Friday, March 20, 2009

I lost 1/2 my wisdom!

Well I didn't lose my wisdom - they dug it out of my jaw! I had my lower to wisdom teeth pulled this morning. One was fully impacted and the other one was partially impacted and causing me a LOT of pain for almost 2 weeks now. They wanted to take all four but it would have been 500 since insurance wouldn't pay for the other two until they become a "medical" problem. So we opted to just do two for now. Josiah has had only his bottom two out for about 8 years and not had problems yet. They said it may be 10 years but sooner or later they will start to be a problem because they will keep dropping since they have no teeth to bite onto and stop.

I felt them put the IV in my then a few seconds later I was out! Then when I woke I was hiccuping. I sat up in the recovery room a few minutes later and almost passed out so they ran more fluids. My heart rate dropped to about 45. I was able to come home and eat a little yogurt with crushed up medicine in it. I then slept for 2 hours. When I got up I thought I felt pretty good so I cam down stairs and a few moments later I about passed out again and had to quick lay down. I have been up since, I feel pretty good other than the fact that my lower lip and chin are so numb I can't tell when my spoon is touching it, or when I have yogurt on it, or even when I am drooling!

Dillon's nurse is so sweet and is helping me today! She is wonderful! I don't know what I would do without her! I am so thankful the Lord brought her into our lives! Mrs. J also brought us a meal - soup! Perfect for me. I was able to eat a little of that already too. Thank you so much Mrs J!

Hopefully this numbness will go away soon and I am praying I won't swell too much...Sunday is probably going to be the worse day for swelling and we are supposed to stand in front of the church to join on Sunday morning!! So please don't laugh at my chipmunk cheeks! Ahhhh! Oh well. When you think to pray for me, please also pray for my mom - she got a tooth pulled today too!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Home Sweet Home!

We are home - Praise the Lord! Dillon is doing MUCH better. His color is good, his temperature is good, and he seems very relaxed. He is on room air (no oxygen) and doing good. They did not want to do the sleep study tonight because he was still a little sick and they do not want it to look like his tonsil has to come out if it doesn't really need to. We are rescheduled for April 20th.

EEG results - sorry I didn't post them sooner. The long movements that the doctors thought were seizures were NOT seizures those movements were just that - movements. He did have 30-40 short seizures in 18 hours but they were self limiting and very short (some were only a second or two) We may need to make some adjustments to his diet but no medication is needed! Praise the Lord! He may have had more since he was still sick too. But at least he is not having prolonged seizures! Answer to prayer!!! Now, if only I could get the doctors to LISTEN to me and stop drugging him.... oh well I guess I need the sign above his bed again that says 'HUGS NOT DRUGS!" ;-)

Needing sleep...thankful though for all the help we had a couple visitors and my sister in law. THANK YOU! Thank you for all who called/emailed etc.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Thank you for praying. Dillon is doing ok today. Last night the doctors thought he had a 30 minute long seizure and gave him 3 doses of heavy duty seizure drugs. I do not believe it was a seizure, even though I was at the Ronald McDonald house and did not see it. From what they described to me it sounds like Dillon was just trying to move from his back to his belly and as he was not able to he was getting upset and they misread that to be a seizure. We will never know for sure, but Dillon has never had a 30 minute long seizure before. Praise the Lord he is active and lifting his head again (normally those drugs leave him in la-la land for up to a couple of days!)

I was able to show the doctors who are on for tonight this movement and show them how he calmed right down when you sit him up or put him on his belly so I am praying they will not use drugs unnecessarily.

He is still wheezing and have a hard time keeping his lungs clear of secretions so I think we will be here several more days. (I had 2 hours of sleep then was waken to the "seizure" thing for 3 hours then got 2.5 more hours of sleep! I'm Tired!) Saturday my sister in law was planning to come so she will be here to help. Friends from Church had Jay on Wed and that was a big blessing! Several other people have offered to help with Jay...this is such a blessing to me! It is so wonderful to know there are people willing to help if I need them! Thank you!!

Please just keep praying for all of us. Jay is getting better, but now I am also getting sick. :-(

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Dillon Update - RSV

Dillon got to his room and all settled around 4am. His fever was not coming down below 102.4 so they had to give him a different fever reducer which did bring it down somewhat. His test just came back positive for RSV. He did well in the night over all. We are trying to get a room Ronald McDonald House tonight if there are any available. Thank you for praying for him, I would imagine we will probably be here several days until they are sure his fever is under control and now with the RSV he will need to be watched closely.


Note: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory illness in young children. RSV causes infection of the lungs and breathing passages.

Dillon is in CHOP

Today Dillon's fever jumped to 103.5 so when Tylenol didn't bring it down we brought him to the ER at CHOP. They are going to admit Dillon to the pulmonary floor. Since he had such a high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, lots of secretions, and since JayDonn is still sick they want to keep Dillon here to keep on eye on him. His blood was very thick - so he is probably a little dehydrated. They are starting IV fluid and will start the IV form of antibiotic. They think his chest X-ray is showing pneumonia again too. His oxygen levels are doing pretty good so that is a blessing! He is very tired and limp, though.

