Somebody is feeling better.

Sunday morning, all is well.

Audrey is doing so well tonight. She had her first trach change yesterday and did great. We're hoping to get her home soon. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. JB

A new door has opened

Audrey continues to do well this morning. You take so many things for granted in life and simply breathing is one of them. I shed a few tears this morning because for the first time in my daughter's young life she is breathing easy. There is no retractions, no labor, no gasping, no oxygen hunger, and no flaring. There is certainly a lot that lies ahead, but today is a huge victory and a new beginning. Praise God.......JB

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Little Audrey did great in surgery. She will be on the vent until tomorrow. She's resting easy now. JB

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Audrey is at Children's Hospital in Knoxville. She's having surgery tomorrow. Keep her in your prayers. JB

Postscripts from Kandahar

It's been a long month since I last logged in with my blog. We eventually made the transition from Basrah, Iraq to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Our surgical team has been split into two groups with one team in western Afghanistan, and my team that has been abandoned in Kandahar. I use the word "abandoned" because we were left in a RSOI tent with no mission, no equipment, and no clue of what they want to do with us. These are obviously not the ingredients to feel like one is doing worthwhile work. We were infused in the NATO hospital for all of about two days before we were pulled because of a "hot" mission that never materialized, and so it appears that we will give the NATO hospital another spin at the beginning of the week. One of my mentors gave me a good perspective of the affairs going on here after I expressed my frustration via email. I believe we are victim of circumstances in Afghanistan. I think the planners that do this kind of thing thought that we would have the surge of troops over here already, but that hasn't happened yet so we are left here with nobody to support. Don't get me wrong, the surge will happen in a few months and bubbas like me will unfortunately be employed. It's just not in the cards for us on this deployment.
Our circumstances make it more frustrating when I know that my wife is drowning back home. Little Audrey has been sick more in the last four months than she has for the previous year and a half. It's just been an up and down roller coaster with her, and I know that my wife is close to her breaking point. It makes me pose the question of, "Why does duty and honor to your country have to make everything you love and hold dear suffer?" I'm not the first knucklehead to ask the question, and even though our family situation at home is tenuous sometimes I should be thankful because someone always has it worse. If I ever doubt that statement then I just need to remember all the KIAs that I seen or cared for over here, and it will put things in perspective for me. Anyway, keep Audrey in your prayers..........JB

It is what it is......

One of the favorite things that I like to say is, "it is what it is." If you have spent any time around me you will probably smile because I say it a lot. It drives my wife crazy, and I can thank the Army for it because I have been conditioned well. I preface all of this because we are waiting to get out of Iraq and on to Afghanistan. We have been bumped off multiple aircraft and sent back to the locker room to await another day. I'm living out of a small bag, have no idea what day it is, stay in a constant state of fatigue, and probably smell wonderful (just ask my roommate). So it is what it is...........

Deployments are strange beast. They are marked by periods of mind numbing boredom where you question yourself "why I'm even here", followed by times of sheer madness, trauma, stress, and loss. The undercurrent of stress of not knowing when this will happen leads to a good time. So it is what it is.............

We are going to be a group of transient nomads for the next several weeks until we get to our final destination in the "Stan". We really don't know what to expect. We all have read what is going on over there so we know that we are needed and have an idea of what to expect. We have been told to expect a primitive location of where we are setting up (I would prefer the word campy) so I guess I will be best friends with the dirt real soon. There is no real use to complain because it is what it is........

I just wish I could fast forward time a bit now. My family needs me desperately, but it is what it is............JB

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Now playing: Matthew Sweet - I've Been Waiting
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Why do bad things happen to good people?

Today was a pretty decent day in the home I call Basrah. All that changed about an hour ago for me when I found out that one of my college roommate's children had just died. I never met the child, but I know he was special like my little Audrey so I immediately shuddered when I heard the news. It really scared me because I have thought about being in my old roommate's position on several occasions, but my little girl has always rallied.
Several people have told me that the Lord gives special children to special parents. That used to anger me when I heard this because I thought it was a nice way to place something in a box to go along with the Hallmark card shoved down your throat. I now actually believe that my special child has made me a special parent and a better person. The Lord allows all things so it can glorify him. Sometimes I don't understand this, but I do understand that the situation with little Audrey has made the love I have for my wife and children stronger than what I can describe in words. It has taught me patience that I really have never had. It has given me a new level of empathy in caring for my patients that I never really have had either. It has taught me to place my faith in God that he will watch over and take care of my family because I have realized that I can't control everything nor can I can fix everything and make it right. Most of all little Audrey has taught me that your children are so precious and that you should enjoy every little thing in their life regardless of how small it is.
So I will give the Lord thanks in all things good and bad, but my heart is so sad for my old friend Brent. May the Lord comfort his family in this difficult time........JB

