Recent Picture of Isaac. (5 years-old now) He is doing so well! We almost lost him last year when he choked on a chewed carrot. Nine days in an induced coma; three trips into the lung to get out the pieces, but he did well. I have never seen him so weak, as when he came home. It was frightening. We moved to Georgia and the medical treatment here is great. Before we left Florida, I took Isaac to meet the ambulance drivers that had come on the evening that he choked. It was something to see three grown firemen crying, they were very happy to see Isaac. They told me that it was thoughtful for us to bring Isaac by. They don't get to meet many people they help. Not many people take the time to say thanks, I guess. Isaac is doing well medically. He has some excess fluid in the spinal cord that we are tracking, and an "arch" over his heart that may require open heart surgery next year. The spinal cord and the cardiac issues are serious surgeries and we are concerned, but they are in the future and this is time for fun... so for now we track... and play. I will put more pictures up after Christmas.

Fred

3-05-02

Isaac turned 4 on March 2nd 2002. He has had 32 surgeries now and is doing really well. He got a Larry Boy talking toy, a Jimmy Neutron on a rocket and an airport set. He is going to "school" three days a week at Ms. Davis's class where he receives therapy and plays with his friends.

Hilary is playing hand bells at church and singing in a youth choir. She is getting so tall. Hilary just did a report on Ronald Reagan  at school, and she is doing very good.

Luke is also singing with a youth choir and is doing great with his school work.

We are so proud of them all.

Fred

`

We are Blessed!!

This is our first family newsletter. We have been e-mailing most of you all on a regular basis about the progress of Isaac, the newest member of our family.

Isaac will be 2 March 2nd, 2000. He is growing in leaps and bounds. He has had 19 surgeries in 19 months. His most recent surgery gave Isaac his first thumb to his right hand. That was about 17 weeks ago and he is doing great even he is amazed at all he can do. His next thumb surgery on the left hand will be sometime in January 2000. We have been seeing a more confident and happier Isaac who likes to laugh a lot. One day I came into the kitchen and heard giggling. I glance into the kitchen and saw no one. Then I looked on the floor. There I could see one little foot hanging out of a cupboard touching the floor. Isaac was in the cupboard waiting to be found. I heard him say “Ready, Set, go!” Then he jumped out. He was so surprised to see me. He laughed and laughed as he closed himself back up in the cupboard to hide again.

We all had fun decorating the Christmas tree this year. Isaac watched Hilary and Luke as they look at all their special ornaments and put them on the tree. Isaac watched their every move. Then we watched Isaac run into his room.He started to get a few of his toys and try to hang then on the tree. It was the funniest thing to watch. Hilary and Luke thought so too. There was lots of Laughter!

Hilary is 8 and in the 3rd grade.She has been on their school T.V. program two-times now reading a script. Hilary is still enjoying her Barbie dolls and actually is playing "Pokeman" the card game. We have moved Hilary into a bigger room in the house and she is really enjoying her space. She is reading many chapter books in series like "The Littles", "Little house on the Prairie" etc. Hilary is quite computer literate. She has picked it up quickly (taught herself to play Chess at six-years old). I find myself still making the change from DOS to Windows. Ugh! It’s great to see her love of Learning.

Luke is now 5 he is in pre-school. He loves it. The best part of the week for him is show and tell. He loves to show special toys to his friends at school. Luke loves to make people laugh. He has not gotten the actual “joke telling thing” down but he is a natural with physical humor (I wonder where he gets that?). He has our whole family laughing even Isaac. Luke's favorite characters right now are Woody and Buzz. He is really looking forward to seeing the movie and collecting the toys.

I am still working for Pro Health and Fitness. This is the best job of my life. They have been a wonderful company to work for. The people I work with are great too. I have never had to work so hard at losing weight before. I have begun this journey of getting back into my clothes before I got pregnant about 3 months now and have only lost 5 lbs. I have dropped a dress size. I have been taking this new class called "Spinning" and really like it. I have also been lifting weight (only 5 lbs.) but its a start. I feel sore most the time but a little thinner. The greatest thing to my energy level is that Isaac has started sleeping through the night as of November. Hooray!!!!!!!!!1 I think most of you have received a letter about Phred working full time with Hope Ministries. That change took place about 4 weeks ago. Phred is still working part-time for MRI. Its been wonderful to see Phred walking out what he told me 15 years ago he felt God was calling him to do. Phred also has started to sleep soundly through the night. He has sleep apnea and has started to use a machine to help him sleep. Phred is sick less often, has more energy. And with the other changes in our lives we are all much more peaceful and energized. Who knows where the Lord will lead us next. This is all the news for now. May all of you have a Merry Christmas and A very Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Nora, Phred, Hilary, Luke & Isaac St.Laurent

