Update

Elijah is doing great! His vision is improving daily. His motor skills both gross and fine are getting better. He loves baby food and is trying to use a sippy cup. He is a happy baby. I am sorry I do not update anymore, but please join my FB page. I am under Teresa Beck Ryan. I also have a weight loss blog teresasweightlossblog.blogspot.com. Elijah is in a baby photo contest. To vote for him, click here. You can vote more than once. There is a bunch of ads you have to say no to but it is worth it! http://lnk.gaphotocontest.com/lt?id=bdidaf-fgdida-efdfabbe&_erl=p=1855542^x=.jpg

Shunt

Elijah will have a shunt put in on August 12. I appologize the updates are few, but you can keep up better with my facebook page under the name Teresa Beck Ryan. Ask to be a friend and I will add you. My time is just very limited right now.

Getting to Work

Elijah has been doing well at his therapy visits. We start working with a teacher that comes to our house once a week that will teach him to play with his toys. We are excited about that. We have a cardiology appt coming up on the 16th and neurology on the 23rd. Keep Elijah in your prayers. The neurologist will check to see if the fluid around his brain has increased. If it has, he may need a shunt, so keep on praying! We start work on the addition on Monday, Lord willing. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are excited to get started!

Doing Great

We are still doing great. Elijah is improving on his vision and motor skills and his therapists are proud of his progress. Michael hurt his back so he has been out of commission a few days, but is back to work now. We are starting the process of getting ready to build the addition. If anyone has any building supplies or home furnishings they want to get rid of or sell cheaply, let us know. 662-582-5323. We have a Cardiology appt on the 16th and neurologist on the 23rd. Hopefully all will be well. I am now selling Premier Jewelry, so if you would like to host a party, give me a call! Just keep praying. We are doing all we can to make money, take care of the kids and keep everything going smoothly! Sorry it takes so long for an update. We still have dial-up!

Teresa

Therapy

We had his first therapy appointment today. He did really good and they were impressed with some of the things he was doing. We have been working with him and he is making improvements. Keep praying for contiuned improvement.

Cardiology Appointment

Elijah had his Cardiology appointment today and the doctor said he was improving well and he felt he would grow out of the heart problem. He also said we can stop all of the medicine he is on! Praise the Lord!! We are excited about his progress and are grateful for God's blessings.

Update

To the ladies in Florida...if you have the money and are serious, let us know. We could travel there if the work and pay were right.
As for Elijah, we went to the Opthamologist and he said the CVI was in the better end of the spectrum. But...we may also have optical atrophy, which we are not sure what that will entail. We will know more in 6 months at his check-up.
We will be starting his therapies this coming week and are looking at someone from the school for the blind to come out to work with his vision.
Continue to pray for us on the job situation. We will be starting on the addition and have faith God will provide as He always has.
Thank you for your prayers!

No Job

We just found out that Michael does not have a job, so that is our new prayer concern. If anyone knows of a job in the area, let us know. You can call us or email us: theweirryans@aol.com or Michael at 662-582-5046. Michael right now is also looking for renovation jobs. He works for himself doing roofing, repairs, building, pressure washing, painting etc. so please contact us if you would like some work done. He has really reasonable rates and no job is too small.
Thank you,
Teresa

Big Bubbas

Elijah with brother Benjamin

Happy At Home

Elijah Leaving the Hospital
We are doing well at home, still. We have signed up to start occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy soon, hopefully next week. We have cardiology and opthamology next week and high risk newborn tomorrow (Wednesday). We are busy! Michael will be going back to work on Monday, the 25th so pray that all works out. He has not been in to work since January 22. We are selling Pizza Hut cards and Parkway Baptist church in Kosciusko is doing another fundraiser at Kosciusko Wal-Mart on June 13 and we are having a yard sale on June 6 to continue raising money. Michael is doing the prep work on the yard (removing trees, moving storage buildings, unearthing an underground propane tank...) and we will start the addition soon. Elijah needs to start his therapy for his vision as soon as possible, and I am the one who will have to do it. There isn't a vision therapy available and he is already testing behind developmentally because of his vision problems, so it is super important to get the area built. We will do with what we have in the meantime and know that God will bless our efforts.

