Doing Well...Pressing On

Every once in awhile, we get an email: "Hey, I noticed you haven't posted anything on Caleb's site in awhile. I hope that means everything's going well."

We're always thankful that people are praying and are concerned about our family. And yes, Caleb is doing well. He's moving alot! Laughing, growing, and pulling his sister's hair. He eats, but not really well, always with a spoon. We press on, though. Janet is an amazing woman that is perserving in the daily grind of Caleb. She continues to take him to therapy three times a week and the occasional doctor's visit. He's only on Captopril and Aspirin.

Thanks guys!

Caleb Goes To Church

We have been happy that we have been able to bring Caleb to church. He likes it, too.

In Jesus' Arms

AJ went to be with Jesus at 8:10 this morning. We have not had the opportunity to talk or see the family.

Please Pray for AJ

This is going to be a tough week. One of our friends that we met at Miami Children's Hospital will be losing their 18 month old in just a day or two. The doctors have done everything they can do. There can't be anything more difficult than losing a little child. Our hearts are heavy for them. They have been a strength to us; we can only pray that we will be able to provide some small degree of comfort.

That special little boy will be in heaven this week. That's pretty amazing.

Still Vomitting

Caleb is still vomitting quite a bit. He is also having a hard time eating by spoon. We still have not been able to manage to feed him baby food since his last surgery. Sometimes progress comes s l o w l y.

Nine Months

Caleb is now nine months old. He's been out of the womb longer than he was in. He's doing well, still vomitting a bit. We're trying to fatten him up.

"His Entrails Gushed Out"

We were expecting Thursday to be a pretty normal day. Pat went to work expecting a call from Janet early afternoon to come and pick her and Caleb up from the hospital. Well...

The resident came to remove the tube and drain out of Caleb's side. Unfortunately, the tube was not the only thing that came out. Yes, our apologies to all our weak stomach friends, but Janet got her first look at the inside of Caleb. Whether it was muscle, fat, or other we know not. The resident didn't know what to do - he tried to stuff it back in - I'm not kidding - reminds me of one of those stuff your own teddy bear places at the local mall.

Well, they finally cut it and stitched it up, and we stayed yet one more day at Jackson.

We did go home Friday.

Caleb is doing well and eating better.

ERCP Completed

Dr. Kramer and his team did a great job. They were able to navigate in and take some pictures. They saw several stone fragments. Using the adult probe, they were able to attach a basket and sweep the common bile duct, removing most of these fragments. Further pictures revealed one little stone that they were unable to get; it may not even be a stone but an air bubble, Dr. Kramer said. This additional stone should have no problem passing because part of the ERCP involved cutting the sphincter.

If Caleb does well and shows no sign of infection or any complication, we should be going home today.

It's been a brutal two weeks: three hospitals, one surgery, three general anesthesia, inummerable "pokes" for blood and IV, lots of hospital food, and a battle to see one another. Of course, there was lots of prayer; and One faithful God who comforts us and never leaves us.

Vitals Up

Caleb's heartrate has been up, and he's been breathing fast. They took a chest x-ray and found some fluid. He hasn't been peeing enough either. So they decided to start him back on Lasik and Digoxin. Lasik helps him get rid of fluid and Dig helps his heart to beat correctly.

We were excited that he was off of all his meds, but if he needs them, he needs them. We want him to be very stable for his ECRP. Hopefully, he can start to be weaned off the meds at a later point.

ECRP & Transfer Scheduled

Caleb's ECRP has been scheduled for 11:00am on Wednesday at Jackson. We will be transfered tommorrow, Tuesday, afternoon.

Eating

He eats well when he's on pain medication or sedatives. Otherwise, his eating is an ounce here an ounce there. Perhaps his pain is from the stone that is still in his common bile duct. We'll ask the surgeon this today, hopefully. He did tell us yesterday that the feeding problem is probably not associated with his stones. That was surprising.

Good Deal

Caleb is doing great. No more IV's. We're waiting to find out when we go to Jackson. It will likely be Monday or Tuesday.