 Merry Christmas from the St. Laurents                                             

September 22nd 1999

I wanted to tell you a little bit about Isaac before I tell you about our day. As of today Isaac's bottom has been really good for about 3 weeks. That has got to be the longest it has been well. Praise the Lord for that. We are still putting products on his bottom to protect it. We have gotten close to this point of healing with Isaac's bottom a few times. We are in continued prayer that his bottom will stay healed.Isaac's head is done with the reshaping and has the helmet off his head. The helmet came off July some time. His head is nice and round now. It is no longer flat and pointed on the left side. The helmet was the easiest equipment for Isaac to have, and use. It has had such dramatic effect on Isaac's head, everyone that saw Isaac's head before can see the change right away. For that Phred and I are truly grateful.Isaac is walking wonderfully. So good in fact that Hilary and Luke have started playing games with him. It's so funny to see Hilary and Luke run through the house giggling and trying to find a place to hide. Then I would see Isaac giggling and looking through the house for his brother and sister. He gets such a kick out of being included in such a cool game. The first time I saw Isaac belly laughing as he went on his search for his siblings I started to cry. It was so wonderful to see Isaac functioning well enough to play "Hide and seek". The other thing that got my heart was I have seen this child cry so much and go through so much pain I was over joyed that he could be so happy playing a game with his brother and sister. Isaac has been throwing a ball with the short hand with 4 fingers. As he throws the ball at you he yells "BALL!" He is too cute if I say so myself. He laughs after the throw because he is so proud of his accomplishment. I have seen him bang on the outside door (inside the house) and yell "Hilary, Luke", (he wants to go outside and play with them) seeing him do this really cracked me up. When he is hungry or wants a drink from his bottle he starts yelling "UM, UM!" Then he runs to the refrigerator and points. The "Um's"get really loud and he looks at me earnestly when he reaches the refrigerator. Isaac usually asks me for the bottle. When he sees that I am getting the bottle for him. He turns and runs into the T.V. room. And heads for "the couch". Isaac will try putting his leg up top the couch so he can climb up. I get a chuckle out of this too. Isaac has an assigned place for bottles. Its funny how he decided that the couch would be the drinking place. :) If Hilary and Luke are laying on the floor watching T.V. Isaac will come byand lay on top of them. He then puts his head on their belly. After awhile he will get a blanket and place it on his sister and say "Nite, Nite" He keeps repeating that statement and wrapping the blanket around Hilary. It's really cute to watch him do this. He is doing the very thing that Hilary does to him. During the 6 weeks that Isaac has had his cast on he has developed some new talents. First of all he discovered that when he hit the casted arm on different objects they made different sounds. He went around the house banging everything in site including us. He developed a sense of power with that arm over these few weeks. He could smash his food to bits. He could hit little racecars and they would fly across the room. Having the cast on his arm was definitely cool. The Dr. kept the cast on for 6 weeks for healing but also to strengthen the shorter left arm and hand. Isaac developed using that arm like never before in his life. After the first week the cast was on I watched Isaac move that little arm in crazy positions and just watch his arm. The thing that amazed him was the fact that he could move his wrist for the first time. He was moving it up and down, down and up. He smiled. The next exciting move of the arm was the elbow. I watched him move it out and in, in and out. He would put those two motions together and giggle. He was having a wonderful time discovering his body and what it could do. For the first time in Isaac's live he developed a crease in his arm because he was bending his elbow. It is the little things that you take for granted. It has brought us great joy to see that crease in his elbow.Isaac's fingers at birth were stiff. Isaac has been having his fingers massaged and had therapy to give his fingers more flexibility. In just 6 weeks his fingers on that hand are flexible and are picking up amazing things. He has learned to reach with that arm first to do things with. He uses to hide that arm and use it only when he had to. So, many things were accomplished in these 6 weeks.

