April 30, 2012

Preston, Elizabeth, Carson, and Kellen had many prayers answered on their trip to St. Louis. Carson and Kellen both did extremely well on the way to and from St. Louis. Particularly with Carson, it can be really challenging to keep him happy and breathing well while he is in the car seat. Carson had several doctor’s appointments. They all went well. They adjusted some of his medications, looked at his trach, and got blood work. While they were waiting for the neonatologist appointment, Elizabeth found another bump on Carson that is different than the others. The dermatologist believes the other three are hemangiomas. However, this one is near the surgical incision site and is quite different. The doctors were more concerned about this one and decided to get an ultrasound and further lab work to evaluate to make sure the mass was not recurring. The ultrasound results were inconclusive. Dr. Cerny, the neonatologist, feels confident it is not anything alarming. Dr. Yang, the surgeon, was unable to see it while Carson was in St. Louis because of his surgery schedule, but he is waiting to decide how to proceed until we get his tumor markers back. It will take a few days for us to get the results. For right now, none of us are too concerned and we will just keep right on praying.  Kellen is 14 lbs 6.5 oz (little guy lost weight, but still is great on the growth charts). Carson is 15 lbs 14 oz and keeps growing like a weed in a flower garden ;  ). Just recently, Kellen has started to eat like a champ, so we fully expect him to close the gap soon as he doesn’t like to be referred to as the little one : ) All in all, a wonderful week for the Clarks. Continue to pray for Carson’s healing in God’s timing. I know Preston and Elizabeth will be extremely excited to see all the medical equipment go and the day when it is not anymore challenging than putting two boys in a car seat and getting the diaper bag for a trip. Carson did get rid of one of his machines after his appointment, which is the first and hopefully the others will follow soon. It was his apnea monitor and we are all super excited!! Almost to six months and we just pray the next six months bring many improvements.