Thursday, September 17th

Good day to everyone. I wanted to drop a quick update on Clay's week. His occupational therapist came to the house Monday morning and did some hand exercises. As soon as he was finished he and his mother packed up and headed to Galveston for a consultation with the plastic surgeon there on Tuesday morning. They were able to meet up with Grandma, "Joy" somewhere south of Olney and she went with them to help out. Tuesday after their visit with the surgeon they went to the beach for a few minutes. It was cloudy and overcast so Clay could run wild for a moment and not worry about the heat or the sun. They took him to lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe, he enjoyed that, they then started home. They picked up grandma's car and made it back to Olney sometime before midnight. Wednesday Clay had physical therapy and school. His therapist worked him hard then his teacher graded some of his papers. We went to meeting in Seymour last night and Clay and Deidra are on their way to Dallas now for a pre-op appointment at Children's at 1:00. What I am trying to say is Clay may need the surgery, that is scheduled for 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, to rest. He and we are staying busy. We appreciated all of the comments on the last post. Please remember Clay tomorrow. They are planning to work on his left hand and place full thickness skin grafts under both eyes. We anticipate the procedure lasting about 4 hours. He will stay in the hospital for observation Friday night. Carson and Cody are at home under the capable care of Grandma. Thanks to all and take care.

Wednesday, September 9

Hello to all! Life has kept us busy around here. I wanted to post this before tomorrow. A team from the Parkland Burn Unit will be at Olney Elementary School tomorrow (Thurs., Sept. 10 at 1:00pm). They will present a program to help everyone understand about Clay's burns. This will be the first time he has been around all the students and I'm a little worried about it. Parents and others in town are welcome to attend. I feel like shielding Clay from any unfriendly stares or comments; I pray that it goes well. I am thankful for the support of the school and community. Our hearts hurt so much for Clay and also for Carson & Cody. We cry often and sometimes I feel like crawling into a hole to cry; but, we just pray for more strength and keep going forward because we have so much to be thankful for. We want to say thank you to all of the parents who have taught their own children, by example, how to love Clay. Some children keep their distance from Clay & others play with him as if nothing ever happened. We do understand that it is difficult for young kids to understand. We have noticed that the kids who adjust the best (to Clay) are the ones who have watched their parents interact with Clay. We are thankful for the ones who smile, hug, talk, or pat Clay when they see him. We are experiencing what it feels like to have everyone stare when we go places. We are thankful for our family, friends, and community who make us feel comfortable and loved.
The boys have a new puppy. He is a Jack Russell Terrier and a little ball of energy. He chews on anything he can find; so, I'll be glad when he's past this stage. Some friends here in town invited the boys over for a "puppy picking" party. Clay picked the dog and named him; he named him "Chocolate" because he said that the puppy's face looked like chocolate. Our old dog is not very happy about having this new puppy around, but the boys are enjoying him.
Clay will have his first "outpatient" surgery next Friday (Sept. 18). They will perform surgery on his left hand and release his eyes. Clay and I will travel to Galveston next week to meet with a plastic surgeon at the Shriner's Burn Hospital. Thank you to Phil for helping us get in touch with the doctors at Shriners. The hospital in Galveston sustained damage during a hurricane and now they are opening it again. The soonest that these doctors could do any type of release on Clay would be November. We will inform you about decisions made & will know more after we consult with the plastic surgeon. The doctors (at Parkland)are planning on releasing Clay's neck during the first part of October. I'm sure I have confused you by now, but we are just praying that we make the right decisions.
Thank you to all for your continued prayers and care. Hugs from the Fite family!

