in need of some big prayers!

Mr. Caldwell speaks the truth. Continued prayers and blessings for this beautiful little girl.

Pete

prayers are a very powerful thing, I continue to pray for a speedy recovery, this is a very heart warming story.

here are a few more of her. the last one is a picture of the ECMO machine.

shane

Those last few pictures are hard to look at. My heart breaks when I see that little angel and what she is going through. She sure is a cute little girl—obviously she takes after her Mom
I will keep her and your family in my prayers.

I am sorry if the last couple are hard to look at, but I am sharing them because not alot of people understand how critical she truely is. I am not trying to make people sick or anything like that. I did talk to the admins on the site and told them I would post some of her in the hospital. I am picking the better ones of all that we have.

Again, thanks for the support in this time, she is making baby steps, remember to go to her caring bridge webpage and sign her guestbook. if you can, add you nick from here so I know who you are.

Thanks

shane

Been there, done that Shane
I am not complaining about the pictures at all—it is just hard to look at but it makes us all that much more aware of how we need to keep lifting her up in prayer until she is back home and driving you and Mom crazy again!

well if they are disturbing to some, I am truely sorry. not my intentions.

shane

No Shane – they are fine pictures of a beautiful little girl that we all need to pray for. No apologies needed.

They also serve as a reminder to all to never take a single day for granted, because nobody knows the future.

Still praying for her! Tim

My prayers go out to little Kirsten – along with you Shane and the rest of the family. I’m sure it’s very hard to understand how this once bright and shining little girl is now fighting for her very own life.

It’s easy to tell from the photos that little Kirstin is full of life and I’m also guessing she has a little fight in her too. That will certainly help in this critical stage of her life and combine that with the power of prayer – I will continue to pray for her.

Prayer sent! JJ

here is an update.

Well, Mom had this long post all done and hit save and it all went bye-bye! So we will try this again quickly because she gets to come in and see me in a couple of minutes!

I am still on the Nicardipine and the hydrocortizone, but they are dropping my dosages down still.

My pulse is feeling good, the nurse said they were able to feel it in my hands and feet like they should be able to. I can’t remember the name of the test, but when they touch my skin and the time it takes to go from white to pink is really good.

My lepse (pancreas enzymes) are are, but after having an abdominal ultrasound this morning they said everything looked good. The doctor also said my liver might do the same thing with all the stress that has been put on my litle body.

I had a cardio echo done this morning the doctor said my heart was functioning perfectly! YEAH!!!! This is good news.

I am still doing fine on the ECMO machine and it is running at 70 Kilograms. Which the doctor says it means the machine is running at 70% and I am taking care of the other 30%.

Anyhow, it’s time for Mom to come see me so if she missed something in this post she will let you know in the next one. Thank you all for you prayers and keeping me in your thoughts.

thanks

shane

Well, it looks like Mom didn’t do too bad with the quick post, but her typing has a little to be desired. Don’t worry, she won’t get mad at me for saying that, I think I will be getting away with a lot for quite awhile after all of this.

The part she did miss is that my pancreas enzymes are up, but like earlier they are ok with it since my ultrasound looked good.

Other than that, they are continuing my meds as they were this morning. The nurse wants me to remind everyone that even though we are taking baby steps in the right direction this is a slow process that they don’t want to rush anything.

It sure was nice to see my mommy, I was really missing her and she gave me kisses from EVERYONE! I don’t think there was a spot left on my head that didn’t get a kiss.

Shane – Brad (Grifter) and I were visiting tonight and he showed me your post. I have been in a similar situation with my son. He was born 13 years ago with multiple birth defects the most serious of was a severe respiratory complication. He was lifeflighted immediately after his birth to Minneapolis Children’s as an ECMO candidate. It was the scariest time of my life. I am so sorry to hear about Kirsten. Kirsten could be in no better place than Minneapolis Children’s Hospital. The doctors and nurses there are fantastic. They supported us and provided incredible care. If there is such thing as a miracle – I have experienced it. Also, let God carry you. I spent hours and hours at my son’s bedside talking to God and asking that he give me the strength to get through. Your family and friends want to help – so let them. Lean on them and let them help give you the strength to get through this as well. I am praying for your family. Thank you for keeping all of us updated. Please reach out to me if you need anything.

