[summer.phillips]

i think my blog will be the easiest way to keep everyone updated on cole so keep checking back here to see how we all are doing. i will explain everything the best i can!
[background]
as most of you know cole was born with glaucoma. he has had several surgeries to get his glaucoma under control. his left eye has two tube-shunt implants that keep his pressures under control however visually he can not see very well out of his left eye. he has always relied heavily on his right eye to see with. the pressures in his right eye are controlled with a bleb which is essentially a hole in his eye put there to control his glaucoma and because he has a hole in his eye we have always had to worry about infection in that eye. any time his right eye looks the least bit red we have to get him into the eye dr to make sure there is not an infection in his inner eye, we have done this his entire life.
[what went wrong]
this past tuesday cole stayed home from school with a fever...no other real symptoms just a random fever that did not come back after tuesday morning. so wednesday he went to school like normal and his eyes were fine. at about 3pm on wednesday i got a call from the nurse at cole's school saying that his right eye was red and hurting him. we picked him up and took him straight to his eye dr and he told us that the infection had not gotten into his inner eye yet so they started him on his high powered antibiotic eye drops and sent us home with an appointment to come back in thursday morning to check it again. at his appointment thursday morning they discovered that the infection had spread into his inner eye. cole was then admitted to the hospital and had a surgery that evening where he got two high powered antibiotic injections into the back of his eye to take care of the inner eye infection. he is also getting antibiotic eye drops every hour around the clock to treat the infection on the outside of his eye and he is also getting iv antibiotics to treat the tissue that surrounds his eye.
they are keeping him in the hospital until the infection goes away and we are told that if everything goes away quickly that will be monday, if it takes longer to clear up the infection we will be here longer. the dr's looked at him yesterday and today and said that things have not gotten worse which is a good sign. they will reevaluate him again on monday to determine if he will need another round of interocular injections or not and for how long he will need to stay on all the other antibiotics.
our primary concern right now is to get the infection cleared up as soon as possible. Once that is gone we can assess the damage and go from there. The dr's have told us that there is still hope that the infection did not harm his vision and he could still see just as well out of his right eye as he did before but we will just have to wait and see. right now cole says he can't see out of his right eye and since he can't see well with his left eye he just wants to keep them both closed all the time. we are trying to encourage him to do things and use his left eye because the more he uses it the stronger it will get. today he played a couple of games of trouble using his left eye to read the numbers and move. he also walked to the play room and helped papa but together his new bionicle. he told me this evening that he thought he could see a little better out of his left eye now so that is a good thing.
[what to pray for]
the infection to go away quickly
that there was no damage done by the infection
that cole would use his left eye more
that his left eye would improve visually

brent and i are trying to take things one day at a time. cole handles this better than we do in many ways. we worry about how he will react if the vision does not come back in his right eye. how will he play and read and go to school and ride a bike. cole does not seem to be worried at all. i take comfort in that, i see God in that.

photos from christmas day

these are a few of my favorites from dave and wendy's wedding...

so yes, it's been a while since i've posted so i will try and bring it up to date. september must have flown by because i can not remember anything except for being REALLY pregnant oh and mom come up and we turned a dresser into a changing tale and finished eli's room. in early octoberwe took cole to deanna rose farms..we had a good time:)



deanna rose


eli's room

i shot my last wedding before the baby on oct 4...i looked pretty hilarious waddling around at that wedding! then on oct 21 we took cole to his good friend gray's house and brent and i went in to be induced! my water broke on its own at around 3am then at 530am they started patossin. my cousin annie arrived shortly there after. I got an epidural at around 8am and at 1028am eli west phillips was born! the dr. barely made it there in time to catch him!


eli west phillips

in november i did a senior photo shoot and an engagement shoot. we also enjoyed taking eli on his first road trip to bartlesville to meet the fam for thanksgiving. i also did my first shoot of my boys...it was so fun!


engagement shoot


pics from thanksgiving




shoot with the boys