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Now playing: MercyMe - Here With Me
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More Postscripts from Basrah

I have been ignoring my blog for the past month because I have been in a virtual grounhog day scenario which has become mind numbing. The big change that I was referring to on my last post is that we are jumping to Afghanistan in about 2 1/2 weeks. It looks like our team will no longer be intact, and we will split into two groups once we get into country. I will certainly miss some of the guys I have been with but the change will be good because we want to go where we are needed and the fight is in Afghanistan. I'm battling some type of cold right now so it's got my body a little run down. I've got a mini pharmacy in my room so I'll survive until it passes. One of the camps bordering us has a big outbreak of the flu, but I have been vaccinated already so I should be good. Another forward surgical team has arrived to replace us so we are doing the left seat/right seat with them. They could take the mission now if their equipment was here so we'll hang out for a little longer.

Shannon and the kids are doing well. All the kids have been sick at least once since I have been gone (Murphy's law). Macy even had the flu but has rebounded well. Audrey seems to be doing well right now, but she was quite sick about three weeks ago. The little girl is a fighter, but she shouldn't have had to go through it if only the pediatrician had listened to Shannon from the outset. It will good to be back in North Carolina with her because we will have more control and capabilities available to her there. Please keep the prayers up for this little girl and Shannon. It has been a tough road since I have left, and Shannon definitely has the heavier load.

Our home renovations are underway and things appear to be going well. We ran into a snafu with the deck, but my contractor will be able to fix the mistakes of the previous contractor who put the deck in for us last year. Sometimes I don't know what I don't know, and that was painfully made aware to me with trusting someone's previous work. The renovation should be complete by the middle of November. Shannon and two of the kids are heading to NC next week for some appointments for Audrey so she should be able to see the progess so far. It will be exciting to come home to a bigger house.

That's about it for now.........later. JB

Change is a coming....I hope you're not settled

It's been awhile since I last posted, but life has continued at Camp Basrah. We've saved some good guys, taken care of some locals, and have endured the heat that is finally starting to show signs of going away. Everything is relative so when I say "going away", I mean the highs are only 120 now........:)) Things will be changing drastically for us here in the coming weeks. I can't really say what's going on for a little bit, but it's going to be an interesting ride.

Shannon and the kids are hanging tough. Little Audrey was sick last week, but she seems to be doing better now. Continue to keep her in your prayers especially as we approach the fall and winter months. I will be fighting with our case manager this week about trying to get more nursing care hours for Audrey. We'll see how this goes but since we have changed locations the service that we have received has not been the same as North Carolina. That's about all for now.........later.

JB

Initial thoughts on the deployment

Hey guys, I'm just checking in and trying to update the blog site. I have been in Basrah for about 2 1/2 weeks now and things are going okay. I've been indoctrinated into Facebook, and I have found it to be very addictive. Maybe, because I feel like a prisoner here on my free time. The base that I'm at in Basrah is pretty small which is good and bad. The good points is that everything you need is fairly close, but the bad points are that when the Iraqi/Iranian thugs send rockets over at us they have a pretty good chance of fragging some Soldier because we are packed in. We had three Soldiers killed here not too long ago because of indirect fire. Things are still quite dangerous here, but everything is quickly winding down. You can tell that there is a big push to get out of this patch of land called Iraq. Our forward surgical team has been extremely sleepy. We've had two minor traumas in our first two weeks, and our surgeons are probably going bonkers (which is a good thing because Solders are not getting injured, but we wouldn't mind some Iraqi stuff). Our clinical set-up is pretty impressive, and I think the folks back in the states would be amazed at the level of our surgical capabilities in this austere environment. I've been busy refitting our trauma set-ups and clinical layout of our ATLS tent since I've arrived. We've got a really good set-up in our triage and trauma section, but won't be able to fine tune it until we actually start treating a lot of patients. The team I'm with is really great group of talented and professional Soldiers. The heat here is really hard to get used and describe to people back home unless you really feel it. I have never been so hot in my life, and the spot I was in on my last deployment was nowhere near this hot. That's all for now, but I hope to add some pictures when I can get a faster internet connection.

