Mom's Surgery

Hello friends and family, 

It has been a long time since we last provided an update on our Mom. Unfortunately, over the last year or so she has been in a long slow decline. She remains completely dependent on our Dad's care for all functions of daily living. She has no mobility, speech is very difficult with only single words and the horrible double vision continues. More recently, her swallowing and lung capacity are strained. 

Over the past year Mom has had significant therapy, but to no avail. After numerous visits with many specialists and additional MRI's and CT scans, it has been determined that something is still going on in her brain stem and we have made the very difficult decision to go back in for another brain surgery to attempt to arrest the deterioration and possibly allow her to improve. 

Mom and Dad met with Dr. Dong Kim, the Neurosurgeon today and they expect to start the surgery at 7:30am with a Tracheostomy followed by the start of the brain surgery around 9:30 or 10am. Dr Kim then expects about an eight hour procedure hopefully ending around 6pm. 

The surgery will take place once again at Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. It has almost been two years since Mom underwent the last procedure. 

We pray that this extremely difficult surgery will be a success. Please keep her in your prayers today, tomorrow and the weeks to come. 

Thank you for all the love and support.  It means the world to us. 

Sincerely,

John Sedlak

Kelly, Michael and Rachel 

Mom and Baby Austin

Rachel and Mom

I will be updating my blog throughout the surgery just like last time. As we get updates from the nurses, I will post to keep everyone up to speed! 

Thank you Prayer Warriors!! 

Our new Baby Boy!!

Hello World!

On May 28th, we welcomed our sweet baby boy into the world, Mr. Austin. He is precious and the perfect addition to our little family! We are so very blessed to have another baby to love! Thank you for celebrating him with us. 

Here are a few pictures of our new little man! 

7 pounds & 15 ounces

Mommy and Baby

Going home! 

Loving Grandma & Grandpa

Very proud Big Brother and his sibling cake!! (He may have been more excited about that cake than the new baby!) 

We are so in love with you, Austin!!!! 

Nicholson, party of FOUR!!

Exciting news for our little family, in June we will become Nicholson, Party of FOUR. We are so excited to welcome a new baby BOY to our family! I am 5 months along and feeling great! (Finally!)


We shared the great news with family and friends in our Christmas card and below are some of the Big Bro pictures from the announcement! John Chris is thrilled to be a Big Brother. (We're calling the baby "Baby A" until his birthday, then we'll share his precious name with the world!)

Love, Rachel, John & John Chris 

John Chris is TWO

Our very sweet, very busy baby boy turned TWO at the end of September and we threw him a fun filled Choo Choo party, Rachel style! (Of course!) 

It was a fun party, lots of friends and family came out to celebrate our little guy! He had an absolute blast! We had a big surprise for John Chris on the day of his party, a real choo choo train came to his house!! Very BIG DEAL for a two year old boy, if you hear me talking! ; ) 

The train was a hit, all the kids and adults hopped on for rides around our neighborhood. Like any party planning mom, I was worried about rain! Soooo I started praying TWO months in advance, but with my luck... it rained!! But, two hours before the party the clouds broke and the sun came out, Amen! The party was perfect! 

Here are some fun party pictures I wanted to share with you! Enjoy! 

Happy Happy Birthday my sweet boy! 

One Year Post Op

Today marks Mom's one year surgery anniversary and I wish we were further along in this very difficult recovery process. This past year has been rough, okay it's been realllyyyy rough, but I'm not giving up hope! Mom remains completely dependent on the care that is provided by Dad for all aspects of daily living. We pray that over time she can acquire some level of independence however small that may be and to find a way to accept the many challenges that lie ahead. It seems that during the last three months her progress of recovery slowed down and in someways went backwards.  

Mom's speech has deteriorated and we continue to rely on the alphabet board for basic communication. She continues to work on speech therapy weekly and her therapists are now focused on finding an appropriate electronic device that may allow her to spell out words with training and practice. 

She has continued to be chronically tired, which has led to blood testing by an Endocronologist. It has led to a diagnosis of a need for Thyroid medication. She has been on this new medication for three weeks now with only minor improvement in energy levels. We remain hopeful that additional treatment may improve her overall condition. 

Mom has also recently been treated with Botox injections in her neck and shoulder to ease strained muscles. She now has a difficult time holding her head up. Unfortunately, so many of the treatments that are intended to improve Mom's conditions long term, have the short term effect of making everything worse for some period of time. This has been the case over the last few months. 

We want to once again thank everyone that has offered their thoughts and prayers, letters, flowers, meals, and general good wishes sent our way. We are all extremely grateful for the outpouring of love sent our way. We also would like to ask that you keep my Uncle Jack Mulvihill and my Aunt Judy in your prayers as uncle Jack continues to face challenges with a long term illness. 

With love,

Rachel and John Sedlak

A visit from Pittsburgh

Hello blog world!

I am so sorry that I have been neglecting my blog for some time now - it has been a crazy past few months! (Life with a toddler!)

Last month, our sweet Grandma Kitty and our Aunt Annie with Liam made the trek to Texas to visit Mom. (It was Kitty's first time to see Mom since the surgery). Needless to say, it was an awesome weekend! We had so much with everyone and their visit really boosted Mom's spirits! 

Here are some pictures from the fun weekend! 

Liam, Dad and Kitty

Celebrating John Chris's 2nd Birthday with his GG (Great Grandma Kitty)

Caroline and Ellie made a quick trip to Houston also! 

Pool time!

Kitty playing some tunes for us on the piano! 

Sweet babies in blue.

A trip to Texas isn't complete unless we whip out the sombreros and have a fiesta!! 

First Day of Mother's Day Out

My sweet boy started school last month at St. Martha's and I have some precious pictures to share with you! {How is this even possible? He was just born yesterday!}

Meet the Teacher Day at St. Martha's

 

 

 

 

Such a BIG BOY!

 

 

John Chris posing with Papa!

 

Exciting day for both! (Yes, I cried too!)

 

Typical... I try to kiss him and he's trying to run away! He really does like me... a lot... I promise!