Riding Out The Storm

Good morning everyone,

First off, I want to congratulate Charly, Danielle, Jackson, and Ms. Haley to the new additional to their family Luke Carter Flatt born on Tuesday. Tina and I are excited for the new addition to the family, and Ethan and Kevin can't wait to meet their new cousin.

It's been an eventful 7 days, but then again, I can't remember my last uneventful week at this point. I was home last weekend to see Kevin come home and Ethan successfully have his esophagus and trachea surgery. It was a great weekend. I flew back out to New Hampshire on Monday morning to start another busy week of work, and continual appointments at the house to get things done. The house is coming along nicely. The painter has been working every day, and I've taken care of a lot of the little issues around the place. I also finally got the jungle called our yard mowed with the help of my neighbors mower.

Tina and Kevin had a good week together, although it was stressful at times. He's still got his days and nights mixed up, so Tina's not getting much sleep. She has been getting some great help from her family, Kristen, my mom, and Sara Ogg. Thanks so much for helping her out, we really appreciate everything. Kevin keeps eating like a hog, and growing every day. I hear him talking in the background when I call Tina and I love it.

Ethan started off the week with a bang. The surgery went well, his numbers looked good, and they were continuously weaning him off his morphine. A couple of days ago he was looking good enough they wanted to take him off the ventilator again. After that happened, his numbers still looked good, but his breathing was pretty labored. They tried to let him work himself through it, but last night he had to go up to 95 oxygen before they decided to intibate him again. It's an upsetting setback. We were really hoping the surgery would be his ticket to freedom from the ventilator. Now, we have to come up with another new plan. I haven't talked with the nurse yet this morning, but I believe the plan is to have the ENT (Ears-Nose-Throat) surgeon take a look and make sure nothing is ubstructing his airway. Should be another interesting weekend.

I'm anxiously watching the path of Hurricane Earl. My flight leaves Manchester today at 2:45pm and connects through Baltimore before coming to Columbus. I'm hoping there's no delays or cancellations. However, with my luck, the hurricane, and the holiday weekend I'm not betting on it.

Thanks to everyone for all your supports, encouraging words, and prayers. You guys are what help keep us going when times are tough, and we love you all for it.

Have a great and safe Labor Day weekend. Toss back a cold one for me.


Much love,

Ryan, Tina, Ethan, and Kevin