Monday, November 8, 2010
requests/update
This morning has been full of excitement already. Starting at 6:20 of course they doctors were in here assessing how Kasi was doing after a long over night of waking up every hour. Well, what they are finding is the fact that her left lung has air on it, but now her right lung looks "fuzzy". This could be from all the fluid they gave her plus her pain not allowing her to take deep breaths to keep it off/out. So, today they are going to work on different pain management plus she will be doing even more breathing "things" to help expand her lungs. They are going to try and get her up out of bed and talking a couple of steps today. They will have to call in PT to help with this because she is hooked up to so much yet. I guess they have a system and it does work really well. Kasi's blood pressure has gone up some, but that is from taking quicker shallower breaths instead of being restful. She also has more pain in her belly and side. This is from her incision which is massive. Her incision goes from underneath her shoulder blade in her back down following her ribs to her middle front and continues straight down her belly to about 4 inches below her belly button. She has had all her tummy muscles cut and her diaphragm plus they went in between her ribs. Yep, she does have pain and rightfully so. She is doing great though with that, and just really wants to sleep. Her mask on her face does bother her some just because she has a really hard tube going into her nose to her belly because her tummy isn't working yet. Her kidneys seem to be stable right now which is great news! Until she is moving around and stuff we won't know fully what her "normal" will be.
We are praising God for all of the good things and praying to God for all of these other issues. It is amazing to watch people up here to really don't know Him and it is sad to see there great pain and anguish because of the uncertainties and unknowns. We have seen people collect in the family room only to see their child for the last time to what I am thinking to be a single mom here with her baby and her pain almost to much to bear. I know all of you are praying for Kasi and for us, and we love that and praise God for that, but being here makes life a little real to the fact people go through this daily/weekly/monthly. Yes this is our journey and we are going through it too, but with a Hope that some don't have. I praise God for claiming us, for writing our name in His book and for loving us beyond all measure. I pray that I will be able to show that love to those we see in our family waiting area of the PICU/PTCU. They are people from all over the country, with life changing events happening right now. There are tears being shed every moment of every day, some for rejoicing and some for sorrow. Please remember all the families in these moments of life.
I will update you all tonight about her progress of the day! Keep posting on her facebook wall if you are her friend! I read them to her and it gives her a smile!
Love you all!!
Jodi
We are praising God for all of the good things and praying to God for all of these other issues. It is amazing to watch people up here to really don't know Him and it is sad to see there great pain and anguish because of the uncertainties and unknowns. We have seen people collect in the family room only to see their child for the last time to what I am thinking to be a single mom here with her baby and her pain almost to much to bear. I know all of you are praying for Kasi and for us, and we love that and praise God for that, but being here makes life a little real to the fact people go through this daily/weekly/monthly. Yes this is our journey and we are going through it too, but with a Hope that some don't have. I praise God for claiming us, for writing our name in His book and for loving us beyond all measure. I pray that I will be able to show that love to those we see in our family waiting area of the PICU/PTCU. They are people from all over the country, with life changing events happening right now. There are tears being shed every moment of every day, some for rejoicing and some for sorrow. Please remember all the families in these moments of life.
I will update you all tonight about her progress of the day! Keep posting on her facebook wall if you are her friend! I read them to her and it gives her a smile!
Love you all!!
Jodi
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Here and now!
As I sit here time after time and hear the doctors tell us how great it is that Dr. Stanley did this surgery, I started to think on it all. What I was thinking is how awesome our God is in the middle of all of this. I know you have heard me explain how this surgery is one that no one else in the world has ever done before. There are no support groups, or things to look up online that will help us understand what was and is going to happen with healing. Well, something one doctor said to me today kind of really made me think about this. He said that if Kasi were to have any more surgeries on this or complications it would most likely be Dr. Aliason that would be following up on her. Why? Because Dr. Stanley is 72 and he is the best in the world, but Dr. Aliason has been training under him for years and is looking to take over when he retires. All of this to say, that if Kasi wouldn't have had this surgery done now, we wouldn't have had the experience of Dr. Stanley to do this and who knows what it would be like for her. Well, God knows, and He knew!