To the lady whose son is getting a GT...please email me at theweirryans@aol.com what you want to ask me and what you want pictures of and I will be glad to help in any way.

Once again, thank you everyone for your prayers and keep them up!!

At home

At home and doing great!! The G tube is not as bad as we thought it would be. It is a little time-consuming and we are still learning the easiest way to do it, but it has not stopped us from doing what we normally would do. We did well raising money at the May Day festival and have other things still coming up. Keep praying for us and Elijah.

Teresa

Home!

We are home in Mississippi!! Elijah is doing great and seems to be happy at home since he has had time to adjust. We are tremendously busy with doctor appointments, blood tests, paperwork and settling in, but are so grateful to be home. Keep on praying! We still do not know what the future will hold (as no one does), and there could still be bumps ahead. It's all in God's hands, though.

Teresa

Coming home soon!

The new update: He is on full feeds. I will be rooming in with him tomorrow (Sunday) and will be going home on Monday! Praise the Lord!!

Teresa

Surgery results

The surgery went well, actually taking less time than they thought and he immediately came off the ventilator without complications. He will be having his routine ultrasounds today and then will resume eating and will be up to full feeds in a few days. Keep praying! Hopefully we'll be coming home soon!

Teresa

Reminder

Remember, Elijah's surgery is today! Please be praying for him.

Bountiful blessings

Hello everyone! Many of you have heard by now my son is in Arkansas Children's Hospital. He has been there 3 months now and will have a visual impairment. I have created a website with lots of pictures to raise money for him. If you can donate, wonderful! Please include your name and address if you donate so I can thank you! If not, please just go look at the pictures. Especially send it to everyone on your email list. That's what I did! You may not even know me, but please give anyway according to how God leads.

Thank you,
Teresa Ryan

Surgery rescheduled

To update: We are home for a few days because they postponed his surgery until NEXT Tuesday. Keep Praying!!

Teresa

Surgery scheduled

Elijah is doing well, but has continued to spit up. So that he can eat and grow properly, they are going to do surgery to correct this. He will be getting a G tube, a temporary feeding tube that will go directly to his stomach, and had a valve you "plug" into to feed him. In addition, he will have a Nissen fundoplication which will take the top part of his stomach and wrap it around his esophagus so he will not be able to vomit. We will probably be going home about a week after the surgery. The surgery will be done on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. We are still waiting to get a time. Please pray for him during the surgery, however, it is a common surgery with low risk. This will make teaching him to take a bottle quicker and easier and we can do it at home instead of in the hospital. Continue praying for us.

Thank you,
Teresa

Photo!

Here's Elijah, doing much better. Enjoy!

Continued progress

Elijah is taking his bottle better now. He is allowed to bottle feed every other feed and is taking the whole amount. His sucking is much stronger now. Yesterday he spit up after every feed, but today they switched him to Alimentum and he took the whole thing and so far no spit up! His head ultrasound was stable without change. Keep praying we can come home soon. All we are waiting on is him to eat. Nothing else is keeping him here.

On the fund raising home front...We will have a booth at the French Camp May Day festival/Pioneer day where we will be selling special necklaces we made to represent his visual impairment and will be accepting donations. We have faith that God "will supply our need acording to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

To the lady who commented about the CNA certification: Could I have some more info? I am interested in doing that.

Teresa

Back in Little Rock

We have been back in Little Rock since Monday. He is looking great and it is wonderful to see him. He seems to like the visual therepy and appears to be able to see more than doctors originally thought. Most of the info we found is from teachers and parents, so the doctors are not as optimistic as we are. He seems to be able to see me and colors and lights. Some days it is like he can see almost everything. He is still taking his bottle well. He gets a bottle three times a day. When he takes all of it all three times, they will take him up to four times. I get to give it to him twice a day and the nurse gives him the other at 2:00 am.

