Thanks Be To God.

Well, I had hoped I would be writing this but now that I am it feels weird and I can't quite believe it.

1. The cardiologist uses the words, 'optimistic' and 'realistic'. The future looks good however things may change and we are not there yet.

2. Joel's hole IS closing and has got smaller.
3. It has gone from unrestricted flow - back and forth, to restrictive flow - just one way.

4. It has high pressure and volume as it is like a hosepipe, but that is good.

5. She thinks we can take his feeding tube out and 'experiment' with feeding him via bottle and spoon. The reason it's an experiment is that Joel needs to learn that he has to feed himself by sucking. Also it requires more energy to feed yourself so his weight may suffer so we have to balance that very carefully as he is so light in comparison to his birth weight. We meet with the paediatrician and dietitian next Thursday morning.

6. We are back in 3 months.

7. We are amazed and stunned and hopeful that this may be the beginning of the conclusion to this chapter of life. We are also cautious as this is a tricky balance between tube in and tube out and weight gain and weight loss. Also, the cardiologist was very clear that Joel may still need intervention and his next appointment will bring more answers.

For now, we are grateful for prayers and best wishes; we are so, so pleased that we can report such happy news. We feel that God has been and is with us on every step of this interesting journey.

Joel is such a great little boy and is coping amazingly with the hurdles he clears. He has a very bad cough with a lot of mucas which is causing him to vomit his milk at least once a day which is not great as he needs the calories.

Now we can make some tentative plans, holidays, visits to friends and a Christening!

Thanks be to God.