On July 13th, Blake, Tate and I headed back to UW Madison to see Tate’s orthopedic surgeon.

If you would like to read my report on Tate’s last appointment with this surgeon, go here.

It was a beautiful day for a long drive!!

It takes us a little over two hours to get to the Health and Science Center where we see this doctor, as he does not have his clinic days at the hospital where we usually go.

Thankfully it looked pretty empty when we arrived!

Last time we were there we had waited for hours to see the surgeon.

Blake and Tate went back for Tate’s imaging right away, and then we were put into a room right after that!

They had Tate change out of his clothes for the imaging this time, which is something he has never had to do before.

A resident came in first, as usual.

We had never met him before, as usual.

He examined Tate and talked to us for awhile, and also showed us Tate’s new imaging.

He left to get the doctor, but left the imaging up on the screen of the computer.

We studied it and made our own evaluation of Tate’s progress, of course!!

The surgeon came in and examined Tate as well, and looked at his new images in comparison with many old images.

We talked for awhile – we love this doctor so much!

He told us our favorite words – that Tate is STABLE!!!

Then he added the surprise that we did not need to return for ONE YEAR!!!

WHAT??!!!

That is a FIRST, my friends!!

And it will be the longest Tate has gone without imaging since he has been home from China!!

There is a need to look more closely at the kyphosis of Tate’s back as he grows, but we will do this by comparing last year’s imaging with this year’s and next year’s imaging.

We skipped out of that place, as usual!!!

And headed to get our cheerful young warrior some NOODLES!!

I couldn’t help but also ask if it was ok to stop at Costco.

We really didn’t need much grocery, but we got some snack foods for an upcoming trip and a few other things as well.

My guys wanted some coffee for the long drive home, so we decided to stop at a cute little coffee shop on the way out of town.

It was worth the stop!

They also had an ice cream shop next door that we had to peek at and take advantage of their photo spot!

Just like that, another medical day was in the books!!

We will only have four medical days total in Madison for 2023, Lord willing, – which is AMAZING, isn’t it???

We go back in less than two weeks with Tate and Eliza for their urology check-ups and then we should be done for the year!!

YAHOO!!!

If you, like us, enjoy praising the Lord – please do so for Tate’s (and Eliza’s!) health and stability!!

Thank you, Jesus, for all You have allowed!!

We never could have even imagined the story the Lord would write regarding our two precious Chinese cherubs when we looked at their paperwork all those years ago.

What a wonderful journey it has been!!

Tate is S T A B L E!!!

WE ARE SO GLAD, TATE OWEN, FOR YOUR HEALTH, AND WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!