Tina

Hope all goes well Trackin’! Good luck to you and your beautiful daughter. Prayers sent from a not-all-that religious guy.

here is some of the best news that I have had other than my bass club named me the sportsman of the year, I won a plaque at our banquet and wasn’t even there to recieve it, I was at the hospital. but anyway, here is the great news.

Well it’s late an Mom needs to get some sleep. Today was a good day. I got to take a “holiday” from my muscle relaxers for awhile until they saw some movement. Of course after awhile they did turn it back on but I got to move my hands and feet and Mom, Grandma and Grandpa got to see it. They don’t want me to do too much because they don’t want me to pull out any of my tubes, that would not be a good thing. Other than that, today was pretty uneventful.

Oh if you haven’t checked, Mom posted new pictures of all the IV’s and the ECMO machine. It’s a hard machine to fit into the entire picture. There is also a new picture of me in there showing how much of the swelling has gone down and that I am starting to look like myself again.

thanks

shane

I’ve been following your posts and all the well wishers. I’m glad to hear that things are moving forward. Thanks for letting us be a part of your support team… I know there are many many pulling for you and your family. God Bless..

I am so sorry for what you and your daughter and family are going though. I hate seeing those pictures. It brings back way too many memories. I hope to see those gone (and I’m sure you do too). Our many prayers are with you and your family.

You and your Family are in our thoughts and prayers.
Marie, Jeff, and kids

Praise God that all the prayers are being answered. He is an awesome God that still performs miracles. Your daughter is the proof of it. Very touching pictures, thanks for posting them! I will continue to pray for all of you.

I am just back from the hospital this morning, me and the boys are going back down for a sleep over with mom and sissy tonight, now that we are on the strep meds and can be back down there. I will take some new photos of her, on the nurses said she was going to brush out her hair and give her a new dew, can’t wait to see it. the only thing I can add right now is that she is going to be put on dialisys maching to help jump start her kidney function for awhile. it is not looking to be a long term needed machine, just a short term, so that is good news, other than that, she was able to wiggle a bit last night for 1 set of grandma and grandpa, so hopefully she can do that for dad tonight while I am down there. I would really love to see that.

Again, thanks for the support, this family here has really helped in ways that can’t be explained.

thanks for everything and I will let you all know when the welcome home party is for her.

shane

Thats GREAT news Shane. The Lord IS answering all of our prayers. Keep praying everyone and we will see her completely healed one of these days.

Thanks, Bill

Good afternoon everyone. Well Mom had to borrow a laptop this time. Dad brought one down for her to use, but she is having difficulty logging on to the website. Their IT department isn’t quite sure why, but they are checking into it and will get back with her.

Well I am going to get another “holiday” from the muscle relaxers again here today. And then when they put me back on they will lower the dosage from what it was. Because they are decreasing that they are going to increase my morphine a little bit to help with pain.

They are going to insert a bite block to help hold the breathing tube so that will hopefully help with the sores in my mouth.

The enevitable is happening and they are putting me on a dialysis machine. It is not unexpected but they want to help out my kidneys a little bit get them working correctly again. So my already packed small room is going to be even more cramped.

hey everyone,

I am down here at the hospital, I will be down here for a few days with the wife, I will be posting some new pictures of the kids with sissy when I get a few extra moments. they now have her hooked up on a dialisys maching to help her kidneys to start working again, not a big hurdle,just some help. while she is on it, they are flushing her kidneys to get rid of some of the electrolites that she can’t get out. other than that, I heard a rumor going around the PICU unit that she might be going down on her ECMO machine settings. not sure of the truth of that rumor yet, but we will investigate further and let you all know. the boys are down here with me for a sleep over with mom and sissy, so trying to contain 2 boys in a 10×12 room is terribly hard, especially when the nurses keep on spoiling them with popcicles, baked goods, and telling them that they are cute. wondering what they are really thinking? ha ha ha anyway, that is all of the news at this time of the night. talk to you all again tommarow.

again, thanks for the continued support! It means alot to my family.

