Thursday, January 31, 2008

One more really quick update....

Wouldn't you know I got an update on Mandy just after posting this last one tonight. :)

YAY! Mandy is doing much better. She is now completely off the vent and is only getting oxygen through the trach. She is also still being tube fed but they have been able to increase the feedings to the full ammount and, so far, she is tolerating them well. They also moved her out of ICU to a room that is the "in between" stage between ICU and a regular room so hopefully she will get to be back in a regular room soon.

The doctors believe part of what was causing the problems with her colon was a virus and the other part is the colitis. The virus portion of the problem seems to have passed so now they are working on healing the ulcers on her colon caused by the colitis.

Please continue to remember Mandy and her family. Thank you so much for your prayers for her.... God has been working a miracle for her!!

Updates...Jan 31st

Friends and Family-

Please pray for one year old Mila as she undergoes open heart surgery for ACA and for the family during this stressful time. Please pray the surgery will also help to resolve some of the long standing problems Mila has had with feeding and weight gain.

Continue to remember Mandy. We saw her Saturday. It was such a blessing to see her awake and alert. She even rolled her eyes at me a couple of times, so I guess that much is back to normal. They began weaning her from the vent while we were there on Saturday and she did really well with that. I have been trying to refrain from bugging Dave (her husband) all the time so I will let you know if anything major changes. Obviously she still needs prayers for complete healing from colitis. Please pray she will be moved out of ICU soon so she can see her boys again.

Continue to remember Ethan Powell.

Remember Kristen Hicks. Today is her father's birthday, the first since he passed away two months ago. She is having a very hard time.

Eric French lost his father, please remember their family at this time.

Thank you all for praying for Ella. We are having some huge steps forward and then more back. We just ask that you pray she will not have to have any crazy testing or surgeries to correct her GI issues and that she will be one of the kids that outgrows all of these painful problems.

Pray for all the kids I am working with right now suffering with GI troubles. We have several who have had to have feeding tubes and that is never a "fun" choice for the parents.

If you have any requests or updates (or want me to remove anything) please e-mail me at RackleyMay19@hotmail.com or RackleyFive@cox.net.

God Bless you all. You insipre me daily.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Mandy and updates....

Please continue to pray for Mandy. The doctors have now placed her on life support to give her body a chance to heal. They are still giving her medicine to help her GI tract accept food in the future so please pray that these things will work and she will recover from this illness quickly. I am going to try to see her Saturday so pray for good weather and a safe trip. One of the banks in town has set up a fund for her family since they have no medical insurance and no income right now. Please remember that she also has a newborn baby and older son at home. I am sure this is very hard for them as well. If you need info on the account for them please e-mail me.

Thanks for praying for Daniel Powers. He is doing better and was up walking with a walker at church Sunday. I am shocked and amazed at how resiliant children can be, all through the grace of God of course!!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

More updates...

Nicole sent me this update on Reese:
Reese is not doing well at all. She is in need of urgent prayers. She is now facing several battles: an E-coli infection, a MERSA infection, a brain scan shows a spot on her brain, and she will be having surgery on her intestines later on, possibly to remove them. She stopped breathing last night, thankfully the medical staff was able to resuscitate her.
Obviously this sweet, tiny baby girl needs our constant prayers.

Please continue to remember the Powers Family as they recover from their car accident. Daniel is home and in a body cast. He will need to be in the cast for 3-6 months. I imagine it will be hard to keep a young boy sitting still for that long! Please keep them in your prayers!

Ethan Powell is also struggling right now. He has been placed on positive air and is now in the icu fighting a lung infection. Please pray he will fight off the infection and that the transplant will cure Ethan's leukemia!! Also remember Ben and Becky as they care for Ethan!

Continue to remember Mandy Hickman Moore as she is still recovering from her illness. Pray that the medicines will help, she will be able to eat, and will regain the strength she needs to come home and be with her new baby and older son.

Please bathe Elizabeth and Steve Rose and their family in your prayers as they plan and attend the funeral for both of their children, Tanner and Brooklyn, who were killed in the car accident that happened a couple of weeks ago.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Prayer Requests to add...

