Coming home soon!

Cash is doing great and might be coming home as early as Thursday. We need to pray he will continue to gain weight as that is the key to getting him home right now. But so far the plan is to bring him home on Thursday. We just can't wait!

yep, still cute.

Casher is doing better every day. He is eating a lot and starting to act like he is recovering from his surgery. He is smiling and goofing around again. Everyone thinks he should be coming home pretty soon. We went for a ride around the NICU in the wagon this afternoon. He likes the stimulation and seeing some different sights than just his little crib. We are in the process of packing up the house. We move out at the end of September. We are going to stay with our dear friends Don and Cheryl Kelley in Lone Tree (just south of Denver) through October. The plan is at the end of October to head to North Carolina. We are excited and ready for some down time with our son.

We are still thanking God for the good news on Casher's liver function and successful surgery. We are a little weary after all of this but so thankful and continuing to draw our strength from the lord. love, kari & mitch

p.s. we need help loading our moving truck on sunday, sept 27! just putting that out there :D

9 weeks old today!

Yes, Cash is 9 weeks old today. It's hard to believe. He seems much improved this morning. He is just about off of the narcotics and is getting tylenol for pain. He has a terrible cough and lots of junk in his chest but they are working that out with antibiotics and respiratory therapy.

Casher is awake and letting everyone know that he found his voice again! I held him this morning and slowly he started opening his eyes and looking around at the world again. He gave his nurse the eye brow furrowed "suspicious" look and even managed the one eye brow "I'm checking you out" look. No smiles for mom yet, but I'm sure he will be back to that soon. He is out of the warmer and back in his old crib. He sure loves looking at his mobile. The surgeon said he looks great and he can start eating again this afternoon. Woo hoo! Praying he is truly on the road to recovery this time...love, Kari

afternoon update...

Cash is off of the breathing tube! He is still groggy but seems to be comfortable. He did get a blood transfusion this afternoon as his levels were low. They don't like to do it, but it was necessary. So 24 hours post-op, he is doing quite well. I bet in another 24 hours he will be much improved and probably letting us all know how hungry he is. I'm ready for him to start looking like and feeling up to his old self. His face and eyes are very puffy and he has more tubes than normal. I will post another update tomorrow and let you know how he is doing. LOVE, Kari

Casher is doing much better this morning. Yesterday post-op was tough. Maybe more so on mom and dad than on baby. After a "cocktail" of morphine, fentanyl, and a sedative, Cash was finally out. For a while there, I thought I was going to need a morphine drip!! Watching him suffer was super hard. But he had a good night and today is a new day. He should be off the morhpine soon and on tylenol. Hopefully, the breathing tube will be pulled this morning and he will be able to breathe on his own. He does not like having that tube down his throat! The first thing the nurse said to me after last night was "He is a fighter!" and I couldn't agree more. More soon...love, Kari

Out of Surgery!!!! -let the healing begin

He's out of surgery-we spoke with doctor rothenberg just a miunte ago. He reconfirmed that Casher does NOT have biliary atresia and went on to state he believed casher 's liver problem may have been a result of scar tissue from his previous surgery blocking his bowel activity and his biliary ducts. He said that might be why he appeared to have biliary atresia. So...his hernia should be permanently fixed, his g-tube (button) is installed, the adhesions from the scar tissue have been initially addressed and hopefully completely repaired. We're about to go see him in the nicu, will update again later today. Thank you all so much for caring so much about us. We are sustained by your love support and prayer. -Papa Mitch

Surgery update...

Casher is still in surgery, its 1:50 p.m. he should be done by 3. The nurse in the room just called us to tell us Casher does NOT have biliary atresia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The doc did a liver biopsy, we will need to wait a week or so to see what the results are. The nissen procedure is complete to repair his hiatal hernia. They are now installing his "button." This g-tube will enable the doctors to push food directly into his stomach if they need, it will also release pressure from his tummy if he has trouble burping. Keep those prayers coming for a speedy and complete recovery. Another update coming soon as he is out of surgery and we've met with his surgeon. -Papa Mitch

Surgery scheduled for Tuesday

Casher's surgery will be on Tuesday at 10 am. The head of the pediatric surgery team, Dr. Rothenberg, will be doing the surgery. We have heard that he is excellent. He will repair the hiatal hernia with a nissen wrap and the hope is that will end all this spitting and throwing up so that Cash can get up to normal feeds. The surgeon will also look at his liver and bioducts to see if they are working correctly and to rule out Biliary Atresia. If the bioducts are not working, he will perform the Kasai procedure and attach the liver directly to the intestines to excrete the bile. He will do a liver biopsy as well.

We ask you to pray with us that the surgeon will be creative with the procedures and that the nissen wrap will be successful and minimally invasive. We are praying that Cash does not have biliary atresia and that his liver function is normal. We also pray for no complications and for Cash to have a great recovery.

Mitch and I will be at the hospital on Tuesday with his parents. I will update the blog as we get news. Thank you for your love and support!!

smiles for mommy

A tough update to share...

If you are reading this right now you are either recently joining our story because of a prayer request or you have been with us on this journey for the past eight weeks. Yes - Cash turned two months old yesterday. It's hard to believe. This week we have received some tough news. The scans that have been done on Casher's liver over the past three days suggest that he has a rare condition called Biliary Atresia. This is a blockage (or absence) in the tube (ducts) that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder. From what I have read, the condition is congenital, meaning it has been present since birth. Cash's doctor told us that the scan is only suggestive that he has this condition. The only way to know for sure is for the surgeon to perform a liver biopsy. The plan as we know at this moment is for the surgeon to perform the liver biopsy, repair the hiatal hernia, and put in a g tube (so that he can get feedings directly into his stomach for the next little while). He has had an infection (due to the central IV line which is very common) so he is being treated for that with antibiotics. If the infection is under control, the surgery will most likely happen next week.

So, if the surgeon gets in there and does the liver biopsy and he DOES have Biliary Atresia, then she will do a procedure called a Kasai to connect the liver to the small intestine, going around the abnormal ducts. The doctor has told us that this is just a temporary fix and that ultimately he would need a liver transplant. If this is not what he has, then the biopsy should indicate what is going on.

We have a meeting later today with the surgeon so we should have a better idea of how this will all go. We hate to share this news especially when it is so uncertain but we really need your prayers. We ask for Casher's complete healing. We ask for the doctors' wisdom as they proceed. We ask for faith and trust for us and our families and friends as we navigate this uncertain time. It's so scary and emotional for us all at the moment. It's so hard to see our beautiful little boy going through this. I love Deb Whorley's comment: "When you can't see God's hand, trust his heart."

New Pics and an update

Greetings friends and family, sorry its been so long since we've given an update on the little man. We are in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment unfortunately. For the next couple of days the doctors are giving Casher some special meds for a test they will perform on tuesday to evaluate his liver function. They need to know how his liver is performing because he will be having surgery to repair a hiatal hernia in the near future because everything he eats right now comes back up. Our surgeon Dr. Shipman is ready to repair that hernia but is waiting until she knows whether or not she will need to repair his liver as well...I will go with Cash on tuesday for this test and hopefully we will be able to schedule his surgery immediately thereafter. We will certainly keep everyone in the loop. Prayer Request: Since surgery is inevitible for his hernia, please pray that his liver doesn't need repaired, pray for a speedy and full recovery, pray for steady hands and minds for all doctors/nurses involved, and please pray for Kari and I through this season of our lives.

Here are a few new pics of the boy, beautiful just like his mama.

Love you all, Mitch