Yesterday I was telling you how she would be able to start a clear liquid diet after 9:00 yesterday. Well, she has some water and she sucked on a Popsicle for a bit. After about 45 mins, Kasi was in a ton of pain and had extreme nausea again. This was an awful blow to her last night. She just couldn't get comfortable. She tried every which way and it ended with some dry heaving and three meds to get her over the pain. It was not a fun experience as you can imagine and we didn't know what today would bring. We thought her numbers would go up and we would be back to the beginning today. Much to our surprise that was not the case. Today Kasi could still do clears and her numbers did not go up. We are very thankful for this!! It is a praise of ours for sure!
Right now it is 8:40 pm and Kasi is just starting to feel a little funny. She is getting some meds to try and stay ahead of it tonight. Hopefully that works! We are praying it does and tomorrow will be an even better day with maybe a little more jello! She had about 1/3 of a jello cup today and about 6 oz of apple juice. Notice that I didn't say 1/3 of a cup, I said 1/3 of a jello cup and we all know they are not big. Just to make sure we get a good perspective on the slow process we are in. We did talk to the Dr.s this afternoon again and they are hopeful that she might be able to go home by next weekend. She has to be eating 3 good meals and drinking at least 1000cc's or 1 liter. It is hard to believe that we will have been here for a month. Crazy!
A lot of things have been brought to our attention here though. People and their struggles, more than just physical needs. I feel for families who not only can't be together, there are families that can't have either parent up here most of the time because of work. Not that they can't take off, but they can't afford to take off. It breaks my heart and reminds me of all the blessings we have. God has created our family and brought us all together for His perfect purpose!
Today we praise him once again for His greatness! We see Him! So, that is my request from all of you. You have prayed many things on our behalf, but praise our Father for all His goodness to us is number one!
Be Blessed!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Angio is done!
Today Kasi's angiogram was finally done. We are very excited about this because this is a sign of the turn around for her. She is still lying flat and only has 1 or 2 more hours to do so. She is kind of excited to have it over too. Relief today came in two great things. First, her surgical sight looks great inside of her! There are still small narrowing to her belly and there is a narrowing just past her surgical sight, but it is looking great! The narrowing is so small compared to the one that she had before it shouldn't bother her at all. Over all we are really happy with the news. We are not sure what Dr. Stanley's opinion is on it yet. I am sure he will be happy with the patch though.
Second, we were told that at 9:00 tonight Kasi will be able to start some clear liquids. She is going to start with some water and having about three swallows every 15 mins. If that goes well, she might even have some apple juice before bed. How exciting! We are not going to push it though because it is night time and we both want to sleep. No room for feeling sick or being sick for that matter. We are praying that doesn't happen, and being smart helps.
What a great day of progress today. We are looking up and praising God for taking care of Kasi through everything today. She is doing amazing. She doesn't have any pain from the procedure, but her back hurts from lying flat. That we can handle! When the doctor came to talk to us after her procedure he said, "oh, by the way, Kasi says 'Hi'." Too funny! She was already awake ready to go.
It is time to tend to her once again, I just wanted to tell all the praises of the day!
Thank you for taking time to pray!
Second, we were told that at 9:00 tonight Kasi will be able to start some clear liquids. She is going to start with some water and having about three swallows every 15 mins. If that goes well, she might even have some apple juice before bed. How exciting! We are not going to push it though because it is night time and we both want to sleep. No room for feeling sick or being sick for that matter. We are praying that doesn't happen, and being smart helps.
What a great day of progress today. We are looking up and praising God for taking care of Kasi through everything today. She is doing amazing. She doesn't have any pain from the procedure, but her back hurts from lying flat. That we can handle! When the doctor came to talk to us after her procedure he said, "oh, by the way, Kasi says 'Hi'." Too funny! She was already awake ready to go.
It is time to tend to her once again, I just wanted to tell all the praises of the day!
Thank you for taking time to pray!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday Nov. 28
Here I am watching Dirty Jobs with Kasi, Ron, and Aubree. Sitting chilling out as if we were home, but missing the boys like CRAZY! Ben was going to come up here today, but he has a little cold and Nathan was going to Grandpa and Grandma DeRoo's and that was a better offer all of a sudden. He doesn't really like the long ride up here, although he loves to see Kasi. It was a good choice for him to stay though since he has a little cold.