Back in 2008 we were wondering what her back surgery would do to her aorta. It was a very stressful time as you remember and it was going to be a long, rough, road with lots of pain. If you also remember God spared her from pain and the long rough road. She did amazing with her back surgery and rebounded so well she was back to school a month ahead of schedule. It did though make this surgery happen sooner rather than later. It caused her to grow 4.5 inches in a very short amount of time which her aorta couldn't handle. Dr. Stanley said the surgery was inevitable it was just pushed up a bit because of the quickness in which she grew. All of that to say, God is so good!!! Why? If you look at this, if Kasi wouldn't have had the back surgery to speed along this heart surgery, wouldn't we have had the man God had prepared for this surgery. No matter how we look at this, it was Gods plan for her to go through this, because His Glory is bigger through what we are seeing and experiencing than if we have not had any of this. He is being seen by many many people because of answers to prayer and by His power being shown. Kasi too is seeing Him and is feeling His power through her, and because of that people up here at U of M are seeing God's amazing Grace through a 14 year old young woman. I just thought I needed to share this because it shows God's sovereignty in and through ALL things!
Today as I look back at our little journey so far at U of M I can see the amazing people of God listening and obeying the call of being faithful. Faithful to each other and working together because of Kasi. There were no denominational boundaries or differences, just people loving God and loving Kasi. At the fundraiser there were more than 1,000 people there at some point. As overwhelming as that night was it gives me great assurance at the amount of people that are making it loud before the throne of our Father. What a gift! How awesome for Kasi and how humbling for me. This prayer buzzer going off at all times is crazy to think each represents people praying Kasi's name before the Creator of all things!
That brings me to yesterday and the challenges we faced. They were so hard to be in the middle of and to feel like I was watching from a distance. My body and mind go into help her mode and I don't even think to cry until I have a moment to release at the end of the day. Today I can look at yesterday and I almost can truly see all of the angels and them singing all around, but we didn't hear the sound. Lord, I am sooo amazed by you. Prayers answered from the time my buzzer started going off and He relieved her pain and gave her peace and joy.
Today again was a day full of pain and relief. She dealt with a severe pain in her chest/throat which was almost unbearable. Now it is less severe and she is sleeping. She has had her bath and her hair has finally been combed. I know, not a big deal, right? It is a big deal if your hair was all stuck in your tape for your central line. Not fun! She did get her chest tube out, but now they found out she has some air around her lung where the chest tube was. Her oxygen has dropped so they have put her on more O2 now to try and increase her oxygen to get this out of her. She was actually just put on 100% oxygen with a mask. They will be waking her up every hour and the hour to do her breathing too, so she will be exhausted!
Her output today is less then they would like too and her BP is starting to go up. That just means her kidneys are still trying to adjust to "real" blood pressure and they are trying to recover after no blood for a while in the OR. Her belly still doesn't have anything going on inside, so still no food. She will start receiving nourishment through her IV if she goes much longer with out eating. She is a tough girl and she is fighting. I am so happy to know that she is not fight alone, but with many people on their knees for her.
This is our journey, and it is one we do with each step taken in Faith. Our God is healer, awesome in power...OUR GOD! Yes, I could just shout it right now. I have a joy, even through these struggles and tears, knowing that the same God holds her. It was nice to see another family up here who is also experiencing God's glory all around. I praise Him for their testimony too, so others can see the work of God, love of Jesus, and comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Please continue to pray. We see a lot of doctors in here a lot of times. And well, we are doing good, we still are on one on one care because she is still not "out of the woods". But His glory is here and now!
---Jodi
Back in 2008 we were wondering what her back surgery would do to her aorta. It was a very stressful time as you remember and it was going to be a long, rough, road with lots of pain. If you also remember God spared her from pain and the long rough road. She did amazing with her back surgery and rebounded so well she was back to school a month ahead of schedule. It did though make this surgery happen sooner rather than later. It caused her to grow 4.5 inches in a very short amount of time which her aorta couldn't handle. Dr. Stanley said the surgery was inevitable it was just pushed up a bit because of the quickness in which she grew. All of that to say, God is so good!!! Why? If you look at this, if Kasi wouldn't have had the back surgery to speed along this heart surgery, wouldn't we have had the man God had prepared for this surgery. No matter how we look at this, it was Gods plan for her to go through this, because His Glory is bigger through what we are seeing and experiencing than if we have not had any of this. He is being seen by many many people because of answers to prayer and by His power being shown. Kasi too is seeing Him and is feeling His power through her, and because of that people up here at U of M are seeing God's amazing Grace through a 14 year old young woman. I just thought I needed to share this because it shows God's sovereignty in and through ALL things!
