Outrunning the rain with Bryce and Ella

We had a fun day planned at Atlanta Beach (or whatever it's called now) with Gigi, but unfortunately it rained so we opted for Plan B. Katie, Bryce and Ella took us to a really fun park in Newnan with water fountains and a huge playground. As you can see the kids had a fantastic time!

Clinic update

Cason's clinic visit went ok this morning. The rash is still a mystery to everyone. Dr. Jernigan seems to agree with the dermatologist that it may just be a viral issue and the fact that Cason's immune system is compromised means that it takes longer for things like this to clear up. Who knows???

We found out that the doctors are going to switch him back to Rapamune, another heavy hitting immunosuppressant medication which he has been on before, but was taken off of because of the possibility that it caused this rash. Obviously something else is causing the rash so he is safe to go back on this drug. Please pray that it does its job in keeping his kidney healthy without suppressing his body's natural, infection fighting system any more than necessary. God has really blessed us by keeping Cason healthy since transplant, so just pray that this continues!

The biggest issue for Cason remains his poor nutrition and failure to gain weight. He has not gained a bit since his last clinic visit four weeks ago, which is discouraging. He is so wishy-washy with his eating habits; some days he does great and others it is a challenge to get him to eat anything all day. The bottom line is that we will have to start supplementing his nutrition again if he doesn't start packing on some pouds, either through bolus feeds or night time feeds through his g-tube. Obviously we look forward to the day that the g-tube can come out, so thinking about using it more frequently is not something that we are too excited about. Please pray that Cason will improve the frequency and regularity of his eating.

We love you guys and appreciate your prayers and support so much!

Biopsy Update

Well we finally heard back from the dermatologist today about Cason's biopsy results.
And... we still don't know much!

What we do know is that he is not having a medication reaction and its not a major fungal rash. It seems like it is probably some sort of viral reaction, but from what we understand the results are not clear cut. The doctors are still working to find out what we can do to keep Cason from itching and to make this crazy rash go away. It still wakes him up most nights and we are coming up on 2 months of rash so we are all getting sleepy!

In the grand scheme of things the rash is not a huge deal, but it is uncomfortable for Cason, so we would love to get it fixed as soon as we can. Praise the Lord for his healthy kidney in the midst of this rash! We go Thursday for clinic. Pray for his weight to be up. He is still 23 pounds, which has been his weight for the past 6 months. We really need some pounds on that boy!

Thanks for your prayers and we hope that everyone is doing great!

B.G. and Tricia

All Star Playhouse

Last Thursday we went to All Star Playhouse in Zebulon. It was lots of fun!

We still are waiting to hear results from Casons biopsy. Hopefully we will hear something Monday. We will keep you updated. Thanks for your prayers!

Biopsy

For the past month or so Cason has had a gnarly rash on his feet, groin and belly. We have seen several doctors, each with their own opinion on the cause of the rash, but none with any worthwhile way to get rid of it. It got better for a while, but then came roaring back over the past week. So, today he went back to a Dermatologist at Emory and had biopsies taken from two of the larger areas. It was a bit rough during the procedure, but in classic Cason fashion he has been up and running tonight like nothing ever happened. It's likely that the rash is either a reaction to one of his medications or an autoimmune phenomenon of some sort. It doesn't bother him too much during the day, but he wakes up itching just about every night. Hopefully we'll get some clarity from the biopsy. We'll let you know when we find out something. As always, thanks for praying!

Savannah 2009