Kasi is hanging out with her numbers not going to the point in which she can eat, but lower than they were. She will be able to start clear liquids when they are under 100, and they are currently at 123 and 105. Last week at this time they were at 165 and 154, so she is making progress. The doctors really feel that by Wednesday she will be able to have some clear liquids. Kasi is thinking she will be able to go home NEXT week sometime, I am still hopeful for this coming weekend. She might be a little more realistic than I am right now, but I am hopeful. I have so much Christmas shopping to do and it is only going to be done a little bit at a time because I am not going to be able to leave her for long periods of time. Yes, there will be people there, but there are somethings that only a mom can do for a 14 year old girl.
Tomorrow she will be having her angiogram. They will be giving her more fluids tonight to protect her kidneys for tomorrow. This also causes her to "go" more often all night and tomorrow. Well, tomorrow she will have to remain flat for 6-8 hours so that makes it hard for her because she will need a lot of help because she will remain in bed. Once more something she has to be subject to that would make a lot of people uncomfortable. Kasi, well, she is used to these things and I am too now, so I will take care of ALL her needs. I wouldn't have it any other way though. The sense of compassion I have has grown while being up here, knowing some of these kiddos don't have moms or loving people to help take care of their every need like that. I would do it 100 times over. In fact being here this long makes me want to volunteer at DeVos, but in my spare time of course.
The angiogram will answer a lot of questions for the doctors and we are very excited to see what her aorta actually looks like now after surgery. Plus they are going to get a good look at blood flow to her belly and kidneys too. All stuff we are so curious to see how it is moving. They will also being doing a study on her for a while too. Imagine that. She is so different then other cases, even the way the test results on her, they are opposite of what they "normally" are. So, they are going to use her case to learn and research once again. It is pretty cool to know that she is not going through all of this for no reason. It will help others in the future.
So, today we rest, and wait for numbers. Tomorrow she will be put under again, and have a procedure. Our week will be looking up from then. We have been waiting for this angio to happen, so we are happy it is finally here.
Kasi is hanging out with her numbers not going to the point in which she can eat, but lower than they were. She will be able to start clear liquids when they are under 100, and they are currently at 123 and 105. Last week at this time they were at 165 and 154, so she is making progress. The doctors really feel that by Wednesday she will be able to have some clear liquids. Kasi is thinking she will be able to go home NEXT week sometime, I am still hopeful for this coming weekend. She might be a little more realistic than I am right now, but I am hopeful. I have so much Christmas shopping to do and it is only going to be done a little bit at a time because I am not going to be able to leave her for long periods of time. Yes, there will be people there, but there are somethings that only a mom can do for a 14 year old girl.
Tomorrow she will be having her angiogram. They will be giving her more fluids tonight to protect her kidneys for tomorrow. This also causes her to "go" more often all night and tomorrow. Well, tomorrow she will have to remain flat for 6-8 hours so that makes it hard for her because she will need a lot of help because she will remain in bed. Once more something she has to be subject to that would make a lot of people uncomfortable. Kasi, well, she is used to these things and I am too now, so I will take care of ALL her needs. I wouldn't have it any other way though. The sense of compassion I have has grown while being up here, knowing some of these kiddos don't have moms or loving people to help take care of their every need like that. I would do it 100 times over. In fact being here this long makes me want to volunteer at DeVos, but in my spare time of course.
The angiogram will answer a lot of questions for the doctors and we are very excited to see what her aorta actually looks like now after surgery. Plus they are going to get a good look at blood flow to her belly and kidneys too. All stuff we are so curious to see how it is moving. They will also being doing a study on her for a while too. Imagine that. She is so different then other cases, even the way the test results on her, they are opposite of what they "normally" are. So, they are going to use her case to learn and research once again. It is pretty cool to know that she is not going through all of this for no reason. It will help others in the future.
So, today we rest, and wait for numbers. Tomorrow she will be put under again, and have a procedure. Our week will be looking up from then. We have been waiting for this angio to happen, so we are happy it is finally here.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Friday...day 23
I can hardly imagine that today is the 23rd night spent here at U of M. Yesterday, was an amazing evening for me just to be with all of the kiddos, and for the first time in a while feel the blessing of being a mom of 4. I always feel blessed to be the mom of four, but yesterday being together for the first time in 3 weeks was a great reminder of the incredible family God has brought together. Perfectly according to His plan. Each child so unique and special it was overwhelming for me just to love on each of them. Kasi and I both felt a little sad as they walked away and for the first time I saw tears in Kasi's eyes, and it was just because she wanted to go home and be all together again. We know that will be soon and we know that God is not a God of time, we are thankful for each moment we do have.