Today as I look back at our little journey so far at U of M I can see the amazing people of God listening and obeying the call of being faithful. Faithful to each other and working together because of Kasi. There were no denominational boundaries or differences, just people loving God and loving Kasi. At the fundraiser there were more than 1,000 people there at some point. As overwhelming as that night was it gives me great assurance at the amount of people that are making it loud before the throne of our Father. What a gift! How awesome for Kasi and how humbling for me. This prayer buzzer going off at all times is crazy to think each represents people praying Kasi's name before the Creator of all things!
That brings me to yesterday and the challenges we faced. They were so hard to be in the middle of and to feel like I was watching from a distance. My body and mind go into help her mode and I don't even think to cry until I have a moment to release at the end of the day. Today I can look at yesterday and I almost can truly see all of the angels and them singing all around, but we didn't hear the sound. Lord, I am sooo amazed by you. Prayers answered from the time my buzzer started going off and He relieved her pain and gave her peace and joy.
Today again was a day full of pain and relief. She dealt with a severe pain in her chest/throat which was almost unbearable. Now it is less severe and she is sleeping. She has had her bath and her hair has finally been combed. I know, not a big deal, right? It is a big deal if your hair was all stuck in your tape for your central line. Not fun! She did get her chest tube out, but now they found out she has some air around her lung where the chest tube was. Her oxygen has dropped so they have put her on more O2 now to try and increase her oxygen to get this out of her. She was actually just put on 100% oxygen with a mask. They will be waking her up every hour and the hour to do her breathing too, so she will be exhausted!
Her output today is less then they would like too and her BP is starting to go up. That just means her kidneys are still trying to adjust to "real" blood pressure and they are trying to recover after no blood for a while in the OR. Her belly still doesn't have anything going on inside, so still no food. She will start receiving nourishment through her IV if she goes much longer with out eating. She is a tough girl and she is fighting. I am so happy to know that she is not fight alone, but with many people on their knees for her.
This is our journey, and it is one we do with each step taken in Faith. Our God is healer, awesome in power...OUR GOD! Yes, I could just shout it right now. I have a joy, even through these struggles and tears, knowing that the same God holds her. It was nice to see another family up here who is also experiencing God's glory all around. I praise Him for their testimony too, so others can see the work of God, love of Jesus, and comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Please continue to pray. We see a lot of doctors in here a lot of times. And well, we are doing good, we still are on one on one care because she is still not "out of the woods". But His glory is here and now!
---Jodi
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Where do I start
What a day!! I don't even know where to start because I feel like I have lived a whole week in one day. Kasi woke up this morning looking better than before because she lost some of the water weight that was around her face. We thought this day was going to be an awesome day! It started out smoothly, but then Kasi seemed to be a little less awake or "smart" this morning. I wasn't sure what it was until the doctors started to collect outside her door and we had a "talk". This was about the fluid that was building up around her lungs and making it hard for her to breath. Plus they didn't want these fluids to start to collect inside her lung tissue. She was told she would have to start and take deep breaths and the morphine knocks her out so that was hard to do because she was struggling to stay awake. They cut back on her morphine so she would wake up more and at the same time she would have to start doing some deep breathing things to get the phlegm out of her chest. Well, the result was awful for her. She started to cough and it is so thick because she is not able to take anything by mouth. It was extremely hard on her not to mention she couldn't breath 3 or more times and she just looked up at me with fear in her eyes mouthing "I can't breath". For me that is a moment that I will never forget. It was an awful, gut wrenching, hard thing to see and take. As a mom I wanted to just get it out, but there was nothing I could do. The pain she was going through was so much that her little body just wouldn't do it. Kasi was really tried, her body just didn't listen. She almost had tears running down her cheeks and she had an incredibly desperate face. One I don't ever need to see again. I was helpless. The nurse stepped in and suctioned her out and that made her gag. She would have her moments of peace in between, but they were not very peaceful. She was scared.