JB

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Now playing: The Floating Men - Remembering Paradise
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Postscripts from Basrah

Finally...........we have arrived at our destination. I will be serving at Camp Basrah for the next six months and things seems to be okay. I'm assigned to a forward surgical team, and we basically do the initial surgical/resuscitation on all trauma patients and then fly them out. My living arrangements are great considering we are in a war zone. We took care of our first trauma today, which wasn't too bad (not an American), and I was quickly reminded that I was in Iraq tonight when we were attacked by rockets. Nothing like low crawling through 100 degree weather to a crowed bunker......:)) Anyway, we've got a good group of surgeons and medics here so it should be a good deployment. Shannon and the kids are plugging along. Please keep them in your thoughts.........later.

JB

Boots on the Ground

Hey guys. After 26 hours of flying and hellish layovers, I have arrived in lovely Kuwait. I stepped out of the aircraft at midnight to a cool 102 degrees. I have no orientation to what day or time it is..........we are 7 hours ahead of the family back home. Anyway, I will be here for a few days until I leave for my final destination up north. Kuwait is not the most lovely place. It's almost like being on the moon with the fine sand everywhere. Oh yeah, let's not forget that it feels like a hair dryer is blowing in your face as soon as you step outside. Good times............I will write soon once I'm finally settled. Please remember Shannon and the kids in your prayers.

JB

A quick hello

Hey everybody. I just wanted to drop a quick hello to everyone to let you know I have left for my deployment. I will be at Ft. Benning until Friday, and then I'm off to Kuwait and then Iraq. Shannon and the kids are settled, but keep her and the little ones in your prayers because its a funny farm everyday. I hope to start adding a lot of picture once I'm settled to document this latest adventure. Talk to you soon.........

JB

Time with Daddy

Country Love

The wheels are in motion, and we have moved the family home to TN before I head out the door. We got moved in the other night and have things relatively set up okay. Audrey has her first appointment with the new pediatrician today, and we are anxious to get the new nursing service, PT, and OT going. I've got about two weeks before I head out and have some evaluations to close out and then I'm ready to roll. We're feeling a lot better about the move now because things seem to be falling in place after months of coordination for Audrey's care.

The picture above was pretty funny and, it was the first sign we saw before we pulled into the new neighborhood. I have officially called this deployment for Shannon the Country Love Tour.................good times.

JB

Pretty Beach Girl

Somebody is looking pretty!

2nd Annual Bache Ball Tourney

Summer Fun!

Hey guys, I hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day yesterday. We're down at the beach house this week enjoying some family time before I head out. We have the entire extended Craig clan down here so there are a total of 7 grand kids running around Carolina Beach. We had a great day yesterday.........what's better than drinking some Corona's and grilling out on the water on the designated Man Day? We were laughing the other night on how just a couple of years ago Macy was the only grand baby for the Craig's and how they have 7 now with 2 on the way. How times change.........Anyway, just wanted to send a quick note out along with some pictures (they're on the right). Talk to you soon........

JB

Time to kick back

A star is born!

Marley is here and healthy. 9 pounds and 2 ounces.......Praise God!

JB

The train has left the station.

Shanny's in labor........more to follow.

JB

Fun at the fair!

Time to Work

Hey everybody.........the updates from Audrey's procedures last week are that she does not need a tracheostomy. Shannon and I knew this going in for ourselves, but we wanted the experts from UNC to come to that same conclusion. She had no upper airway obstructions which was excellent from our standpoint. In addition, her hearing test went reasonably well. She is hearing (which we also already knew)and the audiologist does not recommend any type of hearing device for her at this time. Audrey got a lot of cool equipment in this week that will help her start trying to stand and bear weight on her little feet. I'm including some pictures of her in her stander. She's tolerating the equipment pretty well. We also received a pretty high speed stroller for her so she is definitely hot pants now! Shannon and the other kids are doing well. Shannon is 36 weeks today which is hard to believe..........the adventure continues.

JB

All is well!

Audrey is doing great after her procedures today. They are keeping her overnight just to be safe. We're just hanging out watching cartoons. I'll give a full report of what they found when we get home.

JB

Audrey's at UNC today

Audrey just went into the OR. She's was doing fine this morning, say a little prayer for her. I will update everybody when she comes out.

