ANSWERED PRAYER!

After 55 days in the hospital, Ryland is finally HOME!!!! Shane said that they are doing well, but are a bit exhausted! Ryland is doing just fine, although he's still a little bit weak. (He does laugh, though, when his legs start to shake. :) ) He still doesn't quite understand that he can't get up and run around like he was used to.

Keep the Reese's in your prayers as they continue to re cooperate! Praise God for His miracle- working power in Ryland's body!

We'll let you know how Ryland is doing every so often!

Doing Great!!!!

It's day 52 at BSA, and Ryland is doing so well!! He is now in a normal room, doing speech & physical therapy, and they just removed his feeding tube! The doctors are really surprised at how fast he has been recovering. Tomorrow night they will be conducting a sleep apnea study on him to see if he still struggles with it. So far, he's gone 3 nights without any trouble. They're guessing that he might be able to go home sometime next week!!!

Keep praying that he'll continue to progress as fast as he has been, and that he'll be allowed to go home next week. Pray for Shane & Shana as they start to prepare things at home. Pray that they have all the help that they need, as well as some down time to relax. Also, pray that they will be able to minister to people at the hospital and bring others hope that are in the same situation. May God receive all the glory for this miracle!!

We Prayed. . . He Breathed! (on his own!!!!)

Ryland is officially ventilator free!!! This morning, just before eleven, the ventilator was take out of his mouth and rolled out of the room! He has had a little bit of trouble with some congestion still, but he is finally breathing completely on his own. Thank you all for joining with us to pray for him. He still isn't completely out of the "woods" yet, so keep praying that his body continues to heal and get stronger. Also, keep Shane and Shana in your prayers. They still have a long road of recovery ahead. Pray that they will continue to feel the love & peace of God all around them and that they would be able to be rested for the days ahead.



James 5:16 - "Pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

Still Improving!!!

Yesterday was day #35 in PICU for Ryland, and he had some great news! All of the results from the cultures that they took from his lungs came back negative!!!! These results let doctors know that he isn't getting any more of those nasty infections. He was also moved down to level 10 on the ventilator, which is getting closer and closer to being completely weaned off of it. In fact, doctors told Shane & Shana that they would be taking the ventilator out of the room on Monday or Tuesday!!!! Ryland was also taken off of another antibiotic yesterday. So, now he is only taking pain medication and one anti fungal med. They hope to take him off of the anti fungal in a day or two.

Ryland has been sitting up in bed a little bit every day, but is still very weak. So, keep praying that his muscles would strengthen and gain back some endurance. Continue to pray that his lungs would keep getting stronger and start breathing entirely on their own. Pray for Shane & Shana to keep on enduring this long process of healing, and to continue being a strong fortress for Ryland. Also, keep Shane's job in your prayers. Since his absence, due to Ryland's situation, he has been running into some issues.

Overall, everything is looking great! We expect it to only get better and better from here! Keep on praying!!! If you haven't noticed from this situation, there is power in prayer, and power when God's people join together in prayer!!

Ryland had a great weekend!!!

Ryland has had a great last few days! His lungs are slowly getting stronger, and he is able to be awake for longer periods of time. They have taken his breaths per minute from 24 to 16 over the past few days, and are hoping to take him to 14 breaths per minute tomorrow! The goal for Ryland is to reach 6 breaths per minute and then take him off of the ventilator. Once that happens, he will have an over the face mask to wear that is hooked up to a machine that will sense if he stops breathing and will force air into his lungs.

Ryland has been a little bit congested yesterday and today, so continue to pray that his lungs clear up and the congestion will go away completely. Keep on praying for the Reese family. They are doing much better, but still have such a long way to go!

Ryland's Improving!

Yesterday, Ryland made some big improvements! His fever finally broke and the new x-rays came back looking a little bit better. As you can tell from the picture, his swelling has come way down! Doctors also decided to take him off of the paralytic meds, so he was able to see his mom and dad and start moving around a little bit. He's almost back where he was before this last episode!

The doctors have warned Shane and Shana, though, that when Ryland starts to come down off of the paralytic he'll probably start being mad, confused, and in some pain. They will keep him on some pain medication, but will also start to wean him off it as well. It will be a really slow process because the doctors do not want him to go through really bad withdrawals.

So, keep Ryland in your prayers. Pray that he continues to heal, and that he won't experience bad withdrawals or pain from coming off of the paralytic and the morphine. Pray for Shane and Shana, that they will be able to help keep Ryland as calm as possible and remain strong for him. Let's keep on praying until Ryland has a total recovery!

Ryland's Website

Ryland's website is up & running!

Please stop by and check out Ryland's updated site. A lot of new things have been added since the end of last week. You can read Ryland's story, look at photos, read his patient journal for updates on his progress, and leave encouraging messages for Ryland and his parents in the guestbook. There is also a section of links through the CDC where you can look up specific diseases or conditions. So, you can study up on what all Ryland is dealing with. As always you can donate towards Ryland's cause.

**For those of you who have a blog, there is a downloadable logo that you can add to your pages. It looks like this:






Go to caringbridge.org and click on the 'How to Help' button. Under 'Other ways to help' there is a link for bloggers. Click on it, and then click on 'Logos for Display'. When you copy & paste the html code into your blogger format, you can add in Ryland's address.
Ex: "http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rylandreese" (I added it to the first caringbridge address. There are 4 caring bridge addresses in the code.) This should allow the logo to take you straight to Ryland's page.

The more awareness we can create on Ryland's condition, the more people we can recruit to pray with us for his healing. There's power in prayer! The more people praying, the more power!
Here's the latest from Ryland's journal:

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2009 04:53 PM, CST
"Ryland has been running a fever for about 24 hours. They took and sent off a bunch of cultures, and so far nothing has grown from them. It could take up to 3 days to see lab results and to find out what might be causing his fever. Ryland is getting a tiny bit better each day, and x-rays seem to be improving. His immune system is so compromised and weak, that just one of us going into the room or someone visiting could introduce a new infection or cold. When we get home eventually, we will be seeing an immunologist in Lubbock to help ryland with his immune deficiency. We have taken steps forward the last 4 days, but it seems to be a roller coaster ride in here sometimes. We hope that he can get off of his paralytic soon, so he can start moving around again. He muscles are very weak, and it will take a long time of therapy to regain that strength back. Thank you for visiting our web page on Ryland, and were hoping he will get better soon. Please continue the prayers. Love The Reese's"

Let's continue to lift up the whole Reese family in prayer. Pray that he will continue to improve and strengthen. Pray for his immune system to build back up, and allow for both of his parents to be in the room with him. For Shane & Shana, pray that they will continue to have hope & remain positive as Ryland's recovery continues. Be Blessed everyone!

Pics & a Website

For those of you who have been praying, here is a face to go along with his name. This is sweet, little seven year old Ryland Reese.

This is Ryland befor he got sick and put in the pediatric ICU on January 31st.
The picture below is Ryland in the ICU at the BSA hospital in Amarillo, TX.

Ryland has been in ICU since Saturday, January 31, 2009. That is 21 days of being in critical care, and having to lay still. In order to give the Reese family support during Ryland's critical illness and monsterous expenses of being in the hospital for that long, they have set up a website for Ryland through a charitable organization call Caring Bridge.

On his website you can leave encouraging messages, look at the patient care journal for updates, donate money to help the family cope with hospital bills, make financial tributes, look at uploaded pictures, and read Ryland's story.

His website was just set up in the last day or two, so there isn't much on there yet. But, here is the link if you wish to stop by and have a peek, leave a message, or give a financial gift.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/rylandreese or click on the Caring Bridge logo to the right