NOW I'LL TELL YOU ABOUT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) :) :) :) : My apt. With Dr. Dell was at 2:30p.m. Near Port Malabar Road. Dr. Dell travels to Palm Bay from Gainesville once a month. (I have told him over and over how I truly appreciate that he does this.) Isaac likes Dr. Dell. They usually play a little before the exam. Dr. Witte (his pediatrician)says that the reason Isaac likes Dr. Dell so well is because Isaac is knocked out when Dr. Dell does his work. So, all of Isaac's memory is of Dr. Dell are happy. She's got a point. Anyway, Dr. Dell gets this hand saw that is attached by long tubes to a large round vacume looking bottom thing. He turns it on and it makes lots of noise. He watches for Isaac's reaction. Isaac's eyes are wide but he doesn't cry. I couldn't believe how loud this all was it would have made me nervous. Then Dr. Dell carefully approaches Isaac with the saw in his hand. He then starts gently cutting on the cast. Isaac is intently watching where that saw blade is going. The Dr. cuts the front and back of the cast. I have asked Dr. Dell's assistant to take pictures with my camera of Isaac and this whole process. When all the cuts were made it was time to take off the cast. Dr. Dell got some more tools to allow him to get the cast off Isaac's arm. One instrument went into the cut marks and made groves. The other instrument pushed the cast open side to side. Isaac didn't cry, he just stared at what was happening to his arm. When the cast was finally off the Dr. had to cut through many layers of gauze and cotton wrap with special large scissors. At that time his other assistant began to help cut away through the layers to his hand. As they got closer to his skin Isaac became jumpy. He didn't like the fact that they were holding his arm that long. He didn't like sitting this long and wanted to be free. Finally Dr. Dell, cut away the layer of cotton covering Isaac's hand. I saw his thumb for the first time. Wow! It looked beautiful. It looked just like the picture a nurse had given me of another child that had the same operation. Isaac had a thumb and it looked great. Right after the Dr. took off the gauze and I was having these thoughts. Isaac began moving his fingers and hand round and round. He watched his own hand in amazement. He definitely knew something was very different. He checked out the body part closely. He took his short hand and began to touch the tips of every finger on the right hand. He was very gentle and careful especially when it came to touching the thumb. It was about this time when I burst out crying. I could not contain my emotions any longer. I was seeing Isaac's beautiful hand for the first time and then I was watching him move it wildly. Then gently inspecting every inch. Wow! Isaac was going to be fine. He was going to catch onto this new therapy just fine. God had given us a wonderful Miracle. Phred and I have waited for this day for almost two years. The wait was over. Isaac has a beautiful working thumb. Glory to God!!!! I began to thank the Dr. (once I got control) for doing the operation and caring for Isaac. About that time his assistant was taking lots of pictures from my camera. Another Dr. assistant came in and was taking pictures of Isaac with his own camera. Dr. Dell said that the next time he see's Isaac they want to video tape him. I don't know how many of the pictures came out. Isaac kept moving his hand excitedly watching it work. I had to run from that Dr. to another. I was seeing Dr. Witte about Isaac not feeling too good yesterday and today. When I signed at Dr. Witte's office I showed the entire office staff Isaac's new thumb. Everyone was so excited to see Isaac's progress. Dr. Witte said that it the hand looked great. When Dr. Witte checked Isaac out she discovered that he had a double ear infection. She prescribed cefzil for him. I went after the visit and got the medicine for him. Isaac was really not feeling well now I knew why. Poor Guy!!!! After I got home and we all ate dinner as a family. I was sitting with Isaac in my arms watching a video the kids picked out. I watched Isaac still examining his newly uncovered hand. He began to stick each one of his fingers on the right hand into his mouth. I watched him do this very, very, gently. He would stick one finger taste it and then go on to the next. Then he got to his thumb. It fit into his mouth. He smiled. He had a floating thumb on this hand before. He would try his hardest to get that little thumb into his mouth but it just wouldn't get to the mouth too good. Now he had a thumb that fit just right. :) :) :) :) Isaac had his first submerged bath in 6 weeks tonight. He wasn't too crazy about it. I tried to clean the dead skin off his arm as best as he would allow me, but it wasn't too good. He'll get better in the bath with time. This is all the news for today. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Isaac had many more surgeries to go but this was a milestone for Isaac and our family. It was wonderful to share this good news with you all. God Bless

Nora

September 20th 1999

Isaac will be getting his cast off on Wednesday 9-22-99, and we should be finding out the approximate date of his next surgery at that time. Isaac has developed some interesting habits with that cast. We have learned to keep out of his way!! He pretends to want to give you a kiss, and - whack \par - tries to hit you in the nose. His right arm has become quite strong, and the left arm is also doing well since he has been forced to use it more. He has a good grip with his four fingers, and even bends the elbow now, which he \par wasn't doing at all after the rod was put in. Isaac's bottom looks a lot better. We feed him a lot of rice and are careful to only give him foods that will not cause problems (with loose stools or acid), and he is responding well. He is also has three molars coming in at the same time, causing some fever and lack of sleep. Overall, a good report from Isaac's house this week! We are blessed. God Bless all of you, and thank you for any thoughts or prayers. Fred St Laurent

August 11th 1999

The operation was a success!!!!! I just got off the phone with Phred. He said that when he visited Isaac tonight he woke up smiling. They were going to get him up to play with toys. Isaac was medicated and happy.

