our baby

Ridge...our sweet little baby boy...well...here we sit @ Children's Hospital. Sitting. And Waiting.

Our story--
Tuesday we went to a GI specialist. Ridge had been having bloody spitup....and dark blackish brown dirty diapers....these concerns had been dismissed by our pediatrician, twice, and finally after a horrible bloody spitup incident, we were referred for a GI screen/xray. Reflux was the diagnosis...the medicine Ridge took made him scream and turn white as a ghost the first time he took it. We cut back the dosage and noticed less reaction, but were told the meds would only reduce the spitup, not reduce the blood in it. So...we stopped giving the meds, b/c spitting up itself was not a bothersome issue for us. Instead, we opted for an appt. with a GI specialist. The doctor took one look @ him and said he was anemic. He did a stool culture and immediately said, "he's bleeding inside"...the poop (sorry if it's gross) wasn't even dark, but he'd been bleeding so long there was just always blood in his poop. This dr. ordered blood work and he called us an hour later with results. The moment the phone rang, we knew it wasn't good news b/c he'd told us if Ridge was super anemic, he'd call us soon and we'd have to come in for transfusions. So...he told us that part, the part we expected. He then said Ridge had low platelets, and that's not a GI issue, so we had to come back in for more bloodwork and he referred us to Children's Hospital and to a hemotologist there. Needless to say, we were so upset/worried/scared/uncertain. The bloodwork came back the same, so we were admitted to Children's, where Ridge underwent a long time of poking and sticking in attempt to find an IV location...to no avail. Finally, later that Tues. night, ICU volunteered to put a central line in so we could begin transfusing. so...that's what we did. They put our little boy under sedation and got this line in his leg....and his first blood transfusion began. Since then, he has undergone a total of 5 red blood cell transfusions and 2 platelet transfusions, and his numbers are getting more stable. But where was the problem? We had a bone marrow test/biopsy done and it (THANK GOD) ruled out leukemia and cancer and some other diseases. He had to be sedated for that procedure. He has a nice wound on his lower back from it, as well. The following day (friday), Ridge underwent complete anesthesia and had an endoscopy done on his upper GI and lower intestinal area. The doctors found multiple lesions in his stomach-- this is the obvious cause of bleeding. This is why his hemoglobin is low- he is losing blood through these oozing sores and then he is passing it in his poop and spit up (the blood, not the sores- they are not going away). They flushed out and cleaned his stomach of all the coagulation b/c the platelets had been trying to stop the bleeding- in overdrive, basically, and that is why he had few platelets. We are waiting on the biopsy to come back from the endoscopy; this will tell us what the lesions are. The doctors are not certain at this point.

Please pray for our baby. Pray for the doctors. Pray for answers and treatment and peace. Ridge is doing well today, his counts were fairly stable. He is not bleeding at this time, but without treatment, this process will continue. There is a possibility that he could have to receive transfusions regularly, to keep his platelet counts up to keep the bleeding controlled. This could be long-term. Of course, we covet your prayers. If you want to do more, and if you are from Oklahoma, you can donate blood in Ridge Cary's name. It does not matter what blood type you are. You donate, at any OBI location, even mobile blood drives. You tell them you want your donation to be credited to Ridge Cary's name. The way it works is this: for every five units (we think )of blood donated (ANY TYPE) in Ridge's name, we are "credited" one unit of blood-- which means we get however many transfusions can come from one unit of blood, we get free. You can donate every 56 days, and it's free, and you'd be giving us something priceless...at no financial cost to yourself. Most of all-- pray. If you can do this also, we are asking you to do so. Thank you so much.