Friday, August 21st

Hello to all. There have been many things going on in our life. Summer is winding down and school starts back Monday. We made a trip to South Texas last weekend so Clay could go to the ocean and see Grandma and Pappy. He had a good time and was able to walk on the beach late in the day and fish off the pier at night. There were several people that came to see Clay while we were there. He has gained much of his strength back and decided that it was time to ride a bike again. He has not been on one since the accident. Grandma was filming the first ride, which turned into a race, and she witnessed a spectacular crash. Clay was racing his brothers when he lost control and fell over. He now has scraps on his knee. He was lucky in his landing and does not seem to be suffering any ill effects. We had another surprise while in Corpus. We had contacted the Shriners burn hospital for a consultation and they called the Friday we were there and said they could see Clay on Monday in Houston. We made plans to spend an extra night and drove up the coast on Monday morning to a 1:00 appointment in downtown Houston. The people at the hospital were very gracious and they explained a lot of different thoughts about Clay. The most interesting portion of our visit was what we were told about his left hand. They took X-rays while we were there and thought they could take the remaining portion of the index finger and stack it on the top of the thumb to give it more length and function. They have a plastics specialist that was on vacation. As soon as he returns they are going to explain the case to him and contact use if this is feasible. Clay is already on the surgery schedule for September 18th at Children's in Dallas. They were going to work on the hand and release the eyes. We hope to have discussions this week with the doctor from Children's. Clay went to burn clinic at Parkland yesterday. They want to schedule a neck release early in October. Mom takes him to Wichita Falls every day for therapy. Deidra will homeschool Clay this year. We have also enrolled him in kindergarten but he will participate as a homebound student. Through this program, a teacher will come to the house 4 hours a week and OT/PT will come as well. The teacher that is sent out has to be certified in Special Education. Deidra has her teaching certification (1st grade-7th grade) but is not certified in Special Ed. One of the education diagnosticians mentioned that if Deidra was certified in Special Ed., she could be contracted and paid to teach Clay. Deidra is trying to figure out how she is going to get all of Clay's lessons taught, take him to his daily appts., and be back home to meet Carson and Cody when they get off the bus (along with washing clothes, cooking meals, helping with homework, grocery shopping, etc.) As a family, we will all come together and help (many hands make light work). Deidra mentioned that she would like to have more time to send e-mails and stay in touch. Instead of turning on the computer at night, we try to get as many hours of sleep as we can. Please know that we are grateful for all your comments and care. Hopefully, one of these days, we will have time to respond to you individually. Many thanks to all who have continued to pray. We pray each day for strength from God. We will try to post more frequently after school begins and we get into a routine. Take Care.

Saturday, August 8

Hello to all! We have not posted in awhile, as we have been busy travelling to Clay's rehab & doctor appointments. Each weekday morning Clay gets into a hyperbaric chamber for 90 minutes. He has been in it 8 times now and will continue for awhile. After his hyperbaric treatments, we travel to the rehab center in Wichita Falls (Mon, Tues, Wed, & Fri). We have been travelling to Dallas on Thursdays (to the Burn clinic); and the Occupational therapist puts a new cast on Clay's right hand each week. We have become attached to all of Clay's therapists in Dallas and Wichita Falls. To each therapist who worked with Clay in the hospital and all the ones who worked with Clay in the outpatient clinic: we miss you. To all of Clay's therapists in Wichita Falls: you already have a special place in our hearts. To all the nurses and doctors who worked with Clay: you will always have a special place in our hearts.
We met with a plastic surgeon last Monday at Children's hospital in Dallas and he discussed the surgeries he could do for Clay. He can help Clay have 50% function with his left hand by performing surgery on his middle finger & the small portion of thumb, to create a pincher. He also discussed how he could surgically release Clay's neck and eyes. We will post specific surgery dates and details later. We also contacted the Shriner's hospital in Houston. We will know next week when we can schedule a consultation with the doctors there.
Clay is still eating very well and keeping up with Carson and Cody. His brothers have been good therapy for him. As a family, we were usually outside a lot & did many outdoor activities. We are now adjusting to a "new normal" way of life - indoors a majority of the time. I had some time the other day to work in my flower beds and enjoyed the sun. Clay can go out in the late evening to play for awhile. As the weather cools down, he will be able to go outside more often (with sun protection). With the 100+ temperatures, we have to be careful that he does not get overheated when we go to his appointments and run errands. We have to spend a little time outdoors each day or else we would go crazy (& Clay needs his vitamin D). We had our first "big" dinner together last evening & the boys helped prepare it. Before the accident, I would have fussed about any mess in my kitchen. Now, I am just glad that we are all together making messes in the kitchen. :-) The time we spend with our children is priceless.
We want you all to know how thankful we are for your care; & please feel free to call, write, or visit anytime. Have a good day!

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.