Today the day after Thanksgiving we found ourselves giving thanks again. Kasi's numbers went down quite a bit and we are sooo thankful. She has still been struggling with her belly working properly, but if her numbers go down like they did today, she will be able to start some clear sips tomorrow. This is a huge step and will take patience again because once she has sips they will keep an eye on her levels to see what they do. If they keep going down and get to normal levels, we will be able to move on to all clears and then full liquid. If all goes well with that, full "normal" diet. This process will take days, just keep that in mind, and it has not started, but it is the way things will go if they could go perfectly. Also, Kasi will be having an angiogram on Monday IF she can get on clears by Sunday. After her angiogram she will be finishing up her recovery from a slow tummy and she will only be able to go when she is off TPN and her PICC line is out. Yes, some people go home with those, but because of risk of infection and the fact that infection would settle into her patch it is something that is not an option to go home on. We totally agree with this choice, we want her to go home completely free from all this "stuff" of the hospital.
Kasi and I have been visited by awesome friends up here and today was no different. We are blessed with people who love us and challenge us. I am reminded daily how incredible God's strength is in Kasi. So many times I talk about how strong Kasi is, but even she would say that it is God's strength in her. I have heard a lot in my life that God will never give you more that you can handle, but really I find more peace and joy in the fact that God's Grace is sufficient for us. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. It is not about the strength that we might some how have, it is all about who God is to us in the middle of the storm. We know that He fights for us all we need to do is be still. Trust. Believe. Show others the strength of God in us which is because of His love for us. It all comes back to that, His love poured out for us, His Spirit in us, and us fully and completely relying on Him.
We are doing good up here. I don't know if I can stress that enough. People are remarking about our smiles and the joy that we have. I know God's purpose was for us to be here. We have met so many people and the doctors are starting to remark to Kasi about how remarkable she is. One doctor even told Dr. Stanley in front of Kasi how incredible her attitude is and has been. Even they can see a difference. We have more opportunities to tell them that our difference is because of God! They are seeing it which is a great thing to hear and know, God will open that door for us to say something as well.
God is good!!
Thank you for all of your faithful prayers and being before the throne of our Father saying our names. We are so blessed!
Today the day after Thanksgiving we found ourselves giving thanks again. Kasi's numbers went down quite a bit and we are sooo thankful. She has still been struggling with her belly working properly, but if her numbers go down like they did today, she will be able to start some clear sips tomorrow. This is a huge step and will take patience again because once she has sips they will keep an eye on her levels to see what they do. If they keep going down and get to normal levels, we will be able to move on to all clears and then full liquid. If all goes well with that, full "normal" diet. This process will take days, just keep that in mind, and it has not started, but it is the way things will go if they could go perfectly. Also, Kasi will be having an angiogram on Monday IF she can get on clears by Sunday. After her angiogram she will be finishing up her recovery from a slow tummy and she will only be able to go when she is off TPN and her PICC line is out. Yes, some people go home with those, but because of risk of infection and the fact that infection would settle into her patch it is something that is not an option to go home on. We totally agree with this choice, we want her to go home completely free from all this "stuff" of the hospital.
Kasi and I have been visited by awesome friends up here and today was no different. We are blessed with people who love us and challenge us. I am reminded daily how incredible God's strength is in Kasi. So many times I talk about how strong Kasi is, but even she would say that it is God's strength in her. I have heard a lot in my life that God will never give you more that you can handle, but really I find more peace and joy in the fact that God's Grace is sufficient for us. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. It is not about the strength that we might some how have, it is all about who God is to us in the middle of the storm. We know that He fights for us all we need to do is be still. Trust. Believe. Show others the strength of God in us which is because of His love for us. It all comes back to that, His love poured out for us, His Spirit in us, and us fully and completely relying on Him.
We are doing good up here. I don't know if I can stress that enough. People are remarking about our smiles and the joy that we have. I know God's purpose was for us to be here. We have met so many people and the doctors are starting to remark to Kasi about how remarkable she is. One doctor even told Dr. Stanley in front of Kasi how incredible her attitude is and has been. Even they can see a difference. We have more opportunities to tell them that our difference is because of God! They are seeing it which is a great thing to hear and know, God will open that door for us to say something as well.
God is good!!
Thank you for all of your faithful prayers and being before the throne of our Father saying our names. We are so blessed!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thanksgiving eve....
