Ask Him...

Lil Will is doing great back on the PICU floor. William and I are very happy about this. Yesterday, the team increased his feeds to 60 cc's every 3 hours. That is approximately 16 ounces per day. This is a good sign! He now weighs 8 lbs 9 oz!

I want to share with you how the Lord works everything out. Everyday, lil Will has several physicians who come by to see him and discuss any changes that will be made to his care for the day. Most of the time, the physicians round at different times and then discuss his care amongst themselves without us being present and then the info is relayed back to us. Over the past few days, I have been really talking to the Lord about this. I shared with Him that I really want to see these docs round at the same time so they can discuss lil Will's care in one of our presence. I had not mentioned my desire for this to William. I just wanted to seek Him alone on this request. Well, yesterday, He answered my prayer!!
The PICU team, Renal docs and Cardiology docs were together, in MY presence. As we have mentioned before, lil Will has a VSD, that will need to be repaired when he is 3 to 5 months old. The main issue of late has been his kidney functions. This was the reason the Peritoneal Dialysis was started 3 weeks ago, this functions as lil Will's kidneys. Dr. Clapp (lil Will's cardiologist), wanted to wait for this surgery until lil Will's kidneys were back to 100%. Dr. Quigley (Kidney doc) says it could be a few months until Will's kidneys return to normal so we shouldn't wait. He actually feels that his kidneys will recover alot faster if the surgery happened sooner. It was so awesome to see the Lord at work!!! Well, to make a long story short, lil Will is scheduled for VSD repair surgery on February 10. No time yet. Dr. Forbus, Chief of Cardiology for Children's will be performing the surgery. He comes highly recommended by Dr. Clapp (Lil Will's cardiologist). The surgery will take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Dr. Forbus will open up lil Will's chest through his breastbone to gain access to repair the VSD. Lil Will will be intubated again and also be placed a heart/lung bypass machine during the surgery. This surgery will repair the improper shunting that is happening between the lower right and left heart chambers. The VSD is causing lil Will's heart to work harder thus affecting the profusion(blood flow) to his kidneys. The repair of this will help him tremendously as well as make his kidneys work properly.

Meanwhile, lil Will continues to amaze the staff by doing things they don't expect someone who has been lying on his back for the past six weeks to be able to do. Now when he placed on his stomach for "tummy time", he can lift his head up, of course, it falls back down, BUT, his neck muscles are strong enough to hold his head up for a few seconds, YEA! While laying on his back, if you hold his hands, he tries to lift himself up, SMART kiddo. He is cooing and smiling alot when he is asleep. I know he is talking to the angels and God. It just melts my heart to hold him and watch him sleep, and smile and coo! God is so wonderful!

Our major prayer request for the remainder of this week and next:
1. No fever or infections for Will as to not delay the surgery.
2. Successful surgery (anointed instruments, surgeon and assistant's hands remain steady, clear and focused minds and angels coming in contact with Will as nurses, techs, whomever comes into contact with our sweet angel)
3. Extubation shortly after surgery.
4. Repair of the VSD and resolved Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH).
5. Kidney functions return to normal as a result of his surgery.
6. Continue to keep William and I focused on the divine purpose God has for our family and to remain focused on Him so we can nurture this beautiful child He has blessed us with called William Thomas Carlisle.

Thank you so much for sharing in this journey with us. It has been a tremendous faith walk for me and has really shown me that we are all stronger than we think. With God all things are possible.