Please continue to pray for us and Elijah's physical state, and also, we will be able to raise the money to add an addition to our home. We have one bedroom for all three children but now that he has special needs, we need a room just for him so we can homeschool him. We will have to set it up like a school for the blind would with minimal visual stimulation. He cannot share a room because in addition to needing an unstimulating visual environment, he also needs quiet to learn visually. (Pray we will get out of here soon because the hospital is NOT quiet!) Also, there are some environmental concerns in our home such as asbestos and lead paint, that while they are covered, will not remain safe indefinitly. We had intentions of doing these renovations anyway, but Elijah helped move the deadline up a little bit. We have some money to go towards it, but not enough. We are under conviction to do it debt-free, so we are praying that God provides. If you have any suggestions or idea s, let us know. Our email is theweirryans@aol.com. We check it almost daily.

Both of the benefits in our honor raised a lot of money and would like to thank everyone who came out to support us. It is amazing to watch God's people take care of each other and bear one another's burdens.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and may God bless you as much as He has blessed us.

Teresa

Vision impairment information

We have done more research concerning his vision impairment. What Elijah has is cortical visual impairment. His brain does not efficiently process what he sees, however, this does not mean he is completely blind or will be so for the rest of his life. There are therapies that can be done using color and light that can improve the vision he has. It has been described as seeing through swiss cheese, and the swiss cheese moves from day to day. There are tests I can do to see what vision he has and what I can work with. Pray for us as we learn how to help Elijah. Chances are slim he can regain all of his sight, but our God is powerful and He has brought us this far. Also, pray that he will be able to avoid some or all of the neurological problems that often accompany CVI. We know he has esophogeal reflux that is related to it, but often it comes with other problems as well. Thank you everyone for all your prayers so far and keep it up!

Teresa

Update

He is doing great on his feeds, he is taking an hour's worth at a feeding. They are going to try to increase that. The EEG did not show seizure activity in the brain, so they will soon stop the Phenibarb. The bad news... He is probably blind. His eye structures are fine, but the part of the brain that processes what he sees is not working. There is no surgery that can fix it. Please continue praying for us and the challenges we face ahead.

Teresa Ryan

Fundraiser info

Location: April 4 at Weir Fire Department

Directions: Coming from Eupora, Ackerman, Starkville, or Louisville you would get on Hwy 12 West. You turn left at Henson's Gas Station, after you pass through Ackerman. It is about 7 minutes past Ackerman. After you turn at Henson's, you will go down the road a short piece and you will see the Fire Department on the left.

The schedule is:
3:00 Gospel singing
3:00-until Hamburger plates that include a drink and dessert
6:00 auction that includes a recliner, a rug, Christy's coupon, autographed baseballs by Roy Oswalt, autographed balls by the MState sports coaches, afghans, and much more.

Continued improvement

Elijah is now taking the food in his stomach by a tube in his nose and it looks like he will not need a feeding tube. His suck/swallow/breathe reflex is working good, also. They thought that it might not work well because of the brain bleeds, but he is taking small bottles by mouth!! He gets his formula continuously now, but they will let him try one bottle a day and every day he eats more and more out of that bottle. He is doing good. If everyone will, continue praying for my sister in this difficult time.

The fundraiser did great this weekend and they reached their goal of $2500 which will be matched by the Modern Woodmen of America.

Unless something comes up with Elijah, we are intending to be at the fundraiser in Weir and would love see everyone who can come. Elijah won't be with us, but we brought a 20x24 picture of him with us!! We hope to see you there!

Thanks
Teresa

Prayer request

My sister, Tammie Barber, had a still born son at 36 weeks and asks everyone to pray for her. We are coming home for a few days to be with her.

Teresa

Latest news

Here is an update on Elijah:

• Brain bleeds are stable.
• New brain scan shows fluid leaking from the ventricles in his brain, but the fluid, right now, is not putting pressure on the brain, but rather, is filling up extra space between his skull and brain. (He has a big head!)
• He is completely off oxygen and off all IV meds
• Formula has been going past his stomach directly to his intestines for a month now. Tomorrow they will do a test to see if they can put the food in his stomach or have to put him on a temporary feeding tube.
• He has had two major seizures and they have put him on Phenibarbital (not sure of the spelling) to control those and we will go home on that medication.

