The Road to Recovery.

All the surgeries are over! Day 11 in the hospital. Nicholas had his last "procedure" this morning, the plastic surgeon unwrapped everything, did a clean out and bandaged him back up. We are out of ICU, and back in a regular room. He is in good spirits, the Life Care nurse brought him a X-box to play with in this bed.  Tomorrow  Nicholas can get up out of bed and "dangle" his foot for ten minutes every hour, this is a blessing, because he has been flat on his back for for 4 days. He is managing his pain now with 1 pill every 8 hours, down from a continuous drip and push button sedation. WE ARE POSSIBLY OUT OF HERE IN 3 DAYS!  Nicholas and his neighbor Prince, are going to have a play date tomorrow, the nurses are going to take both boys, beds and all (they are both bed bound)  up to a special room where there is a play station set up on a giant movie screen. He is very excited to meet Prince in person, we have become very close with him and his mother through both the boys numerous surgeries. 

    Keep Nicholas and Prince lifted up in prayer,

Cecil and Alisha Vossler

Lil sis here for a visit!

Nicholas had a surprise visit from his little sister and grandma this morning! A good way to start off his day. The last time sister saw him he was getting on an ambulance, scary stuff, but now she sees him all fixed up. We live 250 miles from here, so its not just across town. We are glad to see her and give her a big hug and kisses. God is good.

KTRX-TV, ABC Houston Channel 13

Click here for a video update from KTRX, an ABC affiliate out of Houston, on Nicholas, his amazing surgical team, and his road to recovery.

The Big Surgery!

Nicholas is in the pediatric intensive care unit now recovering from his latest surgery. The surgery went as planned, they started at 12:20 and finished at 5:06. Plastic surgeons placed a "Flap", replaced a nerve and covered it all with a skin graft. This flap is muscle along with the arteries and veins, that was  " harvested" from his left arm and surgically placed over his missing tissue in his foot, and hooked up to his arteries and veins there-they are monitoring it by listening to the blood flow with a small sonar hourly to make sure it is still alive. The nerve was also taken from his arm to replace the one that was missing in his foot, it will grow and hopefully give him feeling back to the bottom of his foot and big toe. Finally, the skin for the graft came from Nicholas's thigh, this is the most painful because its like having a severe road rash.
He will be in PICU for 72 hours, then go back to the OR for one more procedure that will tell us if everything was successful. After that he will be replaced in a room and hopefully we will be headed home by this time next week!
  Thanks for your continued prayers and support,
Cecil & Alisha Vossler

Thanks to Frost Bank!

In addition to the PayPal account link on the right, the great folks at Frost Bank have set up a benefit fund in Nicholas' name. Everyone's thoughts and prayers have been blessing enough, but if you feel so moved, checks can be mailed to:

Nicholas Ray Vossler Benefit Fund
c/o Hulen Branch Frost National Bank
4200 South Hulen
Fort Worth, TX 76109

Thanks to all of our family, friends, and complete strangers who have given of themselves the past 8 days - it's truly awesome and humbling.

Nicholas on the Today Show!

Nicholas and his parents were on The Today Show Friday morning. Follow the link to check it out.

Nicholas's foot after orthopedic surgery today-the pins through his leg, and foot are painful!