Weekend Update from Carrie

I received a great update from Carrie...

"The Tuttle family has been pretty busy in the last week--between celebrating birthdays, going to doctor's appointments and actually getting out of the house a bit! Today was Chris' birthday--we had a great time celebrating with a walk in the gorgeous weather at Duke Gardens. It was so much more crowded than it has been in the past few weeks! We even ran into our friends Chuck and Dana Campbell, which was so nice.

Chris' parents came in for the weekend to celebrate and also to hang out with the kids so we could actually go on Friday night to his staff Christmas party (yes, in the church is often a great idea to get together as a staff well before or after Christmas...my First Pres. Burlington staff friends know that all too well. These folks didn't have quite the difficulty with the date planning, though. :) We had such a great time! then, we actually went on a date to celebrate our birthdays on Saturday evening too! I managed to have a little time to go to breakfast and shopping with my mom on Saturday morning too. Needless to say, I don't know what to do with myself. We were so grateful for help from Sarah and Robert and Pat and Bob to make this happen.

Heath is doing pretty well. We are trying desperately to settle into some sort of routine. We're having to take one day at a time, as we have always been told that we would. As a planner, this is tough for me to do sometimes, but I am working at it. We had an appointment on Thursday and the blood work showed too much acidity. Here comes the viscious cycle of the medications (which I will write about later this week as some folks have shown interest in knowing more about these). He has to be on these medications to fend off his body's rejection of the heart, but it makes his stomach not feel too great sometimes. And then he is on a few to fix the problems that the other medications cause. and now he has to drink this awful tasting stuff (bi-carb) for the acidity/dehydration issue, but it makes him not want to eat or drink anything else which can make him more dehydrated... AH, never a dull moment in the Tuttle house. We spent much of Saturday trying to be creative about what we could mix this one medicine with to make him drink it (I can only imagine some of your suggestions...)! We're going back tomorrow again to see what his numbers look like. Lots of doctors appointments, but we're so glad to be home and drive TO the hospital for appointments! All in all, he is really doing well. He is crawling and cruising and standing up a bit. The physical therapist is thrilled with his progress too. He is just a happy, pretty chilled out guy.

On another fun note, we have a contract on our house in Greensboro! We are thrilled that if all goes well with inspection/closing, etc...we can start looking for a permanent Tuttle home in Durham. YEAH!

As always, we are so very grateful for all the love and support that we have received from you all. We wouldn't have made it this far through this without your love and prayers. Please forgive us for not being the best communicators right now. With being home with two busy kiddos and all the extra stuff that comes with Heath's continued care and Chris being at work full-time now, we haven't had as much time to return phone calls and emails.

Blessings and Peace to you all.

Love, Carrie"

With continued gratefulness,

"Gran" Sarah