Off Meds

Caleb is doing well. He is off all of his heart medications, so that is great news. The latest we have heard is that the procedure at Jackson (University of Miami) will be on Wednesday.
Thank you to all of you who have called, posted, visited, and prayed. We are thankful to the Lord fo you!

Bleeding Scare

Caleb continued to bleed from his incision at his belly button. He had to be re-sutured by the Fellow (student doctor). He also had to receive a blood transfusion. He is doing well now. We look forward to a better recovery now. We had pizza with friends here at the hospital tonight.

Lap Surgery For Stones Not Completely Successful

The surgeon was able to remove the gal bladder and one of the stones ubstructing the common bile duct via lap surgery today, but the other one is apparently too big to advance into the intestine via the methods used in lap surgery. It was too risky to open him up, so the plan is to transfer to Jackson Monday for an ERCP. An ERCP is basically an endoscopy where they cut the muscle that goes from the common bile duct (CBD)into the intestine so the stone could pass. If this doen't work we go back to MCH for a pretty big and rare surgery. This means at least one more entubation and another hospital transfer. How is Caleb doing? After a bunch of doses of Morphine and Adavan he is finally asleep and more stable. one of his incisions is bleeding significantly from fighting the nurse and mom who spent most of the night trying to keep his oxygen canula on his nose so he wouldn't desat. Hopefully his vital signs will stabalize after some good rest and be strong enough for part two come Monday. We are in the ICU again and need your prayers. We are exhausted and just want to be together as a family again.

Surgery Continues; Ministry Happens

We met a Christian couple from the Bahamas. Their daughter, Hannah, is the same age as Caleb and has a complex respiratory ailment. We were able to share and pray with them.

The surgery is still in progress. We were able to meet a doctor friend who told us that they were still using the laproscopic method. This is good. If they are able to complete the surgery with a laser it means a smaller scar, less pain, and a quicker recovery.

Surgery Underway

We said good-bye to Caleb. Dr. Sola will be performing the surgery. Hard to say how long it will take. He will attempt to do it laproscopicly (via laser). One of the cardiac anesthesialogy assistants is a Christian. He is one of God's people placed there to be in prayer. God has his people everywhere. We are a big family.

Surgery Time Change

Caleb's surgery will be taking place at 4:00pm today (Thursday). Please keep him, the doctors, and the medical staff in your prayers.

Transfer and Surgery

Caleb has multiple stones in his gallbladder and two stones in his "bile duct tract". The anesthesia department at Baptist Hospital does not feel comfortable treating Caleb because of his heart condition. Therefore, we were transferred to Miami Children's Hospital today. Our GI doctor spent 3/4ths of the day on Tuesday talking with doctors and surgeons trying to come up with a game plan. They were originally planning on doing the ECRP at Baptist and then transferring to Miami Children's for the gallbladder removal. The ECRP is a procedure that is not done at Miami Children's. Transfering to Jackson Hospital was also considered.

So tommorrow (Thursday) at 3:00pm Caleb will undergo a surgical procedure to remove his gallbladder and then the surgeon will remove the stones in the tract. It is a very rare situation. Miami Children's has only done one of these with a baby as young as Caleb this year. It should be a fairly long procedure, maybe three to four hours.

There is an outside chance it will get rescheduled pending the availability of the cardiac anesthesia team.

We do have a peace. The Lord is good.

Stones

It's interesting that they call these things stones and not pebbles. Anyway, the MRI revealed three stones, one in his gallbladder and two in the "tract". The two will be removed with a procedure called an ECRP. This is kind of like a tube in a tube that is placed down his throat into his esophagas and down toward his gallbladder. Then, after this procedure is done, Caleb will have his gallbladder removed during a surgical procedure. None of this will happen today. We will post more information as we get it.

Caleb is happy as ever, constantly moving around, chewing the cables attached to him, kicking, laughing, playing.

Yesterday he had to be fastened down on a table during a GER test - that, I believe, stands for Gastro Esophagal Reflux. The test took an hour and Caleb endured it like a champ!