Joy in the Journey: January 2009

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

X is for X-ray

Last night was very long and very rough for J and me. He’s had a cough and runny nose for a few days, and began a low fever yesterday afternoon. Last night the cough got really bad, and the fever kept spiking. Poor baby was just so miserable he wouldn’t stay in his bed more than 10 minutes or so till he was back up with the most pitiful cry I’ve ever heard! He was barely able to get any sleep and I could tell that he was very achy all over. We ended up spending the night between the big chair and the couch, sitting propped up and watching baby Einstein. We both dozed in and out some, but neither of us got any restful sleep to speak of. By 3:30am his fever was up to 103.4. I was ready to call the on call doc, but decided to give another dose of Tylenol and check again in an hour. Well, that was a loooong hour! But the temp did go down some, so we waited till normal hours to call the doc. Took J-man in at 9:00 this morning. They ended up doing an influenza test, which came back negative, and J got his first ever x-rays. Two views of his chest. They were clear. So, Dr. I says that he doesn’t have any infection going on, but just a nasty virus. All we can really do is what we have been doing, which is to push fluids and give him Tylenol. He said we should expect the fever to be up, especially in the evening and overnight, for the next few days. (can I just say, YIPPEE!) I am very happy that the doc did not dismiss my concerns, but was thorough. I really like Dr. I.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Pray, Pray, PRAY!!!!!

Most everyone who reads this blog with any regularity already knows about my little friend Bella. If you are stopping by and you don’t know who I’m talking about, please take a few minutes to check out the links on the right side of my blog. Read her mom’s blog about their journey through the valley of Hurler’s Disease. Her picture is over there too. She is the most beautiful little girl, inside and out!

Now, once you are familiar with her and with her situation, I want you to join me in praying for her. Bella needs our concentrated prayers for healing and strength, and for her donor cells (boy cells her mom calls them, as the donor was a boy) to grow, grow, GROW! Bella has been given a chance at a nearly normal life, as her body has sustained relatively little damage from this disease prior to her transplant. Now, we just need for her transplant to be successful and for her donor cells to grow and to stay put and produce that life-saving enzyme she needs! Please pray that God will use the skills of the doctors and the procedures and the medicines to heal his precious child Isabella! Pray that in doing so, he will bring Glory and Praise and Honor to himself.

I also ask you to help me to pray for Charles and Elizabeth. I cannot begin to imagine all that they must be going through in their hearts and minds. Elizabeth is there in the hospital trying to care for Bella, mostly on her own, and trying to keep all the medical information straight in her head and translate it to the rest of us, and keep us informed as best she can. This is a huge emotional strain on her, and she is holding up remarkably. Please pray for her continued strength, as she does have her bad days just like we all do, and always the fears and doubts are lurking at the edges seeking a way in to her conscious thoughts and feelings. Charles, as you know, has had to stay at home in Florida working and taking care of their home while his wife and child are hundreds of miles away. I’m not a man, so I don’t pretend to have insight as to how this is affecting him, but I know that we cannot overlook the burden of his part in all this. Charles is a good man, a good husband and a good father. And I know that he would give anything in his power to protect his girls from any pain or harm or unpleasantness. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be so far away from his family right now.

We need to be especially storming the gates at this time because Bella’s engraftment numbers have declined. (the percentage of her blood cells that are donor cells) This is of especial concern to her doctors, since her first result wasn’t as good as they’d hoped. Now that they’ve seen decline, they have removed some of the meds that help fight against GVHD (Graft vs. Host Disease). So, Bella is dealing with a bit of GVHD now, including fevers, and a rash. Please pray for Bella’s body to accept and multiply those precious donor cells, and for her doctors and nurses to have the knowledge and wisdom to do what needs done for her best care. We need to get this little princess healthy so that she can go home and work on preparing to be a big sister!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Now I Know My ABC's...

Our little man sure surprised us recently. While watching Sesame Street one day, there was a segment on in which the entire alphabet was shown one letter at a time slowly, and my mom noticed that before the tv announced the name of the letters, J-man could name several of them correctly himself! We were floored by this! We’ve been working on counting and on colors with him, but we have not actively worked on letters at all, so he had simply absorbed this from his exposure to Sesame Street, apparently. I am so proud of my little man! He’s growing up waaaayyyy too fast, but I am proud of him.

Of course, now that we know, we have been working on letters more. So far, that we can tell, he can identify: B E H I M O R S W Y and Z. Count them up, that’s almost half the alphabet at 20 months old! Smart cookie. Makes you wonder what else we don’t know that he knows????.........

Monday, January 5, 2009

Miscellaneous Pictures

Well, I've been very remiss in posting pictures for you lately. So I finally downloaded all the pics from my camera and brought them with me today so that I could share. So these are very random and not in any particular order.

Here is J enjoying a new book with Daddy.