Jason Reynolds Life and Times

The Reynolds Family is 1 man trying to live with 4 beautiful girls who insist dolls are more fun than dirt.

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• Tiffany Smith Washburn 7:07 pm on June 11, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  Jason and Ashley,

  We are thinking and praying for you. Please keep us updated on how all of you are doing.

• David Lanier 10:25 pm on June 11, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  Praying for you, wife and your daughter. Healing. Guidance for the doctors. God’s presence.

• Jason 12:31 am on June 12, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  Thanks for all your prayers. A brief update. We have been moved to a Children’s Medical Center in Dallas for further observation and tests. I am just arriving home to sneak in 5 hours of sleep before going back. Ashley is there with the baby. A second ear, nose, and throat specialist will see her in the morning, but right now an xray is showing a narrowing of the esophagus near the trachea. Probably inflammation, but not sure what a result of. Could possibly be the rings of her esophagus are “O” shaped rather than “C” shaped, which would prevent her airway from growing to support her lungs, etc. Fix is surgery to expand that area and possibly cut those rings so they can expand? We’ll know more tomorrow. Please keep up the praying. She is not out of the woods yet. Blessings.

• julie and roger 10:15 am on June 12, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  Jason, we are so sorry. We know what it’s like to have a daughter with breathing problems. it’s really scary…We will be praying for her and for you guys as well.

• Dave and Becky 4:56 am on June 13, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  Jason and Ashley,

  We love you and are praying for a favorable outcome, peace and strength for you and Ashley, and doctor wisdom. Wish we could be there to hug your necks.

  May the peace of God rest on all of you.

• Jason 10:51 am on June 14, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  This is an update I sent out to the staff where I work yesterday afternoon. Sorry I am only now getting it out to you. One point of clarity, above when I spoke of narrowing of esophagus, I really meant airway/trachea. Apparently anatomy and physiology by deer dissection is not the best way to learn the human body. I still think it is better than failing a class!

  We can’t thank you enough for your thoughts and prayers. It has meant so much. These three days have been some of the longest of my life, and having people who care for us engaged has made all the difference. We all arrived home late this morning and crashed until a few minutes ago. Both kids are fine now, but all the adults need more sleep.

  The brief version: She had a life-threatening respiratory event that began Monday morning and continued until late in the night Monday. The cause is still unknown and further tests are likely required. One thing we know for sure is that the she miraculously improved between 5pm and 10pm Monday to the degree she was no longer in serious danger. The doctors are still stumped as to what occurred and how she improved so dramatically. Thank you all again for your prayer and concern. Her breathing continues to be unnatural as a result of the narrowing in her trachea. We have two doctor’s appointments later in the week for further investigation, but finding and fixing the problem may be a longer journey. We simply don’t know what is ahead.

  The longer version: She had a life-threatening respiratory event that began Monday morning and continued until late in the night Monday night. We took her from Stonebriar VBS childcare to the pediatrician where she was examined and underwent a breathing treatment. Her lungs were clear but her breathing was labored to the point of a sunken in chest and struggling for air. She periodically would get drowsy and fall asleep. The pediatrician (Debra Bain) sent us to the ER and continued to be engaged throughout the next two days.

  In the ER, she took breathing treatments filled with steroids and had blood tests and x-rays taken. After three x-rays showed nothing, Dr. Bain ordered a side profile x-ray of her bronchial area. The x-ray showed a significant narrowing that caused concern. It was clearly inflamed to the point of possibly needing to intubate. They admitted us to a room for further tests and observations as her breathing began improving. Four IV pokes later, we were still not hooked up. Apparently the breathing stress had caused dehydration. Finally we were good to go in the foot and she began getting more steroids and much needed fluid. Next, an ear, nose, and throat doctor scoped her upper airway with a sweet piece of instrumentation involving fiber optics (more on that later if anyone needs details). All looked good except for a short glimpse below the trachea that showed heaps of swelling/inflammation. A procedure that would involve putting her under to examine further was determined to not be prudent because the hospital did not have the facility to follow-through on anything they would find.

  At 8:15 on Monday night, the ear, nose, throat doctor in coordination with our pediatrician escalated to Children’s Medical Center ICU. A transport unit which travels the world together rushing around very sick children arrived in 30 minutes. They swooped she off. When I caught up at the hospital around 9:30, her breathing was only moderately worrisome as her belly and lower lungs “see-sawed” with no sunken-in chest as before. Prayer and steroids were working. By 10pm she seemed to be in the safe range, but we were all unsure if the breathing issues would return or not. It was decided to consider the previously mentioned procedure in the morning or if things became desperate again.

  On Tuesday morning, doctors stood around scratching their heads considering a few more hours of monitoring and sending us home. She was “safe”. Not knowing the cause, our pediatrician, ENT, and ourselves asked for more time to evaluate her and reconsider the procedure. Though she had no symptoms of infection, the Children’s Medical Center staff were reluctant to move forward with any tests saying the risks of anesthesia didn’t outweigh the benefits of knowing what had caused the problem. Doctors went back and forth throughout the day with each other and we were moved to a less critical unit of the hospital. It was determined to monitor her until Wednesday morning and then release us for follow-up with the ENT and our Pediatrician later in the week.

  All the doctors are perplexed, and there are as many as 5 realistic possibilities of what is going on. The cause of the “life-threatening respiratory event” is still unknown and further tests are likely required. One thing we know for sure is that the she miraculously improved between 5pm and 10pm Monday to the degree she was no longer in danger of dyeing. Of course we didn’t know that at the time. Her breathing continues to be unnatural as a result of the narrowing in her trachea. We have two doctor’s appointments later in the week for further investigation, but finding and fixing the problem may be a longer journey. We simply don’t know what is ahead.

• Tiffany Smith Washburn 7:01 pm on June 14, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  So glad to hear that she is well enough to go home and that she received such excellant care so quickly. I cannot imagine the fear and worry that you all must have felt/still feel. We will continue to pray for you and pray that these next appointments will bring more clarity to the problem. Blessings to your precious family. – Tiff

• John and Jennifer 9:03 pm on June 14, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  thanks for sharing your pain. we will be praying for your little one. we are here for you. one of us will call tomorrow at the hospital to check on her status. all our thoughts and prayers. the heards

• Jason 6:58 am on June 15, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and care. Ashley and I have again been reminded of how good God has been in bringing amazing people into our lives who we don’t deserve.

  UPDATE: We came home from the hospital Wednesday. Thursday morning we saw our pediatrician who communicated that the overall consensus is that something anatomical is going on, probably congenital. We see the ear, nose, and throat doctor this afternoon to come up with a treatment plan, but it probably involves putting her to sleep and scoping her airway below the vocal cords. If they find what they think they will find, she would go back in for a surgery to stretch out the lower regions of her wind-pipe.

• Monica 9:10 pm on June 26, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  

  Thank you for sharing this with me. I will continue to pray for your family and will call you soon. Sorry, I am late with this reply, but have been out of town. If you need anything, you know I am out for the summer right now, don’t hesitate to call on me.

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