JB

Errand Day

I'm chilling in the waiting room of the Honda dealership waiting for my car to be serviced so I thought I would update everyone on our world and catch up on other blogs that I follow. I'm heading to the grocery store and Lowe's after this. Shannon has become very uncomfortable and not really able to shop for groceries so I get to pick what the Burk family eats.......:)) You can never grow tired of pizza and cookies, can you? We had a bit of rough night last night. Audrey had a seizure for the first time in several months. It happened around midnight last night, and we got really engaged pulling her through the rough patch. It's just a scary thing regardless of what experience I have of seeing your child turn blue. Audrey has a neurology appointment on Tuesday, and we need to increase one of medications. She is growing like a weed, and we have had her on the same dose for over 9 months so last night is a definite sign we need more on board. She's doing fine this morning so we'll watch her a little closer this evening. I write about this because it's just another slap in the face of what our new normal is like.
On another note, we finally chose the contractor that will renovate our house in the coming months so we are excited about it. I'm going to have to remove some trees in the back yard first, and I got to contact our HVAC guy to see if our unit will handle the addition. I also got my official deployment orders yesterday. I will heading out the last week of July so that means the rest of the Burk family will be heading to Grazing Meadows at the beginning of July. We have a lot to do, but it will be another adventure for our family. Audrey has her procedures on Thursday so please say a quick prayer for that everything will go okay...........talk to you soon.

JB

Dispatches from the Sand Hills

Hey guys, I hope everyone is well at their respective abodes. The Burk house is lively as always. There are a lot of moving pieces going on right now so it's good that I post on the blog tonight so I can remember and track them all....:)) We've got some good momentum brewing with lining all of Audrey's care in Tennessee. I was in touch with the early intervention folks from the state and feel comfortable that everything will work out. Audrey continues to do pretty well right now. She had a swallow study performed this week at UNC, and she did swallow some which is great news. However, she did aspirate when we got to the thicker substances so they quickly ended the tests, but we definitely have something to build on with her. Our short term goal is that she swallow enough to control her secretions, and we'll take the food stuff later. She's got some procedures coming up in about two weeks so please keep her in your prayers. She'll have to spend a night at UNC after everything is done so we are trying to coordinate everyone's schedule to accommodate.
Shannon is almost 33 weeks along now which is absolutely crazy, but terribly exciting. I promise that we haven't converted to Mormonism and certainly didn't plan on raising a fire team, but the good Lord has his own plans for us......:)) Along that same theme, I found out for sure that we will be in NC for at least 2-3 more years this week so we will be renovating and expanding the house while I'm deployed this summer. We're looking to add about 500 square feet and gut the kitchen so we can have more space and functionality. We certainly need the space..........
Macy and Austin are doing great and growing up more everyday. Austin is busy doing head gainers everyday and Macy is in full swing with T-ball again so we are truly fully engaged in the Sand Hills of NC. Talk to you soon..........

JB

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Now playing: The Floating Men - Renee
via FoxyTunes

Come and get it!

Ring a ding ding......it's a tough life.

Mickey Buttons and Family Fun

Hey everybody,I hope everyone had a good week. It was beautiful during the work week and got up into the 80s. It would be Murphy's law that it is cold and rainy this weekend. I had no time to work out during the week so I'm running in the rain.....good times. Allison, Jeremy, and hurricane Brady are visiting this weekend. It's great to have family visiting, and Macy is terribly excited. We're going to cook out tonight and sit back and hope the Volunteers clinch the SEC title. The Bucs are already in so we're hoping for a good March Madness.

Little Audrey is doing well, but we continue to have issues with her mickey button. It remains very positional and leaks if it is stressed. UNC Hospitals has given us an option to admit her to the facility and take the mickey button out. They would leave it out for 1-2 days and let the stoma shrink. This sounds like a reasonable plan, but I don't want her in a hospital right now. So I going to start taking it out for a few hours at a time in between feedings so it will draw the stoma up. Another trick that I have done is putting a small Foley catheter into the stoma. This shrank the stoma up quite a bit, but not enough. I was a little hesitant about the length of time of leaving it in but this is a learning curve. I know I'm rambling, but there a people that read this blog that have children with Mickey buttons so my thoughts may be helpful. A huge no go that we did with Audrey's Mickey button is that we placed a larger size into the stoma when we initially changed it out because it was leaking. This only made the stoma larger and we have been chasing our tail ever since. If your health care provider doesn't understand Mickey's then find someone who does. I've been an ER Nurse for almost 15 years and this has been a learning experience for me. Anyway, that's my deep thoughts by Jack Handy today.......later.

JB

"Roger, Houston. We have reached advanced maternal age!"

Happy Birthday to my lovely and wonderful wife! 35 years and counting..............40 is around the corner.....:))

JB

"Audch Baudch"

I wanted to send a quick photo of Audrey today. Shannon has given her the nickname of "Audch Baudch" and it has taken hold. She looked too cute with Curious George. We will soon be fitting her with braces for her legs which is exciting. She continues to do well in therapies.........

