Dialysis #2, and a visit from the family...

On Tuesday, my sister Valerie sent me this verse from Psalm 107, I didn't want to read it when she sent it to me, but after a while I did.  It's a great reminder to us, that we need to take a moment and remember that God is always in control, and He hears us in the middle of our distress, and He can and will deliver us when we need it the most! 

Psalm 107:28-30  

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

How is she doing?

Today, Madilyn had her second dialysis treatment.  Things started off great, and went well for about 2 hours, but then there was a minor complication, and we had to stop the treatment at that time.  The doctor came in and they figured out what was going on, so that tomorrow the treatment should go more smoothly.  Still, she had the procedure going for 2 hours, which removed a bunch of fluid and helped give her kidneys the rest they needed.

Madilyn did great, but did not like having to stop suddenly and move things around, she showed us that she still has a lot of strength left for sure!  

The Lab results came back and showed that Madilyn has a specific strain of E-Coli that is known for causing this type of Kidney situation.  This means we don't have to wonder anymore what it was, gives us some good answers even though we may never figure out where she got it.

Big PRAISES - 

Madilyn's fever went down today, and didn't come back!  This means she does not have a secondary infection!!  Also, her blood cultures for a secondary infection are clear as well.

Madilyn went pee today!  It was only a little bit, but this means something good is happening in her kidneys, and they are healing up.  This is a really good sign.

Madilyn also got to eat real food today, and she is starting to have an appetite again.  This is another good sign that she is fighting off those toxins.

Here are the things we need you to pray for:

1. Madilyn's platelet count went down today, which tells us that she's still fighting off the toxins in her blood. We need you to Pray that her platelets will go back up tomorrow.
2. Pray for Madilyn to keep eating and drinking her protein shakes - this will allow her to get off the nutrition IV, which will aid her kidneys in recovery.
3. For Dialysis # 3, in the morning - pray for it to go smoothly, and for her to be patient and cooperative.
4. Keep praying for those kidneys! The sooner they recover the better, and we want these kidneys to have zero long-term damage!

Thank you again for praying, please keep it up!! Thank you to everyone who has offered and signed up to bring meals and everything else.  We Love you, and thank God for you!  We can have some visitors now, but either things are really slow or really busy, so there's no way of knowing what we will be doing when you come by. 

Highlight of the Day:

As you can see from the pictures above, Madilyn got a visit from her brothers, they built her a lego set, and played with her for about an hour.  This was an awesome time to see her just be a kid again. She was bossing them around a little, and they pretty much did what she asked!!

For His Glory,

The Rascos

  

Dialysis #1 and what's next...

We started off the morning with some amazing doctors and nurses from the Dialysis Clinic firing up their equipment and getting everything ready to go.  This is a picture of all the equipment it takes to do the job of 2 tiny kidneys, but in reality one kidney works better than these machines!

This is an incredible reminder to me of this truth from Scripture:

Psalm 139:13-15 - 

For you formed my inward parts,
you knitted me together in my mothers womb.I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well.

To think that God designed our bodies with these two amazing filters (which I know more about now than I ever thought I would) and with our modern technology, this is as small as we can get to re-create God's design...it's just astounding.

Update:

Today, Madilyn went through her first dialysis, and everything went great.  She also received some additional red blood cells to make up for the blood she lost during surgery. We watched the little mermaid while she was treated, and Madilyn was incredible.

Here are the things we need you to pray for:

1. Madilyn has a fever, which is most likely because of the bug she's fighting off, but because she's had the catheter inserted there is a risk of infection from that. Pray for her fever to go down, and for the culture to come back clear. They have started antibiotics, just in case, but we'd rather not have something else floating around in her system!
2. Madilyn's platelet count has increased, pray for it to keep going up!  This is the first sign that she is finishing off the rest of the e-coli.
3. For Madilyn to do a great job of drinking her protein shakes - this will allow her to get off the nutrition IV, which will aid her kidneys in recovery.
4. For Dialysis # 2, in the morning - we are not super excited for another 2 hours of it, but pray for it to go well, and do a great job helping her heal.
5. Pray for those kidneys! The sooner they recover the better.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, and to all the amazing people who have brought meals and offered to care for our boys.  We Love you, and thank God for your care!  Because of the fever, we are greatly limiting the amount of visitors Madilyn sees right now, but Jennifer and I can still come out and talk if you come by. 

Quote of the Day:

Today, a couple Elders from our church came by to see Madilyn and to pray, and when I introduced John and Corey, Madilyn said "okay well can we pray right now?"

For His Glory,

The Rascos

  

We put our hope in Jesus, no matter what comes our way!!

Friends and Family,

Yesterday was one of the longest days of mine and Jennifer's life! 

Tuesday morning, I woke up early, and sat down to read the Bible.  The verse that stood out to me most was this one from 1 Peter 1:13 - 

"13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

I wrote in my REAP journal that this verse was something I had to remember, my hope is not in circumstances, but my hope is in Jesus and the salvation he has provided. 

I thought I needed this verse because of how things were on Monday, but it turns out Tuesday was what God was prepping me for!!

This Sunday, Jennifer and I had just returned from Spain on a difficult mission trip with an awesome team from our church.  Madilyn was sick when we arrived, and she had been sick for a few days.  It seemed like a tough stomach virus, and we just started caring for her and trying to get her well.

On Monday, we took her to the doctor, they asked for some samples from her to see if we could figure out what it was, and we took her home and tried the usual things you do, fluids, rest, and tylenol for her fever.

She didn't improve much, and had a tough night with little sleep. Then on Tuesday we kept trying fluids and tylenol, but that afternoon we decided we'd better go to the hospital and get her hydrated.

At the hospital, they gave her an IV of fluids, and started running blood work and all the things that an amazing hospital like Dell Children's does! Madilyn perked up and started feeling better, even giving the sonogram tech a hard time about how long he was taking.  We thought we were close to getting home, until a blood test came back strange.

They re-ran the lab work after she was hydrated, and found that Madilyn's kidneys had stopped functioning.  That's when things got a little crazy.  Turns out her stomach virus was most likely E-Coli (labs haven't pinpointed it yet).

I've learned more about the kidneys than I'd ever thought possible over the past day and a half, but heres the short version of what happens.  E-Coli releases a toxin that damages small blood vessels, then in response your platelets zoom in to heal the blood vessels, after that your red blood cells crash into all these platelets and break open.  When all of this happens in your kidneys, which are filled with blood vessels, they lose the ability to filter your blood, and shut down.

So, yesterday Madilyn had surgery to install a Catheter into one of her main arteries in her chest. So that they can begin Dialysis on her blood that will allow her to recover and fight off these toxins in her blood.  Her color is pretty pale in this picture because of her anemia, but she's already looking better.

This morning we are getting ready to start her Dialysis, which will take over the job of the kidneys, and she will have this done once per day for a few days, until her kidneys get back into action.

Here's what she looked like this morning -



Pray for her dialysis to go great, she has an awesome team of doctors and nurses helping every day.  Pray for them, and our conversations with them, pray also for us that we get rest and grow closer to the Lord throughout this time.  We aren't sure how long it will take, but we are praying Madilyn is back to her sassy self in a few days rather than a few weeks.

For His Glory,

Brian and Jennifer Rasco