The doctors came by again a little after noon and said they really wanted her to sit in a chair. This would help the fluid around her lungs to drain or loosen up. Kasi has a central line hanging from her neck, a chest tube in her side, an artline, foley, NG tube, and oxygen all connected to her. This moving her thing was going to be a challenge and I was a little nervous about her pain. Well, it did hurt. It hurt alot! The doctors explained to Kasi how good this would be for her, so Kasi was the one who said, "Okay" and started wanting to sit up. She is amazing. The pain it caused what unimaginable, but she endured. She showed grace to all of her care givers, even when they couldn't get her central line that is connected to her neck to stay up. It was hanging, kind of from her and causing discomfort. She also wasn't able to get comfortable so the nurses asked what else they could do for her, she just said, "I am fine, I will deal with it". What? She is 14? I have tears every other moment, some of awe of this little lady, and some of extreme pain in my heart because I can't take hers away. And yet through all of this, we can see a little bit of Kasi through a joke or a smile.
During this time, which was lasting most of the afternoon and early evening, we sent out prayer requests. Well, here it the rest of the evening.
After Kasi sat for about 2 hours, yes, 2 hours!!!! She went back down in bed. She has some more coughing spells and couldn't get the "stuff" out yet. The nurse gave her a little Tylenol and her very own suction. Oh, and in the middle of everything above, Kasi got a fever. Well, within about 1/2 hour to an hour she took a huge jump forward. Seriously! Her fever was gone, she sucked everything up, she could breath, her oxygen sats went up, her coughing was productive but minimal because she didn't really have anything to cough up and she actually watched a little TV. She smiled and talked tonight and she gave the nurse a hard time. She is still using her button for meds, but they turned them way down.
My heart has been on this roller coaster ride today, from being a helpless mom watching my child suffer to a over joyed and thankful mom who wants to do a happy dance before God.
I don't know if you all read my post from last night, but I posted something my friend sent to me about God being all over in this room. I will tell you that I didn't need to see His visual presence because I saw the result of Him. Like a wave of prayers going before the throne of our Father on Kasi's behalf. My daughter, God's child. It is so humbling to know that you all stormed up there with your pleas while I prayed silently over her while helping her breath, just holding her hand and kissing her forehead as the nurse suctioned her out all the way down her throat. Watching her gag and look through those eyes at me as if to say "help" and I just turn to the only One who can and He did. God has done amazing things for her. I am excited to say! Please pray for a good nights rest for her tonight. It has been an extremely long day. She needs rest to get better too.
Praising our Father with all of you!!
Jodi
PS.....she still has a fight to fight, she is beginning to win this round!
The doctors came by again a little after noon and said they really wanted her to sit in a chair. This would help the fluid around her lungs to drain or loosen up. Kasi has a central line hanging from her neck, a chest tube in her side, an artline, foley, NG tube, and oxygen all connected to her. This moving her thing was going to be a challenge and I was a little nervous about her pain. Well, it did hurt. It hurt alot! The doctors explained to Kasi how good this would be for her, so Kasi was the one who said, "Okay" and started wanting to sit up. She is amazing. The pain it caused what unimaginable, but she endured. She showed grace to all of her care givers, even when they couldn't get her central line that is connected to her neck to stay up. It was hanging, kind of from her and causing discomfort. She also wasn't able to get comfortable so the nurses asked what else they could do for her, she just said, "I am fine, I will deal with it". What? She is 14? I have tears every other moment, some of awe of this little lady, and some of extreme pain in my heart because I can't take hers away. And yet through all of this, we can see a little bit of Kasi through a joke or a smile.
During this time, which was lasting most of the afternoon and early evening, we sent out prayer requests. Well, here it the rest of the evening.
After Kasi sat for about 2 hours, yes, 2 hours!!!! She went back down in bed. She has some more coughing spells and couldn't get the "stuff" out yet. The nurse gave her a little Tylenol and her very own suction. Oh, and in the middle of everything above, Kasi got a fever. Well, within about 1/2 hour to an hour she took a huge jump forward. Seriously! Her fever was gone, she sucked everything up, she could breath, her oxygen sats went up, her coughing was productive but minimal because she didn't really have anything to cough up and she actually watched a little TV. She smiled and talked tonight and she gave the nurse a hard time. She is still using her button for meds, but they turned them way down.
My heart has been on this roller coaster ride today, from being a helpless mom watching my child suffer to a over joyed and thankful mom who wants to do a happy dance before God.