Also...
Two benefits have been organized for Elijah:

1. March 28 at 5:00 at McAdams Baptist Church there will be a fish fry (My sister, Tammie organized this)
2. April 4 at Weir Fire Department, starting at 3:00 there will be a gospel singing, hamburger cookout and auction. (My husband Michael's sister, Fran is organizing this one)

Thank you everyone for your prayers. Elijah is getting better all the time!!!

Teresa Ryan

A stomach bug

Elijah has been sick with a stomach bug for the last week, but is finally doing much better. He also has suffered two seizures this past Friday. They are doing an EEG (?) tomorrow to study the seizures and determine what to do about them.

Baby Elijah's photo

Here's an updated photo of baby Elijah. It's wonderful to see those eyes!

If you'd like to write, the Ryan's address is:

Michael and Teresa Ryan
108 Meadowbrook
Little Rock, AR 72205

Off the ventilator!

Baby Elijah is continuing to do remarkably well. He is completely off the ventilator now. He will have another echocardiogram done on Thursday to see how his lungs and heart are holding up with him breathing on his own now. The MRI yesterday showed some expected damaged tissue from brain bleeds, but doctors are hopeful that the brain will heal itself or other parts of the brain may take over the jobs of the damaged parts. So, they remain hopeful that there may be no long-term effects from the brain bleeds. He is still spitting up a good bit of the formula he is given, but they are hopeful that this may clear up now that he doesn't have the irritation of the ventilator.

Michael and Teresa are enjoying getting to finally hold their precious baby boy -- even getting to bathe him! Michael is also enjoying some very valuable "daddy time" with his other two children that he has been longing for, but always too busy with work and other "daddy" issues.

Rejoice in the Lord always

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! --- Philippians 4:4

Through all that baby Elijah has been through (not to mention themselves), Michael and Teresa have been able to find, daily, things to be praising God and rejoicing for. Today, that opportunity was magnified many times over when they got to hold their little boy for the first time, one day before he turns a month old. Oh, how that must have felt! He is doing very well. He has been deemed stable enough now to have the MRI done on the brain and will undergo this procedure sometime tomorrow. Please join us in praying that God will continue his merciful, miraculous, healing power and allow there to be no brain damage suffered from all he's been through.

Down to 30% oxygen!

Elijah is continuing to improve. He is sitting at 30% oxygen and will stay there until they can put him on the nose tube. He's overtaking the respirator now which means he is taking more breaths on his own than the respirator is taking for him. He is completely off of all sedatives and is handling his formula very well.

While Elijah is doing well, Teresa has come down with some sort of rash from head to toe. She is hoping that it is stress related and will go ahead quickly. However, it is causing more stress (emotionally) because she has not been able to visit Elijah now for two days.

More improvement!

Michael and Teresa now have their other two children, Selah and Benjamin, with them and are enjoying being together once again. They are wasting no time in getting them on a routine, which is much needed after being away from parents for three weeks and in a new environment at that.

Elijah is doing remarkably well. He's at 38% oxygen, and the respirator has been turned down to 30 breaths/minute. He is on nitrate (I believe for the kidneys) which has been decreased from 10 % to 9 %. He came off the morphine completely over the weekend! This is the sedative he was having withdrawals from. He is still on the other sedative, but very little of it. I believe this is to keep him from pulling out lines. They have also started him on formula today (intravenously). He seems to be handling this well. The formula will give his liver a purpose to work, which will help with his jaundice. In fact he is now having bowel movements on his own. He is awake more now and becoming very alert to what's going on around him. He is scheduled for another brain scan (ultrasound) and echocardiogram today.

More good news!

Elijah is at 50% oxygen as of early this afternoon. Just 29 more points to go to be where you and I are. They have turned down the respirator to 35 breaths per minute (normal breathing on one's own is 20 breaths/min.). He is completely off the blood pressure medicine. They are continuing to decrease one of the sedatives - with no side effects. They have pulled the catheter out and he is now in diapers. Kidney problems? No way! Also, they weighed him today at 15 lbs 14 oz. We praise the Lord, he is doing so well. Thank you all for your prayers.

