celebrated ALL the graduates!

2019 re-enactment...haha 

2003

All the Senior Feels

My baby big girl is graduating HIGH SCHOOL this week! To say I'm over emotional right now is the under statement of the year. I took her to school last Friday...her last day of high school since she got to exempt all her exams because of all her smarts!  Well, actually, I didn't. She drove the "twins", and I was the lead car headed to McDonalds for one "last breakfast before school". People warned me this year would go by fast.  People warned me I'd cry, but I am crying ALL. THE. TIME! Oh my goodness...I cried at McDonalds.  I cried at the senior banquet at church last week.  I've cried jamming all these latest blog posts into the past few days- ha. I'll cry the rest of the week.
I am quite confident!

Abigail, this is for you. You are a miracle. You are my first born. You are the big sister and guinea pig of all things parenting! I can say we've sought the Lord in our decision making when it comes to parenting you.  We've done many things right, and we  probably did more things wrong. We've tried our best.  We've had to make some hard decisions- decisions that weren't popular with you at times and ones that weren't popular with others.  Baby, the road is narrow and few walk it.  Walk it!  Live it! We've prayed with you and for you through gaining two siblings, health crisis for you, Chan and me, faith doubts, living overseas, friendships, emotions, college decisions...and SO MUCH MORE.  We've seen each other on the highest of mountain tops and the lowest of valleys, but God has been there the entire time! You know my greatest desire for you is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. 

As you enter this new season in life, may God continue to richly bless you. I know I mentioned this at the senior banquet this week, but the most exciting thing for me personally this year as your mom was seeing you (and trying to hold my tongue and be patient!) make your college decision...and it was a big one.  God changed your heart (and mine) about where HE wanted you.  Thank you for being open to the Holy Spirit.  Thank you for allowing your dad and me to speak Truth into your life.  Thank you for listening to where God was ultimately leading you.  Do you understand how big that is?! Your walk with the Lord is the most important thing...ever.  Always and forever.  No questions.  Do what pleases the Lord in all you do.  Seek Him in all you do.  HE wants what is the very best for you and what will glorify Him. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for you at Samford.  New experiences, new church, new ministry, new roommate, new friends, new city, new state, new volleyball (?), new or renewed interests and independence, and new dependance on God.  You will see God in a NEW way in this next stage of life! Allow Him to work. God always stays the same, but may He change you and draw you closer to Him. You are a stunningly (is that a word?!) beautiful, young woman.  May your heart be even more so.

Words cannot express how much love your Dad and I have for you.  

photo credits: https://www.jettpics.com