I don't know if you all read my post from last night, but I posted something my friend sent to me about God being all over in this room. I will tell you that I didn't need to see His visual presence because I saw the result of Him. Like a wave of prayers going before the throne of our Father on Kasi's behalf. My daughter, God's child. It is so humbling to know that you all stormed up there with your pleas while I prayed silently over her while helping her breath, just holding her hand and kissing her forehead as the nurse suctioned her out all the way down her throat. Watching her gag and look through those eyes at me as if to say "help" and I just turn to the only One who can and He did. God has done amazing things for her. I am excited to say! Please pray for a good nights rest for her tonight. It has been an extremely long day. She needs rest to get better too.
Praising our Father with all of you!!
Jodi
PS.....she still has a fight to fight, she is beginning to win this round!
Day 2 in the PICU
Here we are once again sitting here watching Kasi work on getting stronger. She is a little confusing for the doctors right now because her art line is reading a totally different blood pressure then her cuff. They are going to start taking more with her cuff to see what they can do to start getting good readings all of the time. They thought the art line was good, and they were actually going to treat her for high blood pressure because it was creeping up a little bit. I asked the nurse to take it with the cuff and that is when they started to see the BIG difference. So we are not really worried at this point because the numbers aren't super high for her. She has a lot of fluid on her body so that keeps her blood pressure up. When her kidneys decide to kick in and start up really working and have adjusted to good blood flow we should see a difference in her over all recovery. This takes a while though. They are the ones that have to process the fluid and get it out of her system.
Her tummy has not started to kick in either yet. This is normal and for a surgery like this it might take even longer than the "normal" because it was very lengthy.
She is a trooper through all of this. She has to start to take deep breaths which are super hard for her to do. Also, she is starting to have some of the fluid in her lungs go into her tissue. We are doing these exercises once every hour to help the fluid not settle into her lung. It would be a big step backward if these would settle into her lung tissue because she would have to go back on the breathing machine. She is starting to cough which is extremely painful.
This could be very repetitive and that is because it has taken me a long time to write. Dr.s and nurse have been in and out all morning. I will keep you updated, but things change all day so I will try and some it all up at the end of the day when all is quiet.
Please pray for our whole family as Nathan is starting to really feel me not being home. Ben has called up to talk to Kasi because he too is missing us. We have a long way to go and this might be a little overwhelming for those who don't understand fully. Aubree had a hard time seeing Kasi like this too and it is something that is in her memory. It is good for growing purposes and for Kasi to know she is loved by all of them, at the same time hard to see such grown up stuff at the age of 12. Ron is home with the three kids and that is hard on him too because he longs to be at Kasi's side. And Kasi only will let me out of the room if she is sleeping and that is only when someone else is here to relieve me. So it is a long process and we are working on making it as comfortable as we possibly can under the circumstance.
Thank you for all of your prayers and keep them coming! This is a long haul!!!
Love to you all....
Her tummy has not started to kick in either yet. This is normal and for a surgery like this it might take even longer than the "normal" because it was very lengthy.
She is a trooper through all of this. She has to start to take deep breaths which are super hard for her to do. Also, she is starting to have some of the fluid in her lungs go into her tissue. We are doing these exercises once every hour to help the fluid not settle into her lung. It would be a big step backward if these would settle into her lung tissue because she would have to go back on the breathing machine. She is starting to cough which is extremely painful.
This could be very repetitive and that is because it has taken me a long time to write. Dr.s and nurse have been in and out all morning. I will keep you updated, but things change all day so I will try and some it all up at the end of the day when all is quiet.
Please pray for our whole family as Nathan is starting to really feel me not being home. Ben has called up to talk to Kasi because he too is missing us. We have a long way to go and this might be a little overwhelming for those who don't understand fully. Aubree had a hard time seeing Kasi like this too and it is something that is in her memory. It is good for growing purposes and for Kasi to know she is loved by all of them, at the same time hard to see such grown up stuff at the age of 12. Ron is home with the three kids and that is hard on him too because he longs to be at Kasi's side. And Kasi only will let me out of the room if she is sleeping and that is only when someone else is here to relieve me. So it is a long process and we are working on making it as comfortable as we possibly can under the circumstance.
Thank you for all of your prayers and keep them coming! This is a long haul!!!
Love to you all....
Friday, November 5, 2010
it's 9:00 pm first 24hrs in the PICU
Today turned out to be an uneventful and at the same time long day. Kasi has made fun of me and stuck her tongue out at me today. Makes me feel good to know she is all there underneath all of that medication. She is an outstanding little lady and just saying that is not enough so I will tell you a little about her day.