Teresa and Michael are planning to travel home on Friday to gather a few things, including their other two children :) and will be returning to Arkansas on Saturday. They look forward to being reunited as a family.

Good news!

Praise the Lord for good news! For starters, the "seizures" Elijah was having are now thought to be withdrawal symptoms from the morphine. He is only having the shakes after each decrease in the morphine and also they (the shakes) will stop when a hand is laid gently on him and then begin again when the hand is moved off. Today was all good reports! They are decreasing two of the medicines right now without any negative side effects. His oxygen intake is now at 72%. And to top it all off -- the brain bleeds are shrinking! This means the veins that "sprung a leak" are closing up and healing and the body is absorbing the blood back into its system. Isn't our God GREAT?! There is mighty power in prayer. God says, "Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." -- Matthew 21:22

Seizure

Elijah suffered a seizure Thursday night. Doctors are not exactly sure what caused it. Therefore, we don't know if this is a one-time occurrence or if we should expect more. Teresa would like to think that it was a withdrawal from morphine since this is one of the meds he is being weaned off of right now. Please pray for wisdom from the doctors to know how to "diagnose" this issue.

As for Michael & Teresa, they have been taking Romans 8:28 and finding the good in this bad situation. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . ." They have been able to see God teaching them in several different ways and have also been able to be a support to other families there at the hospital.

Elijah's picture

Here's a picture of Elijah!

Bleeding stopped?

Baby Elijah is holding up well. He had three scans done yesterday: heart, brain and liver. All results came back about the same as before. Improvement would have been nice, but at least nothing is getting worse. The brain bleeds have not grown any since the last scan. Hopefully, and assumedly, that means the bleeding has stopped. By the way, the last brain scan, as well as this one, was an ultrasound, not an MRI. He still is not stable enough to handle an extensive MRI. As of late yesterday afternoon, his oxygen intake was down to 75%. They are trying to wean him off 1% per hour. At one point, they had decreased it by 4%, but then he struggled and they had to increase it again by 5%. (Two steps forward, three steps back. It's rather frustrating.) They had to give it a rest for a little while before being able to continue.

It is somewhat urgent to have him off of the oxygen so that they can start bottle feeding him. The medication that is supplying nutrients to his body, in combination with the fact that he is not taking in any sustenance for which the liver needs to function, is causing jaundice.

The weaning process is a slow one. Because he is on so many different meds, and they can only wean him off one at a time, the Ryans are looking at being there in Arkansas for at least two months.

Good news and bad news

Baby Elijah came off the ECMO with good numbers. His heart seems to be working fine, even through the stress test they did this morning. His kidneys and other major organs are all functioning well. However, the MRI they did on the brain showed a second brain bleed spot. There is not much they can do for this until the blood thinner medication is out of his system, which will take a couple of days. They are planning to do another MRI on Thursday to see what brain damage he may have. Until then, they will be weaning him slowly off the respirator and other medications.

A correction: This is Teresa, Elijah's mom. Thank you everyone for your prayers. God is answering them in His way and in His time. The only correction to the update is that there is not MRI's being done on him, he is not stable enough for that yet, rather brain ultrasounds. An MRI will be done later. Whatever damage has been done cannot be reversed and it would be too traumatic to him to do an MRI now if not necessary.

Grab a button

Here is our button for Elijah. Please spread the word and add it to your blog, using one of two methods below.

If you use Blogger (or any blog that supports Google gadgets), add a gadget, click on "Add your own" at the bottom left corner of the "Add a gadget" window, then type in http://www.ece.msstate.edu/~bjones/elijah.xml and click "Add by URL."

For other blogs, paste this HTML code into your blog's sidebar:

<div align="center"><br /><a href="http://babyelijah-pray.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.ece.msstate.edu/~bjones/elijah.jpg" /></a><br />Learn how to <a href="http://babyelijah-pray.blogspot.com/2009/02/grab-button.html" target="_blank">add</a> this button to your blog!</div>

Thanks for supporting Elijah and his family with your posts and your prayers!

