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Kari's Korner 
24 Feb 03
9 lbs 13 oz
21 inches
Welcome to Kari's Web Page. It has been provided to keep people updated about Kari and her life with Cerebral Palsy and other stuff.
Kari is 5 years old and has a 19 year old brother Nikolas, a 18 year old sister Erika, a 15 year old brother Lukas, and an 11 year old brother named Alek.
Kari was born in the United Kingdom (England) at a military hospital. I had to have an emergency c-section, as her umbilical cord was prolapsed. She was not breathing when she came out, it was 20 minutes before she took her first spontaneous breath. Her APGARS were 3/3/3. She was put on a ventilator and transfered to Addenbrooks Hospital in Cambridge. The next morning, Kari pulled out her ventilator and was breathing on her own. She required a feeding tube in her nose because she was not awake enough to eat and had problems sucking when she was awake. She was in the hospital for one week. She was a sleepy baby and only woke for feeds and it was a struggle to get her to eat. We then noticed she was not reaching the milestones she should have been, so her Dr. made arrangements for an evaluation. She then started speech and physical therapy. The result of this trauma is Ataxic Cerebral Palsy, Ataxia, and Macrocephaly. Ataxic Cerebral Palsy is very rare and only affects 10% of people who have Cerebral Palsy. She is being monitored by a team of neurologists, and speech and physical therapists. She will have another MRI on 16 March. This MRI showed no change. She still has a Mega Cisterna Magna. That is extra fluid on her brain, but not enough to have it drained and she will not need a shunt. She will have another MRI in a year to see if anything has changed.
On 27 October 2005, Kari had a pre-cancerous lesion removed from her cheek. We hope it doesn't come back so we don't have to deal with that again!
Kari will have another MRI on March 17th as the doctors are concerned about her increasing head size. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.
Kari turned 5 years old on February 24th. YAY Kari!!!!! She has come a long, long way!! Kari had had surgery to remove an arachnoid cyst from her brain. This surgery was in November of 2007. She recovered well but when the nurse tried to remove her stitches one week later she became very upset. They put some super-duper Durmabond over the stitches and made it very painful to remove. The nurse suggested we come back the next day so we could sedated her and finish the job. Well, overnight Kari started leaking cerebro-spinal fluid and contracted meningitis. She was in the PICU for over a week and came home in IV antibiotics. She had a PICC line in her arm for this. Then after an MRI a few months later, the cyst had grown back and it was decided that Kari needed a shunt to keep the fluid moving out of the cyst. Recovering from that was horrible for Kari. She was in the hospital for 5 days just trying to get used to the new lesser amount of pressure in her brain from the cyst. She is now doing very well and is loving her kindergarten class.
To learn more about Macrocephaly click here
To learn more about Ataxia click here
To learn more about Cerebral Palsy click here
Want to view Kari's Quilt of Love?
click here
You Have Taught Me
You have taught me patience
to rejoice in small gains which others take for granted.
You have taught me tolerance
to accept that your perspective is different
and deserves respect.
You have taught me courage
to fight for you when no one else will.
You have taught me endurance
to go on when I feel I can't any more.
You have taught me humility
to accept when I can't make things better
but can only be here for you.
You have taught me to love
at a deeper level than I ever thought possible.
I Do Talk To You
I know you can't hear me....but I do talk to you.
And I hear everything you say to me too.
I hear when you laugh when I do something funny.
I hear you yell "Hooray" when I try so hard.
I hear you tell others how you'd never trade me for the world
even with all the trials I came with.
I hear you thank God for what a blessing you have been given.
I hear you encourage me when I can almost do it.
I hear you cry, too, when it gets a little harder
and when you ask God "Why?!" your baby.
And I know you know I understand somehow.
And you know I listen when you talk to me too.
But, I want you to know, mom...........
I do talk to you.
Please add yourself to Kari's FrapprMap and add a picture too!
*HUGS* TOTAL!
give Kari more *HUGS*
Get hugs of your own
Kari Loves CareBears
Postcards can be sent to Kari Schueler at:
2046 A Corsair Dr
Langley AFB, VA 23665
Click Here to find a cool visual sign language website with lots of video clips that demonstrate how to make the signs.
 Journal
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 7:22 AM CST WOW!!!
It has been forever. I doubt too many even come here anymore. Just wanted to let you all know that Kari is doing well. She just turned 7 years old on the 24th of Feb. and is growing like a weed.
I usually am on Facebook, so if you like, you can go there. I'm under Lisa Sparks Schueler.
Hope you all have a super day!!!
Lisa and Kari
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: At Home- but when we need to go we are at:
Portsmouth Naval Medical Center
Portsmouth, Virginia
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