I can't say she ever had a "morning" except for the fact of actual time. At the beginning of her day she had doctors and nurses come in and out. Dr. Stanley came in and his partner as well. They are very please with her progress so far. The nurses have been awesome to her and help her a ton. She has started to get some fluid in her left lung because it was deflated so long in surgery. What they are doing is pounding on her chest in the front and the back to loosen the fluid up so she can cough it out. Now think about that for a moment. She has just had major heart surgery in which she has a HUGE incision that runs from just under her arm in the back around to the front of her body and down her belly. They pound on her back and front on the same side they did her surgery. OUCH! Kasi looks up at me with eyes that say "mom, please have them stop" and she tells them through her tears that it really really hurts. The nurses make sure she knows how important this is for her and they continue, and Kasi's reply to them is, "okay". She says it in one of the weakest voices that represents someone so strong. She also has been hot and cold all day, but she doesn't have a fever which is good. My friend Kristie is up here and was rubbing her feet while I was doing something with her hair. Well, she waved me off and told Kristie she could continue and then gave me one of her ha ha ha smiles. Not a full smile, because she can't with all of the fluids on her, but enough so I knew she was picking on me. Note she is not really "awake" or "with it" when this happens because of meds. But we get small glimpses of that feisty young woman inside of her. Later on in the day Ben called on my cell phone. He wanted to talk to Kasi, so I had to explain that she can't talk but she can hear him. I put him on speaker phone and he said "hi and I love you" to her. I pick up the phone and notice Ben hung up. I told Kasi he called just to talk to you. Kasi.....sticks out her tongue at me and goes to sleep.
After a long day of sleeping and trying to heal Kasi had a bath. This little one had to have been held in Jesus arms through the whole thing. She was rolled and rolled with out complaint. If you could see her, you would understand what a big deal that really is. I am amazed along with all the staff here at her tolerance. She shows grace to every nurse that walks in the door and my most favorite moment of the day was when I came back from my shower I said "hi, mom's back" and she grinned from ear to ear and her eyes had peace. I can't explain that moment either, but it was a heart melter.
She is pushing her pain button more now, but that is because she doesn't like being pounded on. I wouldn't like it either, but there is no other option. Please pray that the fluid goes away and SOON!
God is working all around us here at the hospital. I have to share what one of my friends sent me via facebook. It is exactly where my heart is:
I didn't want to sound dorky, but I wanted to tell you that I just could imagine what that room looks like for REAL....by that I mean with all that we can NOT see.....it's a room PACKED FULL of God's glory!!!!! I'm imagining angels and beauty beyond our descriptions!!! I wish our eyes could see it just for a moment!!!!!!! Whether we see it our not, it is reality. Jodi, you and Kasi are surrounded by Him!!!!
Just lifting you before the Father so often Friend.........
Hugs!!!!
And from another friend to Kasi because of God things happening out side of these walls with kids:
Hey, Kasi. So thankful for the good news that step one--the surgery--is done. I know you have a long road to recovery but if love helps recovery, yours will be swift. My guys came home today with stories of how the teachers and students poured their hearts out in prayer for you today. Teachers all day long told students that if they wanted to pray and call the prayer pager, go ahead. Any time. They found out in 2 short months what I have known for years--you are amazing. Your name was also on the lips of the students I saw today in my class. What a wonder. Keep fighting, my friend. I'll be watching for more encouraging report.
And then one last one, that is God moving in adults:
Jodi, I was volunteering at our dance studio for a while yesterday and the subject of Kasi came up. The ladies in the waiting room were so moved by what was going on and were thrilled at the idea of the prayer pager - which alot of people are - well they wanted to call it and I told them that they had to pray first :) So there we were in the middle of the waiting room, holding hands in a circle praying out loud for all of you. As other moms came in, they just quietly joined us. It was amazing. Afterward, thru tears and hugs and gratefulness for this powerful moment that we shared, we all whipped out our cells and called the pager like we were giddy 5th graders and just got ahold of our moms phone. They have all me emailing and texting for updates. I just want to share a very small way that Kasi and our God is touching others thru this journey.
I share these because they are big encouragements to me about the working of God through this whole process. I am touched by every one's posts, but today God meant for these to touch my heart. I am in awe of this pager going off all of the time. It sounds like I am getting attacked by bees. Okay, you know I had to make you all laugh, that is me! So thank you for all of your prayers!