Urgent prayer needed

The Ryan family is in need of a lot of prayer power right now. The ECMO machine that little Elijah has been on requires a blood thinner. This somehow has caused the brain to bleed. They reduced the blood thinner medication as much as they possibly could, but the bleeding has gotten worse. In an effort to hopefully prevent brain damage, the doctors are pulling him off the ECMO today as quickly as possible (within just a couple of hours). This is normally a two-day process. They feel that the heart is ready for this; the rest of the organs are functioning properly at this time. Please pray that the heart will be able to work properly on its own after coming off the machine. Pray also that God will intervene further and allow there to be no brain damage. They will be doing an MRI as soon as they can get him stablized once he is off the ECMO. Please pray also for Michael and Teresa. This is a very critical point and a very emotionally draining day for them. Pray that God will continue to sustain them and give them the peace that passes all understanding throughout this time.

Good news

This morning Teresa called to say they had their first positive sign: his fluid intake (build up) was actually less than his fluid out put (urinating). His blood pressure is still high which is causing the heart to not get as much rest as they were wanting.

Letter from Teresa

Teresa sent an update on baby, Elijah:

He will be on the bypass machine for 2-3 days without any changes. They will just keep him stable adding insulin, glucose and dopamine to increase his blood pressure as needed. After 3 days they will attempt to start weaning off of machines and trying to do different things to see what his body can tolerate. Keep us in your prayers as we are trying to find lodging that can be more long-term. We have several temporary options we are using, but we will probably be here at least a month and would like to have the children join us as soon as we have somewhere more permanent. We have Michael's parents keeping them now for us and that is such a blessing.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and your emails and phone calls and encouragement. We will try to return calls and emails as much as we can, but know we appreciate them even if we cannot return them if we miss answering them. We are spending as much time with Elijah as we feel we can and still get our rest. God has blessed me with an easier road to recovery from my C-Section and He is allowing me to feel better than I had expected. He has provided for us, and continually provides for us, financially, spiritually, and physically. A wonderful Christian family allowed us to stay in their home last night, and God filled our needs more abundantly than we would have asked by providing me with a Jacuzzi tub and a bed that felt like we were sleeping on the clouds! Praise God!

Thank you all for everything!
Teresa

P.S. Teresa said she will only be able to check email every few days. Here is an address where they can be reached. They have requested no one send balloons to the baby or anything like that as he cannot keep items at his bedside. Other items sent can be kept by the parents until he goes home.

Elijah Ryan, NICU
C/O ACH
#1 Children's Way
Little Rock, AR 72202

Joining baby Elijah

Both Teresa & Michael are now with baby Elijah at the Children's Hospital in Arkansas. Instead of the bypass machine, they have put him on an ecmo machine which allows the heart to continue pumping, but at only 20% effort, while the machine does the rest. It also pumps out through tubes the bad blood filled with toxins and replaces it with good, clean blood. This will allow his other organs to begin functioning properly. He will remain on this machine for 5 - 10 days. Please continue to pray that this rest will strengthen his heart to where it will be able to take over when he comes off the machine.

Moving to Arkansas

Michael & Teresa have three children ages 4 and under. Their youngest that was born on Jan. 23rd, Elijah, was born with a heart problem. The walls of his heart are too thick for the heart to be able to contract to pump out the carbon dioxide in his body as well as allowing the lungs to work properly. He is breathing through a trach (tube in his throat).

This morning, they flew him to the Children's Hospital in Arkansas. Their intentions are to hook him up to a bypass machine for a few days to give his heart a rest in hopes that it will be a bit stronger and able to work better when they take him off. Please pray that God will heal this precious little boy so that he may join his family.

Also, for the parents -- Teresa is still in the hospital in Jackson and will probably not be discharged until tomorrow. God will also have to work out details with Michael being able to get off work, as well as taking care of their other children, so that they can join Elijah in Arkansas.

Birth

Teresa gave birth to Elijah Gabrielle this morning at 10:00 by C-section. He weighed 13 lb 14 oz. Teresa is fine, but Elijah was born not breathing on his own. He is in ICU on oxygen. Not many details are known, but please be praying that God will intervene and he will be able to start breathing on his own very soon. All prayers are appreciated and can be felt by the parents.