Little Abby update.

An update on little Abby: she is doing much better. She's up and around, and the doctors are thinking about sending her home as soon as they can get everything ready. Praise the Lord. He really does answer prayer.

p.s Is it snowing by you? It's snowing by us. What a winter!

My big, big girl!

Why bother bragging when the pictures speak for themselves?

I mean she's plainly a budding literary critic, . . .

brain surgeon, . . .culinary artist, . . .

electrician, . . .

concert pianist, . . . and abstract artist.

What more is there to be said? We have a remarkable child.

In other news, please continue to pray for little Abby. Her surgeries are not producing the results that the doctors had hoped for. Her chest cavity is still filling up with air, and she is in a lot of pain, so much so that her meds can't always get her to the coping point. She has been in the hospital for 4 weeks now, and she is very tired of it. Please pray for the doctors and nurses to have wisdom in her case, pray for strength for her and her parents, and pray that she will get well and go home soon.

Thanks, Jennifer

Happy New Year.

Hello to one and all. This blog will be a mash up of many things, just like my life seems to be right now. First of all, for those of you who have been praying for little Abby, an update: little Abby had to have another surgery to remove more inflammation from her chest cavity, but the surgery went very well, and she is resting much more comfortably now.

Second, it's time for 40 Days for Life! All around the country, pro-life groups are gearing up for a 40 day fasting and praying vigil to end the scourge of abortion in our nation. This year, after three years of comparative inaction, I joined our local planning committee (so if you don't hear from me often, it's because I'm busier than the queen ant's personal secretary). I'm in charge of contacting churches and finding people who want to be involved. In fact, I think I'll do a little recruiting now. If you've ever felt that you'd like to be involved in saving people from abortion, 40 Days for Life is an easy way to do that. We fast, we pray, and we talk to people about how damaging abortion is for people and for communities. Find a location near you; go to http://www.40daysforlife.com/. They have a list of the communities holding spring vigils. While you're there, sign up for the devotional email which will help direct your prayers to the heart of abortion issues.

There, now I can blog the rest with a clear conscience. (I'm actually waiting for some information without which I cannot proceed, so I could probably blog with a clear conscience anyway.) It's time for Niki news! I think the last time I posted some real Niki news, I said that she would be crawling sometime soon. That was just before Seth came home, which is a month ago today. Niki is now crawling like a pro. She covers more territory than I do any given day.

Almost as soon as she started crawling, she started pulling herself up on things too. She's pretty stable on her feet now.

Just after New Years, we took Niki on her first plane trip to visit Grandpa (Seth's grandpa, for those keeping count) and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins in Iowa. She was a very good baby and slept through most of the plane ride with just a little help from a bottle of water.

She was thoroughly impressed with Grandpa's house, especially all the "gogs." Grandpa's "gogs" are more Niki's size and temperament, and she got along with them pretty well, much to her delight.

She was thoroughly entranced by all the cousins and aunts too, of course, and vice versa.

Indeed, we are pleased to report that everyone in Iowa seems to be doing pretty well, in light of everything.

In between our football games (it was playoff season after all) and political discussions, Seth and I made time to visit a couple of old haunts. Grandpa took us to the Blue Bunny ice cream parlor, where we bought Niki a t-shirt (sorry, no pictures of the shirt yet), but she seemed to prefer the napkins to the ice cream.
And we made time to visit the old alma mater. This is Niki and Seth in the foyer of the Dordt chapel, and yes she is wearing a Dordt sweatshirt. She's had that sweatshirt since before she was born. I think she'll make an enthusiastic Dordt wart. What do you think?

Before we left, we took a picture of the three of us by "Seth's tree," a tree that Seth planted when he was about five years old. Seth and I have a honeymoon picture by this tree, and we were hoping to continue the tradition of recording family events beneath it. Unfortunately, Niki was more interested in the tree than in tradition and family events. If you look closely, you can see Seth and me trying to direct her attention to the camera, but she was not having it. Of course, the wind was coming from the direction of the camera, and in true Iowa tradition, it was really cold. Well, with that, I think I can get back to the present. May your new year be blessed with love and opportunities.

And again -- poor kid!

The blood transfussion was a success and her blood counts are all back to normal. Her energy level seems to be back up, as well as her appetite.A new pain medication was introduced in case the pain in her left arm was a nerve issue, and it seems to be helping. Also, we switched medicine for her tummy aches, and she seems to be doing better. Her overall pain seems to be doing much better as well, especially as we get her up and about more and more, and they're starting to cut back on that medication.

As for the progress on her lung expansion, her status depends on which doctor you get. One thing I've discovered is that doctors all have a different perspective on things and their opinions can vary greatly. So, while one doctor will report to us that she's doing much better than the day before and to "keep up the good work", another will pop in later and state that there was no change on the xrays and we need to work her harder. She's working hard on breathing exercises with her respitory therapist and physical exercises with her physical therapist. All of these things will help her to expand that lung.

There was a minor complication yesterday with her PICC line and they had to insert a new one. Hopefully, though, this one was placed in a better location and she won't have as many complications as she's been having with the last one. There's also the issue of an air pocket that's still trapped inside her chest, but the hope is that the expanded lung will push it out. The infection is still responding to the antibiotics, but it's going to be a few months before that clears up all the way.

One last little Abby update.