Now on to what is yet to come. We will be in the PICU for a few more days for sure. Kasi is so strong because she is God strong. I talked to her a little bit about the first of my friends posts above. She smiled and wished she could see them all around her too. She has a long road to go yet and everyone here seems to be happy with her progress. We are just waiting for things to start coming out and off from her body. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for her to sit up more and for pain control. We will start to see the nurse coming with the pounding paddles and push her pain button. This will help her out a lot. We will continue this pray at her bedside and all around this hospital. I will pray for her lungs, heart, chest, incision, tubes, drains, IV's, Art line, central line, NG tube, and even her compression socks. She will be and always is completely covered with the mighty hand of Jesus. Keep praying Him into this place! We are seeing Him at work around us, not just in Kasi's case, but with others seeing Him through us.
We love you all! And it is time for a little sleep up here....
Jodi
If you want to send a card, note, or whatever here is the address for Kasi:
Kasaundra DeRoo
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
1500 E Medical Center Dr
MCHC F5124 Box 0286
Ann Arbor, Mi 48109-0286
I can't say she ever had a "morning" except for the fact of actual time. At the beginning of her day she had doctors and nurses come in and out. Dr. Stanley came in and his partner as well. They are very please with her progress so far. The nurses have been awesome to her and help her a ton. She has started to get some fluid in her left lung because it was deflated so long in surgery. What they are doing is pounding on her chest in the front and the back to loosen the fluid up so she can cough it out. Now think about that for a moment. She has just had major heart surgery in which she has a HUGE incision that runs from just under her arm in the back around to the front of her body and down her belly. They pound on her back and front on the same side they did her surgery. OUCH! Kasi looks up at me with eyes that say "mom, please have them stop" and she tells them through her tears that it really really hurts. The nurses make sure she knows how important this is for her and they continue, and Kasi's reply to them is, "okay". She says it in one of the weakest voices that represents someone so strong. She also has been hot and cold all day, but she doesn't have a fever which is good. My friend Kristie is up here and was rubbing her feet while I was doing something with her hair. Well, she waved me off and told Kristie she could continue and then gave me one of her ha ha ha smiles. Not a full smile, because she can't with all of the fluids on her, but enough so I knew she was picking on me. Note she is not really "awake" or "with it" when this happens because of meds. But we get small glimpses of that feisty young woman inside of her. Later on in the day Ben called on my cell phone. He wanted to talk to Kasi, so I had to explain that she can't talk but she can hear him. I put him on speaker phone and he said "hi and I love you" to her. I pick up the phone and notice Ben hung up. I told Kasi he called just to talk to you. Kasi.....sticks out her tongue at me and goes to sleep.
After a long day of sleeping and trying to heal Kasi had a bath. This little one had to have been held in Jesus arms through the whole thing. She was rolled and rolled with out complaint. If you could see her, you would understand what a big deal that really is. I am amazed along with all the staff here at her tolerance. She shows grace to every nurse that walks in the door and my most favorite moment of the day was when I came back from my shower I said "hi, mom's back" and she grinned from ear to ear and her eyes had peace. I can't explain that moment either, but it was a heart melter.
She is pushing her pain button more now, but that is because she doesn't like being pounded on. I wouldn't like it either, but there is no other option. Please pray that the fluid goes away and SOON!
God is working all around us here at the hospital. I have to share what one of my friends sent me via facebook. It is exactly where my heart is:
I didn't want to sound dorky, but I wanted to tell you that I just could imagine what that room looks like for REAL....by that I mean with all that we can NOT see.....it's a room PACKED FULL of God's glory!!!!! I'm imagining angels and beauty beyond our descriptions!!! I wish our eyes could see it just for a moment!!!!!!! Whether we see it our not, it is reality. Jodi, you and Kasi are surrounded by Him!!!!
Just lifting you before the Father so often Friend.........
Hugs!!!!
And from another friend to Kasi because of God things happening out side of these walls with kids:
Hey, Kasi. So thankful for the good news that step one--the surgery--is done. I know you have a long road to recovery but if love helps recovery, yours will be swift. My guys came home today with stories of how the teachers and students poured their hearts out in prayer for you today. Teachers all day long told students that if they wanted to pray and call the prayer pager, go ahead. Any time. They found out in 2 short months what I have known for years--you are amazing. Your name was also on the lips of the students I saw today in my class. What a wonder. Keep fighting, my friend. I'll be watching for more encouraging report.
