Tuesday, July 28th

Hello to everyone. Thought I might drop a brief line to update. Clay is doing therapy daily at the North Texas Rehab Hospital. We all took a few days off and traveled to Happy Convention this past weekend. Clay was quite the celebrity. The gracious friends around the convention built a cool room for Clay to sit in so we were able to attend every meeting. Thank you. Clay played and had time to ride the swing sets late in the day when it cooled off. We were happy to see many of our friends and made and met some new ones. Monday of this week was back to routine therapy. We have a company in town that manufactures Hyperbaric chambers. The owners offered to let Clay use their equipment for oxygen treatment. We went down Monday afternoon and toured their facility and all three of the boys were allowed to get in one of the treatment units. Clay has his first treatment this morning and was excited about it. Thursday of this week it is back to Dallas. We have burn clinic and all of the burn doctors will determine when and where to schedule the next surgery for releases. Clay has an appointment Monday with the plastic surgeons at Children's Hospital in Dallas. They will be looking at hands, head, ears , neck and head. He seems to be getting stronger each day and continues to eat well. He is willing to try about anything and has a good spirit most of the time. We hope everyone is having a good summer and are thankful for all of the support Clay is still receiving. Take Care. The Fites

Wednesday, July 15th

Good Morning. Sorry about the long delay between post. There are a lot of activities around here, most of them revolving around Clay. We went to burn clinic last Thursday in Dallas at Parkland. Doctor Arnoldo said that Clay is healing but he expects to schedule the first surgery with in the next 3 to 4 weeks. We will go back for another burn clinic visit on July the 30th. Clay had a surprise last Thursday in therapy. The nice folks in the Physical Therapy unit had baked him some cupcakes and he had a surprise early birthday. It was thoughtful of them and he shared his cupcakes with everyone. The rehab doctor wrote us orders for an evaluation at the North Texas Rehabilitation Hospital in Wichita Falls. We went Monday and they accepted Clay and he has therapy there every day this week. It is wonderful having everyone home. Deidra and the boys take him up for his appointments and there are always errands to run in Wichita. We try to help with additional exercises and stretching at home. Clay turned 6 years old Sunday. He wants to thank everyone for the cards and gifts. I am afraid he is going to be spoiled rotten. We had a little party that grew into a large gathering. We had all of his friends from meeting, plus several of his friends from town, and several family members and cousins. He had a good time and needed no help opening gifts or eating birthday cake. Our schedule is pretty hectic but we welcome visitors anytime. Our annual church convention is next week in Happy, TX and thanks to Clay's progress and the help of the friends we are excited about attending. There have been people that indicated they gave blood for Clay in different parts of the country. We are sure we have not been able to properly thank everyone everywhere but we are grateful to all and want to let you know your gifts, thoughts, and prayers are appreciated. Deidra had an opportunity to visit with Kermit's grandmother yesterday. Apparently he has had a tough time since his release from the burn unit in Dallas. He had to go back into the hospital in Austin for some open wounds and has already had a couple of surgical procedures. He was going back in today for some work on one of his shoulders. We know many of you prayed for Kermit and it appears he needs them now as much as ever. Clay has a remarkable spirit and has been teaching his Mom and Dad how to act in some difficult situations. He is a resilient little boy who is really missing his usual outside activities. He tells people that this summer he has a hospital tan. We will try to update more frequently. Thanks to everyone I hope it's raining and cool wherever you are.

Monday, July 6th

Hello to all. I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th. We enjoyed the extra day at home with the boys. Clay had a good holiday. He tried to eat as much as possible and nothing was off limits for him. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, nachos, cookies, corn, eggs, pancakes, fruit, the list could go on for days. Clay arrived home Thursday and was able to attend Carson's last baseball game of the season. He was allowed to sit in the dug out and sampled one of everything from the concession stand. He was happy to take part and he and Cody had a good time at the ballpark. We went to a cookout Friday and he fared very well there. He is the center of attention and seems to like all of it. There were some fireworks after dinner and he was allowed to sit in a recliner to better look up and enjoy the show. We had some family drive down from Amarillo Saturday and Clay visited with everyone. Sunday we had meeting and a big potluck which Clay thought was perfect. This morning Deidra, Carson , Cody , and Clay left before 6:00 to arrive at Parkland before 9:00 for his first appointment with Occupational Therapy. I know he will work hard. We are amazed at his can do attitude and are starting to realize there is still a little boy with Clay's spirit that has been kept under wraps for 4 months. He told his mother he thought he might be a fireman when he grew up but he sure didn't want to be burned again. He is scheduled back into burn clinic Thursday. All of the doctors will have a look and we will decide what the next step is. This Sunday Clay will have his 6th birthday. What a difference a year can make. Thanks to all.