Abby calculated that we've now been in the hospital for 19 days. We came here the last week of December and we're now heading into the second half of January. As a result, most of the staff here at Mary Bridge now at least recognize us, and several stop by during their shift (even if not on our floor) to personally check on us. Several have admitted that they follow Abby's progress online each day. And twice now they've managed to procure shrimp for Abby (her most favorite food ever), even going so far as to order it from the local Vietnamese restaurant and having it delivered. I think they're getting a little too used to us here!
Today was rough for Abby. After the surgery yesterday, she slept most of the rest of the day and all night long. However, upon waking up, she discovered that her body HURT. A lot. Everywhere. We had to severely increase her pain medication and ended up going back to the magic button (the one that you push to make it all better). Even with the magic button, though, she's still hurting. Poor little bug. =(
There was some good today, though, and even Abby agrees. The surgeon came in this morning to check on her and noted that the chest tube placed in her back was no longer draining and did not have any air leaking through, so he gave approval to have that tube removed this afternoon. That tube was placed in just about the worst place possible, too, so it was such a relief to have that one taken out. One tube down, one to go!

Abby update.

For those who rely on this blog for grandma pictures, I apologize. I promise I will post some soon. In the meantime, I'm working on preliminary measures for 0ur local 40 Days for Life effort (www.kitsap40daysforlife.com) and little Abby went into surgery this afternoon. Please keep her and her family in prayer as they navigate the recovery. It's hard being six in a hospital bed.

It took two days for four surgeons and two specialists to come to a consensus on whether to proceed with surgery on Abby or to send her home and allow her body to continue to heal on its own. Apparently, it was a really divided group with some heated discussion. But, in the end, the decision was made that surgery is our best option. Surgery is scheduled for 1pm tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.
For the surgery, they'll be performing the VATS procedure, which is the camera thingy being stuck in through one hole and, basically, a scooper going in through another hole. The objective is to get in and try to scrape out some of the infection, which has turned from a liquid into a congealed...well, goo. There is apparently quite a bit of goo surrounding the lower lobe of her left lung, which is preventing it from expanding. Left alone, the goo could eventually turn into a solid rock, which would then create all kinds of further and more serious complications. The VATS procedure could last anywhere from one hour to three hours or more, depending on how long it takes to scoop out the goo. During the surgery, they'll replace her existing chest tube with a larger chest tube to try to drain out whatever they don't scoop out. The tube will remain in her chest for 3-7 days, or until the goo stops draining.
Her platelet count is back up to an operable level and the results from the bone marrow aspiration show that her bone marrow is producing platelets just fine...so it's definitely her body that's chewing them up. The blood specialist still goes with his initial diagnosis of ITP (auto-immune deficiency). Again, the ITP should eventually take care of itself and go away. But, during the surgery, the blood specialist will be on hand in case she needs any transfussions, and he will be keeping a very close eye on her platelets.
That's about it in a nutshell. Hopefully, her platelet count is still high in the morning and they (finally) proceed with the surgery tomorrow. We weren't really excited about the prospect in the beginning, but now agree with the decision. The goal is to get her better...faster. And, despite the fact that they're going to be operating on our little girl, we know that she'll be in good hands...both the surgeons' and God's.

Two Updates

Thanks for praying for my friend's niece. I was very encouraged to read and hear how many people were concerned for her. Here are two updates that I received this morning.

Abby's platelet count was really low this morning, so they cancelledtoday's surgery. Depending on how soon they can get her platelet countback up (requires another platelet blood transfussion and possiblyanother IVIG treatment), they may reschedule for tomorrow or Sunday. On the upside, her chest xray this morning actually showed signs ofimprovement and last night was the first night that she's been able togo all night without any supplemental oxygen. A bit too soon to claima miraculous recovery just yet, but we're thrilled to see even just ahint of "better".

After another IVIG treatment yesterday (remember--this is to add extra "stuff" for the auto-immune system to chew on so that it stops chewing up the platelets in her blood), the surgeons all gathered round this morning to discuss Abby's condition. Her platelets were back up, her inflammation markers were down (meaning that the tissue is less irritated) and she was able to go a second night without oxygen assistance. Very small, very slight, but nonetheless, improvements! As a result, the surgeons decided that they would like to wait another few days to see if she continues to improve and, if so, it would mean...NO SURGERY! Please continue to pray for Abby's improvement, especially over the next few days. Despite the really cool bed, she's starting to become a bit restless after lying in it for the past 12 days and is becoming a bit agitated. Visitors are always welcome. =)

Prayer request.

Hello, everyone.

I realize that I should be posting Christmas pictures right now. I will get around to it; I promise. But right now I have an urgent prayer request.

The niece of a friend of mine went in to the hospital with pneumonia and is still there with a collapsed lung. Details are below.


Today was not a long day, but it was a tough day as we were confrontedwith the possibility that our precious little baby may have to undergosurgery to repair some of the damage in her chest. A CAT scan doneearly this morning confirmed that the damage in her chest is prettysevere and that there is still some sort of leak that's allowing airinto her chest. This is the same air that collapsed her lung for thesecond time yesterday. While the new chest tube is releasing some ofthe air pressure, the concern is more that the air continues to leak in.Now, I was mostly hearing blood rushing in my ears when the surgeonspoke with us and so I'm not sure I have this exactly right, but it hassomething to do with the bronchial tube and how it's supposed to divertair up and out and, due to damage caused by the infection, the bronchialtube is not doing its job and is instead pumping air into the chest. Orsomething like that. At this point, our rather conservative surgeonwould like to wait another day or two to see if there is any improvementat all (perhaps the bronchial tube will heal itself?) because, as hecautioned, that recovery from this surgery would be very difficult, atbest.