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WELCOME TO COBY'S CORNER!
My mommy has created this website so that the whole world can know how incredible I am. She also wanted everyone to learn about my special
dis - abilities. I have microlissencephaly, cerebral palsy, a mystery total body rash....well, maybe I should start at the very beginning.
NOTE: Each time you see (photo), make sure that you check out that picture in my Photo Gallery.
~~~THE GOOD OLE DAYS ~~~
My mommy and daddy met each other way back when they were just early teens. They went to the First Baptist Church together. As friends, they enjoyed going to the Noel dance. Little did they know, they were going on a date with their future mate. (photo)
Years passed by. Mommy stayed busy finishing school and working part time jobs. After finishing school, Daddy toured with the Continental Singers, traveling to Fiji and Austraila to spread the love of Christ(photo)
After going in different directions for a while, Cupid finally shot his arrow and my mommy and daddy were hitched! (photo) They were married in February 1991. They were only babies themselves, being 20 and 21 years young. They knew their marriage was a match made in Heaven!
~~~CHALLENGING TIMES~~~
My how time flies! Six years later, Mommy was now a teacher. Daddy was a technologist at the hospital. House was ready. Finances were secure - well, sort of. So...here comes baby, right? WRONG! Mommy and Daddy were smacked right in the kisser with (dunt-dunt-dunnnn)
INFERTILITY!
After 4 long years of trying to conceive, years of tears, prayers, disappointment, begging the Lord, heartache, treatments with huge needles (ouch!)...a baby was finally conceived! If it was going to be a boy, they were going to name it Connick because they had gone to a Harry Connick Jr. concert on that same night (ha!). Everyone was thrilled for the parents-to-be!
At only 8 weeks pregnant, my parents were introduced to a new word, "miscarriage". The devastating loss of the first baby they had worked so hard for was not easy for any of the family. Back on the infertility roller coaster again....
We will miss you little Connick.
~~~ROUGH WATERS AHEAD~~~
A year later, after taking a break from infertility treatments, my family was overjoyed to hear that I would soon be on the way into the world. My parents were so excited that they "did it all by themselves". This was laughed about often, but it really meant a lot to them that they could finally conceive without the aid of infertility treatments. My family was busy praying for my safety in my mommy's tummy while mommy threw up, with a big smile on her face, four times a day. She was so relieved when she finally stopped being sick around 18 weeks.
After many healthy OB visits, my mommy could finally enjoy being pregnant. She beamed with pride at my 20 week ultrasound. I was perfect in every way. And I was a strapping boy; just what my parents had ordered!
Their joy quickly slid into fear though at 24 weeks gestation. Mommy's doctor realized that her uterus was measuring 8 weeks too large, and he quickly sent her to a high-risk OB. The doctor did an ultrasound and said that Mommy had polyhydraminous. That's just a fancy word for too much amniotic fluid. He reassured them that sometimes polyhydraminous just happens for no reason and that I would be "just fine". Mommy was a little bit disappointed that she would have to stop teaching for a while, but she would do anything to keep me safe.
I loved seeing my mommy every week via ultrasound. Mommy and daddy were proud of me because I was looking and acting "just fine", with all of my measurements exactly where they were supposed to be.
Mommy had many tests run on us to make sure that we were okay. The doctor continued to try to figure out why Mommy had so very much fluid. Her membranes were floating around in her uterus, and I would practice my freestyle since I had so much room to play. I thought it was great fun to dash to the other side of my "swimming pool" when the nurse would try to find me on the monitor.
~~~NORMAL TEST RESULTS~~~
and
~A VERY BIG BELLY!!~
Our tests all came back normal. Still no reason for the polyhydraminous, but Mommy's swimming pool was getting larger by the minute. She had to take a drug to keep her from going into labor because her uterus was getting signals that it was the size that it needed to be to deliver me. I wasn't ready though! Even though my mommy's uterus was measuring 45 weeks pregnant, I was only 30 weeks old. Mommy's uterus was stretched past that of a full term, 40 week, pregnancy.
Around 32 weeks gestation, the doctor finally told Mommy what he had been suspecting for a couple of weeks. The polyhydraminous was being caused by my struggles in utero. My brain was in bad shape. About 30 weeks gestation, the doctor could detect that my head was a week behind the rest of my body; then 2 weeks. With all of the tests being normal, my problems could only be guessed to be lack of oxygen sometime during the gestation. No one will ever know for sure.
My family prayed extremely hard for a miracle for me as my Mommy's uterus continued to stretch. The doctor was fearful that her uterus might rupture and he may loose me and Mommy too. She had to be drained in the operating room 7 different times. Each time, the doctor took off a gallon of amniotic fluid. The fluid was tested for various things each time. My mommy felt much better after each draining. She was even weighing 15 pounds lighter each time, but she would quickly filled back up again less than two weeks later. She measured 63 weeks pregnant, before each draining! (photo)
~~~COBY ARRIVES~~~
Around 36 weeks, Mommy began having severe lower back pain. She was given some medicine to ease the pain, but nothing helped. The doctor wanted me to stay in her tummy for as long as possible to give me every advantage I could get. But at 37 weeks, Mommy's pain, that turned out to be a urinary tract infection, was unbearable. Her blood pressure shot sky high, and she was ready for me to arrive.
