Oscar's Odyssey/Stella's Story

Oscar has been developing his personality and letting us know what he likes and doesn’t. Likes: - Going for rides - I am so glad we went to Nuclear Medicine yesterday because otherwise we would have never known he enjoys that   😊 ! - Laying on his sides - Oscar enjoys laying on his side while he eats and sleep. - Eating!!! Even though he is tube fed this kid knows when it is time to eat. 15 minutes before a feed he starts getting cranky   😝 👶🏼 💚 . We have his HIDA scan at 8am this morning our prayer is that some of the radiation has been processed by his liver bile.                                       

Busy morning at the NICU penthouse. We went on a field trip to Nuclear Medicine, hung out there for an hour an Oscar got his HIDA scan. During the scan it did not appear that the radiation was processing through the liver. Our prayer is that it does. We do not want Oscar to have any type of obstruction.   # TeamOscar   # OscarStrong               

It has been awhile since I have written. To the individuals that use our blog as an update I am sorry it is not getting updated super quickly. One thing we did to streamline information about Oscar is we created Oscar his own Facebook Group Page. You can find it on FB as: Oscar’s Odyssey - #TeamOscar #OscarStrong So what you really want to know is how is Oscar? In my opinion he is doing well. He is 11 days old currently breathing room air with no oxygen support or significant apnea episodes in the last 36 hours. He is continuing to get his full feeds 53ml (just under 2oz) every 3 hours. He is not on an IV hook up and has been keeping his sugar levels right about 50. The only medicine he is taking is Caffeine Citrate to help with the apnea episodes  and Phenobarbital and Actigall to prepare for his HIDA scan tomorrow . Oscar enjoys being swaddled and laying on his side. He also is starting to fuss a little bit which is good because all baby’s fuss. His “voice” is almost here too. I wa

Hi  # TeamOscar , Oscar turned 10 days old this morning at 1:35am. He is completely off oxygen and has no IV right now as his sugar levels are low, but not too low. The only medication he is on is Caffeine Citrate for apnea episodes and Phenobarbital and Actigall to prepare for his HIDA scan tomorrow.      Some happenings tomorrow Oscar will have a HIDA scan to look at the liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts. Today  Brian   and I are hopefully going to work with pediatric OT or PT to learn infant massage. Lastly, Oscar might have an MRI of his brain on Thursday or Friday.                       So what’s next your thinking   🤔 ... It seems the most pressing concerns are his kidneys and digestive system looking more specifically at his gall bladder, pancreas, and liver. Our Prayer Request: 1. The continued function of his kidney and liver or for them to function even better. Oscar’s sugar levels would stay above 50 and continue to get higher...in the 60’s would be good. 2

Day 9 As we are headed into Day 10 of Oscar’s life I was reminded by the Lord that Oscar was given to us as a gift, a blessing, a miracle. Life is delicate and nobody knows how long they have on this Earth expect the Lord. My prayer for this Monday is to trust the Lord and remember that the Lord loves Oscar even more than we do. Prayer Request 1. Oscar would not have apnea episodes and if he does have one that he would bounce back and stabilize quickly. 2. Oscar’s sugar levels would stay above 50. 3. Continued wisdom and good communication for  Brian  and I. Day 8 Day 7 Day 6 Day 5 Day 4 Day 3 Day 2 Day 1

Oscar hit the 1 week mark today and some how he gets more precious each day. A couple of new concerns and prayer request: 1. His liver is showing some signs of struggle. They suspect it could be a virus but we will know more once the lab results come back. 2. Oscar’s kidneys are more on the radar as well. They are continuing to keep a close watch on their function. Let’s stay  # OscarStrong   # TeamOscar ! !!!

It was a big day for our little man. He got extubated!  Extubation was attempted last Monday, November 20, and he was just not ready. At 2:15pm today they took him off the ventilator and gave him a nose cannula. So far only one apnea episode where he completely stopped breathing.  Oscar was cute before and now he is uber cute since I can see his entire beautiful face.  👶🏼 We praise the Lord for the miracle of his life and that he will be 1 week old tonight.  # TeamOscar   # OscarStrong   💪🏻 Thank you for your prayers for our son and our family.    