Thanks

Shane

We are still praying here – and it appears that it is having it’s effect! It sounds like you are in very good hands down there.

Thanks for the update. Tim

Well Dad, how did the sleepover go Did sissy know that brothers were there or were they so quiet and good that she had no idea Please make sure that you and Mom take a breath once in a while during this whole experience. Your whole family is going to need a vacation when everyone is back home and life gets back to normal! Everything sounds so positive now but we have to stay diligent with our prayers and like we were talking about the other day believing this whole thing happened for a reason.

Hi Shane, glad to hear that things are going well and that there continue to be baby steps going forward..you’ve got quite the support team here..

Hey Admin…can you make this a sticky?????… I’m thinking that there will be many that will continue to watch for updates..

I’ve had this thought for a few days now, but maybe there is something that we can do for the family…I’m open to suggestions, but I’m guessing there has to be something tangable we can help with as part of IDO…

Shane. my family’s prayers are with you also. I just arrived home on Monday with my daughter after very nearly losing her during surgery on her spine on the 17th. She was in Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Chicago, also a very wonderful place.
She hemmoraged during surgery and bled out more than 3 times. She was at death’s door for two days, but pull through and is doing well. I fully believe the reason she pulled through was the vast amount of prayer sent up on her behalf and for the surgery team as well. They performed miraculously!
We will continue to pray for all of you until this crisis is over!
John

Quote:

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Well Dad, how did the sleepover go Did sissy know that brothers were there or were they so quiet and good that she had no idea Please make sure that you and Mom take a breath once in a while during this whole experience. Your whole family is going to need a vacation when everyone is back home and life gets back to normal! Everything sounds so positive now but we have to stay diligent with our prayers and like we were talking about the other day believing this whole thing happened for a reason.

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sleep over went well, the boys got to stay up until midnight or so. wow, way past thier bed times, but anyway, they got to go in and see sissy and get thier picture taken with her, waiting for the wife to email me them photos, we are having some puter difficulties here at the hospital with logging on with one our laptops, so they are working on it. anyway, rumor mill is saying that they are going to drop the ECMO down to 50%, so that means that she will be on half on life support and she is incharge of the other 50%. which if that happens, that is a huge step for her. but for right now, nothing new to report.

I won’t be able to report anything new for a few days, here comes the snow, so it is time to work.

shane

Well sorry for taking so long for an update. Mom hasn’t had much sitting time today. She didn’t get a chance to get the new pictures loaded today before the resource center closed, she feels bad but will do it in the morning.

I had another echo done again this morning, everything looks really good.

I got another holiday today from my muscle relaxers, Grandma Darlene was down in time to see me wiggle my hands and feet and my arms a little bit. I was also trying to open my eyes, but then they realized I was waking up too much and had to sedate me again. They don’t want me waking up too much, I have a lot of healing to do yet.

Got some good news today. They turned my ECMO machine down to 50 percent this morning. Mom was waiting to hear how my gas levels in my blood were before posting the good news. Then when she came in to see how the results were, they had turned it down to 30 percent. I have been on 30 percent for 4 hours, and so far everything is looking good. YEAH!!! This is a good step but even after I am off the ECMO machine I will be on dialysis for a while.

Oh and I got to see my HOT doctor again today, just thought Auntie Shelly would like to know that.

thanks

shane

Thats is awesome. i am very happy to hear the progress you are making. keep up the good work everyone is pulling for you. thanks for keeping us updated shane its the first thing i check in the morning and last thing i check before going to bed. with a few times during the day too. glad to hear she is making progress.

You have my thoughts and prayers. hang in there and stay positive and close with the big man