A scheduled c-section was done at midnight. The doctor had to drain about 2 gallons of amniotic fluid off once again before he brought me out. The delivery room was packed with special people ready to be there for me. Daddy and Mommy cried and prayed for me as I entered the world. I surprised everyone by kicking, screaming and scoring a 9 on my APGAR. Most of the people, relieved, left the OR as soon as they saw I was okay. Mommy got to see me for a quick few seconds before they whisked me away to the NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit for tests. (photo)
The doctors worried about every part of me. They tested me for everything imaginable. They wouldn't let me eat because they didn't know how my systems were working, but then they worried that I had an intestinal blockage because I wouldn't go poopie. Mommy said, "Maybe he'll poop if you let him eat something". All of my organs looked great and the only thing they could find wrong with me was that I had a very small brain, only 30 cm. After about 24 hours in NICU, my beautiful skin began to change into a rash which eventually covered my entire body. They finally began giving me sterile water to eat and then let Mommy breast feed me at 3 days old.
After 5 days in NICU, it was obvious that I didn't need to continue being a pin cushion just for the sake of "experiments". They could never find a thing wrong except for my tiny head and body rash. My family took me home!
My mommy went back to teaching when I was 6 weeks old. She needed to regain her since of self and some sanity too. Considering that she was going back to a room full of 28 nine year olds, makes us all question her since of sanity. Daddy had gone back to work weeks before.
The first 8 months of my life were pretty scary. I spent a lot of my time in the hospital. I wasn't getting enough hydration and nutrition because of my struggles with eating properly and my skin rash not keeping my fluids in. I had to hospitalized for dehydration, but after I was in the hospital for a few days, I caught a very bad infection from the hospital staff. It was called MRSA which basically means the "granddaddy of all staph infections". It is extremely hard to get rid of and only two antibiotics will fight MRSA. One of those drugs didn't work for me. I began to get sepsis, which simply means that the problem was spreading throughout my body and would soon start shutting down my organs. I had to have blood and platelet transfusions. I know that my family was very scared for me, but they would do whatever it would take to keep me safe. The doctors gave them that horrible speech, on more than one occasion, that I probably was not going to make it. They didn't know me very well though. I was a fighter in every sense of the word! Plus, I was in the hands of a very capable God and He had other plans for me!
I wasn't a very happy baby, at first. I hated all the needles and tests. My skin bothered me (photo), I threw up all the time and I was very hungry. I didn't sleep much at all and screamed just about 24 - 7. My parents finally figured out how to help me feel better. I needed a g-tube and nissen surgery. (photo) At 7 months, the doctor put in a button that leads straight into my tummy so that they can feed me everything I need. If it were up to me, I wouldn't eat at all. The nissen simply tightened my esophagus so that I couldn't throw up everything that I ate.(Notice the difference in my weight and height in the 7 month picture compaired to the 9 month.) It was kinda scary for my parents at first, but now they are old pros at all the stuff I need. The surgery made me a new little boy. I gained weight, grew longer, slept better, stopped crying all the time and started doing more. It was a life saver!
~~~GROWING UP! LIFE IS PRECIOUS~~~
You can check out my photo gallery for pictures of me as I get bigger and stronger. Through the years my parents have hung onto God and their Christian beliefs with all their might. They say that I have made them better people!
My rash still hangs around and my parents keep searching for answers, but my skin doesn't bother me much. It's hard work for them. They bathe me twice a day and put creams on me from head to toe. I like the attention! Even though I am 7 now, I am developmentally 4 to 5 months old. That means that I can't sit up by myself yet, or crawl, or roll over. I make lots of sounds, but no words yet. I eat some baby food by mouth, but mostly let my g-tube do all the work.
I didn't give a real smile until I was two, but I do it all the time now. And boy do I light up everyone's lives when I smile. I laughed for the first time shortly after that, but it is still difficult for me to vocalize. My favorite thing to do is to be held and kissed. Oh, how I love those kisses! I go to a regular elementary school where I am in a special class with my friends who have struggles too. My occupational, speech and physical therapists all adore me. Everyone is cheering me on to be the best little guy I can be!
Check out the picture of my g-tube. (photo) It's pretty cool! Daddy says that every child should have one because it makes life so much easier! I have a special wheelchair that was made just for me too. (photo)
It's no place but up from here! I've got so much to show everyone as I grow and learn! Thank you for taking the time to learn about me in my looooong story.
COME BACK OFTEN AND WATCH ME GROW!!
You can email my Mommy and Daddy at :
mc.cc@juno.com
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Medical Update: (October 2003) My MRI shows that my brain is much worse than my parents originally thought. My corpus callosum that allows my two hemispheres to communicate is virtually missing. My frontal lobe which allows me to recognize others, have a personality, etc... is very underdeveloped. The doctors marvel at my strong personality, ability to smile and laugh, as well as all the other things I am doing because they say that my brain isn't physically able to do much of anything at all. My parents know why I'm so great! It's all because of the power of prayer and the awesome blessings from our Lord!
You thought I was amazing before? Well, just look at me now!!
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Coby's Daddy now happily sings with a Southern Gospel trio. Check him out at
www.the-hendersons.com
Phil. 4:13...I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!
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Coby went home to be with his Heavenly Father on February 2, 2010 at 10:20am. He began to bleed a lot from his mouth and nose about 2 weeks before we took him to the ER and found out that he was in acute renal failure. The kidney biopsy showed that nothing could be done to save him. We miss him terribly but know that he is singing with the angels now, looking down on us, smiling and having the best time in heaven!
WE LOVE YOU COBY!!!!
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