JB

Basketball Star

Macy finished her second season of basketball on Saturday, and the team celebrated at Cici's Pizza. Good times..............

Mickey Button Blues

I've got Mickey Button Blues......rather, Audrey has Mickey Button Blues. We feed Audrey through a Mickey Button. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about so I'll explain. A Mickey Button is literally a plastic button on Audrey's stomach that we attach a tube to in order to feed the little rascal. She has had this since birth because she has a hard time swallowing her food or anything for that manner. We hope and pray that is a temporary matter, but in the mean time we have to feed her through the Mickey Button. Anyway, the problem at hand is that the button leaks and is very positional. This irritates little Audrey's skin and frustrates the daylights out of us because we are constantly changing her clothes. So this is a daily battle that we add as another brick for our ruck sack to carry. Other things continue to be busy at the funny farm. Macy had a basketball game tonight, and she did great. She scored two points (probably should have scored eight) and had a lot of rebounds. She has one more game this season so she is looking forward to her end of season party. We are also beginning preparations for my upcoming deployment in a few months. I'll most likely leave around the end of July or first part of August. The plan is to move Shannon and the kids home to Tennessee while I'm gone. Hopefully, I'll only be away for six months so we'll hope for the best. We plan on renting a home next to Shannon's Mom and Dad so she can have the extra help. It's a lot to put on Shannon........I can't begin to tell you how strong little Shanny is. Military spouses sacrifice so much, and our story is just one of them. Oh well.........the adventure continues. Tomorrow is Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JB

Goodbye Winter........Hello Warm Weather!

Hello, I hope everyone has had enough of the cold weather. We certainly have in Carolina. I recently had the house wired for a generator in case the power went out because we can't go too long because of some of Audrey's equipment. Sure enough, the weekend after everything was good to go the power went out for about 17 hours over two different days so I'm glad we got everything set-up. The generator worked great and the house was warm and nice. The power company could have cared less if we were a priority customer or not. They told me to basically just deal with it. Oh well...
On the other hand, it is so nice today........sunny and 70 degrees. Did I mention I hate the cold weather?? This day will just spoil us and want us to have winter over even quicker. I went running with my neighbor this morning back in the woods, and I certainly feel 36 today. We ran six miles, and it felt like a marathon. My joints are killing me, but I've had the crud the last week so hopefully the next outing won't be as painful.
I've got the crew right now while Shannon is at the grocery store, and it is a three ring circus. Audrey has been doing well. She had four appointments at UNC last week so she has a team of specialists that are all on the same page so hopefully we can make some more progress. They are evaluating her airway and will be coordinating some some airway, swallowing, and hearing studies in the coming weeks so we can have some data to make an informed decision. They are specifically looking at the issue of seeing if she needs a tracheostomy. This is where they put a hole in your neck to open the airway. I don't think she needs it, but I don't want to be totally biased and withhold something from her that she may clinically need. We just want to make an informed decision, but they will really have to sway me that she needs one. For example, currently I'm looking at little Audrey just chilling watching television. She is on room air with an oxygen saturation better than me, 100%. Regardless, please continue to pray for her that she continue to improve and that she will not need this procedure.
For those of you that are not in the South but enjoy basketball please check out Davidson College and their player Stephon Curry. This guy is absolutely amazing and awesome to watch. March Madness is around the corner, and I'm waiting for TN to disappoint me again and rooting for my Bucs to make it to the dance. See you around....

JB

Checking In

We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and happy new year. Christmas came and went too fast. We had a nice visit back home. I haven't been in a long while, but it's not the same anymore with Mom and Granny gone. I've been lazy with the blog lately.........too many other things going on. The kids are doing okay........we're afraid to take Audrey anywhere during this time of the year. RSV is rampant in our area right now so she is keeping a low profile. I'm back to my regular work and all of its headaches and frustrations. Iraq may be a welcomed change later in August.........I can't believe I saying that but I've been in this job for three years and it's time for a move. We moved Audrey's room upstairs two weeks ago and it really looks nice and is functional for her therapies. We are definitely out of house so I'm not really sure how we are going to handle anymore space requirements.......:)) Macy is in full swing with basketball and Daisy's now. She did fairly well in her first game and she was awarded her first merit badge so she is tracking..........just growing up too fast. I posted some new pics in my pictures so check them out...talk to you soon.

JB