On Thursday, January 12th, team Tate headed out early in the morning to head to UW Madison to see Tate’s Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon.

Team Tate that day was Blake, Tate and myself.

We had to change Tate’s appointment that was supposed to be back in December mostly because of a snow storm, but also because of our lingering illness.

Some of you might remember that at Tate’s last appointment in July of 2022, we were told that we needed to talk about surgery on Tate’s extremely complex spine.

You can read that post here.

Because that was the last conversation we had had with Tate’s surgeon, you can imagine our hearts would be a little anxious going into this appointment in January.

I had reached out to our amazing friends and prayer warriors and SO MANY were praying over our day, the surgeon, the decisions that needed to be made, and our hearts. We felt a peace that passed all understanding in only a way God could allow!

The body of Christ is so cool.

We arrived at UW without any trouble that day, checked in, and then we waited.

And we waited.

And waited some more.

We paced the waiting area, and also did some relay races.

My hubby was with us, after all, and he brings the fun!!

Tate finally had his imaging done, and we were taken to a room.

And we waited some more.

You guys, I am talking about hours of waiting.

It was crazy!

Finally a resident came in whom we had never met.

She asked a lot of questions and then checked Tate over thoroughly.

When she asked if Tate had ever had a tethered cord release or has ever had the VP shunt in his brain revised, we said no.

He hasn’t.

We got the response that my head and heart always have when I think about those two things alone – “WHAT? That is crazy unusual! He is eleven, right??”

We know how God has protected Tate from all of those “usual” surgeries that children with spina bifida and VP shunts have.

We know.

And we continually praise God for it all!!

Finally the surgeon came in.

He is a wonderful, humble man and an amazing, well-known surgeon.

He had just had surgery himself, and had his entire left arm in a sling.

He re-measured the images that the resident had just measured, explaining to her what and he was doing.

I love that he teaches others!!

And then he simply said “Tate is stable! Let’s recheck in six months.”

Of course we LOVED that news SO MUCH!!

Stable is our favorite word!!!

We did not, however, ask about last time, and the word surgery.

I did not ask the questions on my mind – ‘are you not saying surgery now because you are healing from your own surgery and cannot currently do it?’

Or ‘Were you saying surgery last time because you are about to retire and you want to be the one to care for Tate?’

Or ‘Do you not understand the weight of your words to parents like us when you say “we need to talk about surgery?”‘

Or the other questions I cannot remember months later as I type this?

We simply just got up, shook his hand, and skipped out of that place!

We were SO happy!!!

We will go back in July again for new imaging and new conversations.

WE WERE ALSO STARVING.

So we headed to the Coop and then to Noodles and Company to fill our bellies!!!

Of course we had to check out all the cool things because I was traveling with a chef and a very fun guy.

We also stopped at Target and Tate got to spend a gift certificate that he had received for Christmas.

Then we headed to Costco and stocked up on all things grocery!

I love that place.

Of course my sweet hubby got us all some coffee for the long drive home.

I love that guy so much.

By the time we got home it had been a twelve hour day.

I am here to tell you medical days bring a level of exhaustion that is hard to explain.

We really weren’t doing anything!!

Those relay races in the waiting room did not exhaust us!

The peaceful van ride did not either!

The yummy food, the abundant grocery – nope – not those things either!

See! Hard to explain.

We got home to a wonderful meal, prepared by our beautiful daughter Addie Mae, and a fun family night.

I pushed the questions out of my mind and heart and let the words stable be in both those places instead.

Thank you, Jesus, Tate is stable!!

But thank you, Jesus, that Tate is stable.