And then one last one, that is God moving in adults:
Jodi, I was volunteering at our dance studio for a while yesterday and the subject of Kasi came up. The ladies in the waiting room were so moved by what was going on and were thrilled at the idea of the prayer pager - which alot of people are - well they wanted to call it and I told them that they had to pray first :) So there we were in the middle of the waiting room, holding hands in a circle praying out loud for all of you. As other moms came in, they just quietly joined us. It was amazing. Afterward, thru tears and hugs and gratefulness for this powerful moment that we shared, we all whipped out our cells and called the pager like we were giddy 5th graders and just got ahold of our moms phone. They have all me emailing and texting for updates. I just want to share a very small way that Kasi and our God is touching others thru this journey.
I share these because they are big encouragements to me about the working of God through this whole process. I am touched by every one's posts, but today God meant for these to touch my heart. I am in awe of this pager going off all of the time. It sounds like I am getting attacked by bees. Okay, you know I had to make you all laugh, that is me! So thank you for all of your prayers!
Now on to what is yet to come. We will be in the PICU for a few more days for sure. Kasi is so strong because she is God strong. I talked to her a little bit about the first of my friends posts above. She smiled and wished she could see them all around her too. She has a long road to go yet and everyone here seems to be happy with her progress. We are just waiting for things to start coming out and off from her body. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for her to sit up more and for pain control. We will start to see the nurse coming with the pounding paddles and push her pain button. This will help her out a lot. We will continue this pray at her bedside and all around this hospital. I will pray for her lungs, heart, chest, incision, tubes, drains, IV's, Art line, central line, NG tube, and even her compression socks. She will be and always is completely covered with the mighty hand of Jesus. Keep praying Him into this place! We are seeing Him at work around us, not just in Kasi's case, but with others seeing Him through us.
We love you all! And it is time for a little sleep up here....
Jodi
If you want to send a card, note, or whatever here is the address for Kasi:
Kasaundra DeRoo
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
1500 E Medical Center Dr
MCHC F5124 Box 0286
Ann Arbor, Mi 48109-0286
challenges
Today is going to be a day of filling her will fluids and trying to lower her heart rate and up her fluid out put. She is being extremely strong and of course she is not having much pain medication for the surgery that she has had. She looks better today although if most of you would see her right now you wouldn't recognize her. Her swelling has gone down a ton, but she still has a double chin, bags under her eyes and her lids are super swollen. She will start to work with a respiratory therapist today to help her cough and take deep breaths. She just had a chest X-ray and we will see what the results of that are soon. Pray against pneumonia!
They are all amazed at her pain tolerance and her passiveness. She doesn't even really complain when she is uncomfortable. God is with her and we can see that once again. He holds her close and gives her relief from what could be almost unbearable.
As for all of us, we are doing good. My hives are going away PRAISE THE LORD! Seriously, you have no idea how bad they were. Today, they are less again and maybe in a couple of days they will just be a really bad memory.
I love this pager going off all of the time and many people ask about it which is nice to be able to share how the body of Christ works together. ( 474-0246 ) I have to tell you one story about it. When we were in the pre-op room it was going off and each time it did the doctors and nurses all checked their pagers. It was a nice smile for me to say, oh that is just me! I have more stories too, but not enough time to type them right now.
Keep posting on my facebook wall, I love to read the stories and post on here too. It is amazing how many people are being God's light through this time. God is good!
Love you all,
Jodi
They are all amazed at her pain tolerance and her passiveness. She doesn't even really complain when she is uncomfortable. God is with her and we can see that once again. He holds her close and gives her relief from what could be almost unbearable.
As for all of us, we are doing good. My hives are going away PRAISE THE LORD! Seriously, you have no idea how bad they were. Today, they are less again and maybe in a couple of days they will just be a really bad memory.
I love this pager going off all of the time and many people ask about it which is nice to be able to share how the body of Christ works together. ( 474-0246 ) I have to tell you one story about it. When we were in the pre-op room it was going off and each time it did the doctors and nurses all checked their pagers. It was a nice smile for me to say, oh that is just me! I have more stories too, but not enough time to type them right now.
Keep posting on my facebook wall, I love to read the stories and post on here too. It is amazing how many people are being God's light through this time. God is good!
Love you all,
Jodi
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)