The Bessinger Family: What We've Been Up To

I know I have been really bad at keeping up the blog lately so it is time for an update. As you will soon read, life has been crazy,leaving updating the blog the last thing on my mind. Since May, we have moved from Mississippi to Colorado, gone back home to California twice, had Jane turn two, had Wyatt start physical therapy in the home, and had Wyatt hospitalized SIX times, the last of which was for surgery. Plus we have had fun little day trips to Garden of the Gods, the Zoo, and as of yesterday, a pretty cool pumpkin patch. We also take day trips to Denver about every two weeks for Wyatt's appointments. I think they are fun because I get to stop by Cafe Rio, but I know not everybody in the car would agree with me that it is fun.

Jane's little birthday party back home in California.

Trying on the goods.

Jane and her cousin Lily. Lily loved helping Jane with her gifts.

More awesome gifts.

Miss Lily


We enjoyed birthday cupcakes this year.

Cousin Lincoln. Jane really loves her cousins.

Garden of the Gods

After our last trip to California, I hitched a ride with my parents back to Colorado. We went and saw Garden of the Gods together. Unfortunately, Taylor had to work.

When they sit in their stroller, Wyatt insists on having some kind of contact with Jane. It is so cute.

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

We have this awesome zoo here. It really is built up the side of a mountain. When you stand and look out you can the entire city. It really is beautiful. The zoo also had a lot of really neat animals. They let the peacocks and the wallabies just walk around unleashed. It was a really fun time and Jane is still talking about it. She loved it.

I was so proud of Jane for feeding the giraffe's. She was very brave.

Wyatt just hung out and was a good boy, as usual.

Jane got to pet a wallaby. She loves animals.

My goofballs.

This tiger was so cool. He was swimming so close to us.

Riding the big kitty.

Mr. Wyatt

So, like I said earlier,Wyatt has been in and out of the hospital quite a bit. Four of the times that Wyatt has been in the hospital have been due to either vomiting or not wanting to eat. With his disorder, if he is sick or not taking into his body enough calories or energy to burn, we have to have him put on special IV fluid to try and avoid the brain damage that can occur. His body lacks the enzyme that allows him to flush out amino acids (in case you forgot, they make up protein) causing his blood to run acidic, his blood sugar to drop, and all sorts of bad things that can cause big problems. So, when he gets sick or doesn't eat, his body breaks down his muscle tissue in search of energy to burn, which releases the amino acids, which is why he has to be put in the hospital.

Wyatt, we have learned, just doesn't like to take his formula, which is special medical formula and the most important part of his diet. We have also learned that he has pretty severe reflux. Both of these things having been making our life miserable because they can't be tolerated with his disorder. It has hopefully all been made better though. After he was hospitalized last for vomiting and not eating, his doctors finally decided it was time to thicken his formula. Since then, no more spit-up or vomit. It has been great. They also were able to move along the process for a surgery that we had been waiting for, which was g-tube placement. A g-tube is a port that gives me direct access to his stomach so that even when he does not want to eat, I can get his food into him. It will also allow me to treat him at home with high glucose formula during illness instead of having to get him hooked up to IV. We are so grateful that we were able to find these solutions. Life can move forward again.

Here are some pics from different hospital stays.