We are thankful for much this Thanksgiving, but especially for our sons. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would have our Oscar before Turkey day much less before Theodore’s third birthday.  With Theodore’s birthday this past Sunday, on November 19, he had his 3 year well check on Tuesday and first real dentist appointment on Wednesday. He was given a clean bill of health in the both areas.  🙌🏻 Oscar has been having a restful Thanksgiving Day. He didn’t get any pumpkin pie, but he is up to 30ml every 3 hours to eat. 30ml = 1 ounce, so Oscar is getting 8oz of breast milk total each day with the end goal of taking feeds through the feeding tube (OG - mouth or NG - nose) at a rate of 50ml every 3 hours. We will hopefully hit that 50ml at each feed over the next few days. Other exciting happens are tomorrow Oscar is supposed to potentially get extubated. He has had a good past 3 days with his O2 levels and is getting more comfortable each day with life outside of the womb.

Oscar decided he was too excited to meet us so he came 4.5 weeks early. His gestational age was 35 weeks, 4 days. Julie and I went into the hospital late Friday night and Oscar was born at 1:35 AM on Saturday, November 18. One day before his big brother, Theodore’s, third birthday. He is definitely a fighter and doing as well as can be expected. Julie is doing well too and thinks c-sections might be the way to go, at least if I‎t was like Oscar’s delivery where minimal labor took place.  Thinking back to Friday night/Saturday morning it is a slight whirlwind, but there were instances throughout Oscar’s delivery that helped to remind us that God knew what was going to happen and had the master plan. First, Dr. Waggoner, Julie’s OB, was on call Friday night. We were so glad a familiar face came into triage as we had not made Oscar’s official delivery plan and Dr. Waggoner knew how deeply we wanted to meet our son. After a quick assessment it was evident Julie was going to need an emer

Brian   and I couldn’t be happier to announce the arrival of Oscar Graham Kaser!    Oscar was born Saturday, November 18, at 1:35am. Even arriving at only 35 weeks, he still weighed 5lbs, 13oz and is 18 inches long. He has been with us almost 48 hours and is stable.  We will do a blog post tomorrow updating about his birth story and how everything is going medically.   Thank you for your prayers for Oscar. He was born alive and he is still with us.  # OscarStrong   # TeamOscar November 20 - Post from Larisa Beadle's Facebook Page:  He is here! Oscar Graham Kaser was too excited to enter this world that he didn’t want to wait till the end of December. He is sta ble and a fighter just like his beautiful mama who is rocking it! Julie and Brian have had the faith to move mountains since day one of Oscars diagnosis. And since day one Julie’s number one prayer has been to have the opportunity to meet her son, and God has been so faithful in answering her prayer! He is perfect

To call the last few months a roller coaster of emotions would be putting it lightly. Tuesday was no exception. After hearing some optimistic news from Ann Arbor on November 2, that Oscar’s heart was not worst case scenario and seemed suitable to sustain him, Columbus brought on a bleaker outlook. We visited Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus to meet with their cardiology and NICU teams for a second opinion. Our hope was to hear a confirmation of some of the positives or less negatives from our Ann Arbor visit. The doctors took us on a ride that had us both feeling sick to our stomachs the rest of the day. We spent most of the day in the Heart Center at Nationwide and started our day with a fetal echo. The scan lasted for about an hour/hour and fifteen. We then met with a Cardiologist, Neonatologist , and Palliative Care Fellow. The main malformation of the VSD, hole in the heart, along with Tetralogy of the Fallot were both confirmed. However, the weak squeezing function of

Yesterday, Julie and I took a trip to a place no Buckeye fan would speak of, Ann Arbor. We had to brave the Wolverine odor and as much Maize and Blue as I could stomach for one day. Our visit to University of Michigan C.S. Mott's Children's Hospital brought on some positive news. We started off in their MFM department and they took about an hour anatomy ultrasound of Oscar.  Most everything they identified was in line with what we have seen in Toledo. There seemed to be a little more concern about the kidneys, but much of that will be left unknown until after Oscar is born. We then had a fetal echo done, which is where some positivity came into our day. The pediatric cardiologist seemed to think there is no reason Oscar's heart would not be able to get enough oxygenated blood to the body based on the size of his pulmonary artery. Oscar is now confirmed with the heart defect of  Tetralogy  of  Fallot  ( TOF ), but immediate surgery does not seem to be needed. The pediat