Praise the Lord. What a miracle! Isaac has his first working thumb! Rejoice.

Isaac's surgery went well. No complications. No surprises. Things went smooth. When they checked the thumb about an hour after surgery it was pink and beautiful. The circulation to the thumb is doing great. The doctors have put Isaac in a cast from the tip of his fingers to his shoulder. Phred said he doesn't think this cast will fall off anytime soon! :) :) :)

The doctors wanted to keep Isaac in the hospital 24 hours to make sure everything went well. Phred and the kids will be driving home from Gainesville tomorrow.

It takes about 4 hours. I pray that Isaac will be comfortable in the car and not cry too much. I pray that Phred is awake on the road and arrives home safely. Isaac should be released from the hospital about 10a.m. tomorrow. I pray that God protects Phred and the children on the way home tomorrow. I'm looking forward to our reunion and feel rested enough to start getting up with Isaac again.

When Isaac had his last surgery he was up every 3-1/2 hours for more pain medicine. The Doctors said that this surgery would be more painful then the last. I pray for comfort and rest for Isaac.

Thank you all again for giving us comfort and love when we need it the most. May God shine His Love on all of you that have given us His light in many of our dark times? You have encouraged us when things didn't look so good. You have also REJOICED in the good times, which made those times even more special. Thanks for everything.

Nora

August 5th 1999

Phred and I thank all of you for praying for our family. Thanks for all of the suggestions for items we could use on Isaac's bottom. Some of you had the same Ideas. That was neat to see!!! :) :) :)

Great News!!! Today was the CMAT Staffing meeting for Isaac's case. These are the people that determine if Isaac has a need to be at Kids Medical Center. They determined today that Isaac is definitely in need of this service and extended his eligibility for 6 more months. One Nurse from Kids Medical Club has seen Social Security cancel people's benefits before and Medicaid still be in effect for 6 months or longer. We are praying this will be so for Isaac.

We need help to get us through ALL the hand surgeries.

We found out today that Isaac is tentatively scheduled for heart surgery the middle of 2000, so hopefully, they will be done with all the hand surgeries by the time he is 2. (Which is March 2, 2000.) Give or take a sickness, it's possible that they could be done with the thumbs by then. There could always be delays but Isaac has been pretty healthy so far. Praise the Lord!!!!!!

Speaking of Surgeries!!!!! Isaac is scheduled for his first THUMB SURGERY, the morning of AUGUST 10th. Phred, Isaac and Hilary will be flying to Gainesville Monday, August 9th at 8 a.m. This is an Angel Flight; which means that they will be flying in a very small plane. In the Angel Flight ministry, Pilots donate their time and planes to help children get to the medical treatment they need. Please pray for safe travel. ( Note: This flight was cancelled...bad weather...we drove over...)

Isaac will be operated on Tuesday morning. They will keep him overnight to watch for the circulation in the NEW thumb. Then, Phred, Hilary and Isaac will fly back on Wednesday. Luke and I will be holding down the home front and praying for our loved one's safe return. (Note: Luke went along with Hilary and Dad/ we gave Nora a chance to rest and get some sleep)

We will also be praying for the team of Doctors that will be working on Isaac's hand. They will be cutting off Isaac's floating thumb and making an opposing thumb of the Index finger. It is a complicated surgery and it will take several hours. Pray that God directs the Doctors hands and everyone is rested and thinking clear during the surgery.

This will also be the most painful procedure yet for Isaac. Some more Great News!!!!!!!!!!!! For about a week now Isaac's bottom is doing incredibly WELL!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually it's the best it's ever been. Dr. Witte gave him some cream by the name of Nystatin. It was to treat a yeast infection. It did a great job of healing Isaac's bottom. (Note: We had gotten to the point several times before where we thought that we had turned the corner with Isaac's bottom and then it would go down hill again. Please pray that the battle is over and this healing is here to stay! Actually as of 8-16 he was getting irritated again..)

The other thing that we have done with Isaac is to change his diet. Dr. Witte had suggested we take him off the Soy formula and put him on Soy Milk. Several of you wrote in and asked me what Isaac was eating and made good suggestions. We have modified his diet and it is definitely agreeing with him.

Thank you again for all of your help, suggestions and prayers. Thank you also for looking at Isaac's Website and making suggestions and comments. We appreciate you all for doing that. This is all the wonderful news for today. God is good and has been moving mightily this week when we really needed it the most. Thanks for going to bat for us.