There are many ways to look at tomorrow. A person could be upset that we are in a hospital and not home yet. We could be pouting about God not answering our prayers the way we would like. OR we can be up here, share the Joy in the fact that Kasi is alive, well, and feeling okay. We can be on purpose in our walks tomorrow sharing the joy that we have with those who are feeling a little down for being here on Thanksgiving. We can love on our whole family, together, even if it is up here in the hospital. We still have our whole family together. We can simply celebrate life!! The fact that the boys birth mom blessed us by choosing life for Ben and Nathan, for a life like Aubree's who blesses us with her humor and amazing heart, and for the continued life of Kasi, who just survived a huge surgery in which she had to fight to live, breathe, and well still fighting to eat. We know that Thanksgiving is more than the food on the table, it is about being together. And home, well, my home it is coming to me tomorrow and everyone will be together. Once again I say to all of you, hug and kiss all of your kids. Show them all the love the Father has blessed us with to GIVE! Yes, to give. Part of His free gift to us and the most important part of life. God's Love.
Be blessed on this Thanksgiving!
Be blessed on this Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Day 20
I can hardly believe that 20 days ago we were admitted into U of M and now here we are looking at 20 days of nothing to eat. You know what even amazes me more is the fact that Kasi is pretty strong and doing really well considering everything going on inside of her. She can only have morphine which is a strong drug, yes, but I have heard that most people have more than that when they have pancreatitus. I know that numbers are subject to size of the person and her numbers are not super high, but they did go up over the past 24 hours too. As long as she is on her meds she is walking around and doing what she can. Most of her day though she in bed trying to get comfy. She is about 96 lbs now and that is tiny for her. I am waiting for her to start going up instead of down, but the doctors said that it might not happen until she eats for real. I am trying to piece all of this together, mostly because there is nothing else to do all day, and you know I know more about pancreatitus than I ever cared to. The biggest thing I do know is that what they say online, is not true to every situation. Online it says it usually lasts for 3-7 days. Well, that is not really true. It is subject to what it is a result of. In Kasi's case it is because of trauma. So, we will wait, and she will have tests, and we will wait some more. We are praying though that this does get better by next week so she can have her angiogram then. Home will be right around the corner if that happens.
I would say that is what we need up here, but that is not all. We need prayers for safety in travel for our family who is coming up on Thursday. Patience for Nathan and Ben. Peace as they will have to return home and I will have to stay here. And then, to put everything in perspective, there are 3 families that I know of now, that are facing their newborn baby's first major heart surgeries in the next day or two. They were flown here over the past few days and now are in the beginning process of a long journey, as we know. My prayer is for them to seek God through it all. Everyone up here needs prayers, we are having random people stop in our room now and it is great to hear their stories. There is one little baby girl a couple of doors down that cries and cries, and I just want to take her and snuggle her all night long. There was a little boy about 3 in a crib with no one in the room just crying and complaining. Kasi and I went for our walk yesterday and played a little peek-a-boo with him through the window just for a smile. He was in isolation so we couldn't do more...bummer. These are the things we need to remember and pray for this Thanksgiving. And make sure you look at all of your kids and are extremely thankful for every breath that they take.
Thank you Lord for loving us so much that you have spared us, saved us, and fill us so with so much joy, peace, love, and faith that nothing can move us. Praise Him!!
I would say that is what we need up here, but that is not all. We need prayers for safety in travel for our family who is coming up on Thursday. Patience for Nathan and Ben. Peace as they will have to return home and I will have to stay here. And then, to put everything in perspective, there are 3 families that I know of now, that are facing their newborn baby's first major heart surgeries in the next day or two. They were flown here over the past few days and now are in the beginning process of a long journey, as we know. My prayer is for them to seek God through it all. Everyone up here needs prayers, we are having random people stop in our room now and it is great to hear their stories. There is one little baby girl a couple of doors down that cries and cries, and I just want to take her and snuggle her all night long. There was a little boy about 3 in a crib with no one in the room just crying and complaining. Kasi and I went for our walk yesterday and played a little peek-a-boo with him through the window just for a smile. He was in isolation so we couldn't do more...bummer. These are the things we need to remember and pray for this Thanksgiving. And make sure you look at all of your kids and are extremely thankful for every breath that they take.
Thank you Lord for loving us so much that you have spared us, saved us, and fill us so with so much joy, peace, love, and faith that nothing can move us. Praise Him!!
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