Update on baby Reese from Nicole.

Josh said Reese was in stable recovery and seemed to be doing good. They are going to have to do another surgery in 6-8 weeks on her intestines as a follow up surgery to this previous one. As it stands right now, Reese won't be able to come home until Mid March or early April.

Please continue to pray for this family and this sweet baby girl.

Please also pray for our minister Steve Powers and his family. They were rear-ended, after pulling onto the shoulder of the road, this past week. One of their boys broke his colar bone and the other (Daniel) broke a vertebrae that will require surgery to fix. Daniel is in Chhildren's in LR. Keep the Powers family in your prayers.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Update from Elizabeth Rose via HU Alumni News

Words can not express how grateful my family is to each of you. Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers, cards, visits, and gifts. We are recovering physically—I will be released from rehab on Friday (1-4) and will be going to St. Vincent's to stay with Steve until he is well enough to be moved to Searcy. He is doing much better but still has a lot of recovering to do. Services for the children are still pending based on Steve's progress. Please continue to remember our family in your prayers. Again, thank you all for everything---your kindness has been overwhelming.
Elizabeth Rose
E-mails to the family may be sent to CFeltrop@wcmc.org.

Updates, January 4th!

Update on the Gebhardts from Nicole (The family with the premie baby...see the Dec 10th list): Tuesday they found out that Reese had a bad intestinal infection (NEC) They transferred her to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and were doing X-rays on her every six hrs. Today they ended up doing surgery and taking out two parts of her bowels and she will be on a ventilator for a few days and they also put in a colostomy bag for the next few months, but all in all everything went really well,she will have an ultrasound of her brain soon as a precaution, please continue to keep Reese, Jenni and Josh in your prayers.

I also talked with Mandy's SIL yesterday and she said Mandy has had a few good days where she is able to keep food down but then yesterday she was back to throwing up again. It has been months since Mandy has been able to keep any food down consistantly so her stomach must be in protest. Please pray the medicines they are giving her will work and she will be feeling much better soon!

Please also continue to remember Ethan Powell. He has undergone a second transplant and they are currently waiting for the cells to engraft. They are giving him medicine to prevent graft vs. host disease and are continuing to pray for no infection or seizures. This little guy has been through a lot, please pray that God will heal him!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Update on the Rose Family

This is an update on Steve and Elizabeth Rose from their cousin.

Things change daily, but only by a little bit. So I thought I would wait a bit before giving an update. I believe that I have everything correct below. This is the update that I received today, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. If anything is incorrect that anyone knows of, please let me know. Thanks.Steve and Elizabeth are doing fairly well. I think as of the beginning of this week, Elizabeth was moved to the Rehad center and is going through physical therapy. We haven't been up to the hospital to see her again. We went the Wednesday before Christmas, but she was sleeping. Mom and Dad went the Saturday before Christmas and said that she looked good and was in good spirits--but I know the good spirits come and go.As for Steve, he had surgery the last week of school on his eyes and nose areas. They are slowly taking him off of the medicine that has been sedating him--very slowly. He is able to open his eyes and squeeze hands to communicate. As of today, the hospital provided a device that helps him talk some (I don't know all of the details). He told the doctor that he wanted to look perfect! He does remember the accident, but they still have not mentioned the kids to him. I know that it did a world of good for my aunt to hear him talk. He can't use the device very much because it is difficult for him to breath on his own. But they are seeing improvement. They are hoping that Elizabeth will be able to leave the rehab center to visit Steve sometime soon. I know that she isn't believing anyone when they tell her that Steve is doing well--and I don't blame her. As for funeral arrangements for Tanner and Brooklyn, the funeral home is going to hold them for as long as needed. The family wants Steve and Elizabeth to be able to be part of the planning of the funeral--which is only the right thing to do in my book at least. Anyway, we greatly appreciate all the prayers that everone is sending up. Please continue to remember them in your daily prayers as they begin to heal and deal with all the emotional pain. It looks like a long road to full recovery for them both.