JayDonn still is sick too, his fever has been around a 100 or less though. He was eating some today and being stubborn so I think he is on the mend...at least I pray he is since he has been really sick for about 5 days now....

Thank you for praying for us, we need it! :-) Josiah is going to be tired for work tomorrow so please pray for strength and safety for him. I'll update tomorrow sometime...

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Think BIG - Pray BIG - Rejoice BIG!

I haven't updated in a while - so please bear with me on a long post.

Health Update: Let me start by saying that Dillon is feeling better. He seems to be fully recovered. The ER called me a few days later and told me he had the flu. Who knew?! JayDonn has the flu now. He has had very little to eat for 4 days, he has been vomiting and all too. He has been drinking a lot though. Last night his fever was 102. He is not active at all, all he wants to do is sit with us on our laps. My little man is sick and it is so hard to see him this way.

Answer to Prayer: We have been fighting the insurance company for over a year for a medical bed for Dillon so he won't get stuck in the crib slats when he has seizures. They kept telling me no - to just put bumper pads around the crib. Finally last week we got a phone call "You have been approved for the sleep safe bed!" AMEN!!! Click HERE to see what this bed is like. This is a huge huge blessing.

We had an awesome time in the House of God last week for a 3-day revival meetings with Evangelist Morris Gleiser. His messages were excellent. The weekend before I was heart broken and discouraged. (again....) Dillon has been doing some things that I am not sure what it is, but don't like the looks of it. He has been trying to turn himself into a backwards "C" (the back of his head and his heels are trying touch). His legs are also getting tighter and tighter and sometimes crossing at the ankles. I was discouraged. Hours and hours of therapy and this is still happening. Then we went into the mini revival - just what I needed. Bro. Gleiser's message on PRAYER was straight from God for me. Please click on the link on the word prayer and listen to it. It is very good. It will convict you, challenge you, and encourage you.

I can think BIG - I can dream BIG, but do I expect God to answer my prayers? Hummm. Do YOU expect God to answer your prayers or do you fall into the trap I do of praying but having doubt that God will answer you? Bro Gleiser used the story of when Peter was in jail and they were holding a prayer meeting (Tiffany version)...
"God please get Peter get out of jail! We need him Lord! Please make it possible for him to get out of jail!"
knock, knock, knock.
"Hey everyone, it's Peter!"
"Shhh be quiet girl, it can't be Peter, he is in jail. God, please will you get Peter out of there?"
"But he is out! He's here!"

They weren't expecting God to answer their prayer. God wants us to have faith that He hears us and will answer us. I have seen this in my life. I have been praying for over a month now that God would provide a way for us to do umbilical cord stem cells therapy with Dillon. (I'll explain all about it in another post) This therapy is very very expensive and not covered by insurance. I have been praying, "God, please if this is something you want us to do, You will have to provide the money! I don't have it!" I kept thinking of the song that says My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. My Father owns everything on this Earth - if He wants us to have the $25,000 to do this therapy He CAN and WILL provide it. I did not tell people about my prayers. I think I told Josiah and I told my nurse. I was telling her, well If I am praying this way I need to start working on getting passports because I know He is going to answer and I better be ready for it. And I actually DID believe He was going to provide it!

Well, I am humbled to tell you, that a family who did not know anything of my prayers came to us a little over a week ago and told us they are making a major donation towards this umbilical cord stem cell therapy we wanted to try with Dillon. AMEN! What an answer to prayer! I was so excited, not just because of the money - although that donation made me speechless - not just because of the generosity of this sweet young couple - because I am so humbled that people would be so giving and selfless to try to help my family - but because this was a specific prayer request that I had brought before God and He answered! I want to continue live this way. I want to take a need before God and wait - expectantly - for His answer. There are sometimes my request will not be in His will, but sometimes it will be and I want to see Him work in my life and make it so clear that it is of Him!

Last Tuesday I took some cans to some local stores to see if I could place it there asking the community for help to provide the money to go. Today Friendly's in Pottstown called me to tell me to come get my can - it was getting full! They told me I can keep it there for as long as I want. I am praying that God will provide the money if He wants us to go to China for stem cells. I can't make it happen. I can't make people give. I can't go out and work to make it as that would not be good for my family. I can't earn it from home - I have tried to do my own business time and time again and God has proven to me that those truly were my own business - He wasn't in them or blessing them. However, in a little more than a weeks time He has provided just over 25% of the money we need!

God has been teaching me lesson after lesson ever since my precious little boy came into this world. I think He might be teaching me how to pray and expect Him to answer me. To have faith, to have a REAL prayer life. Not a prayer life of "God thank you for this food, bless it to our bodies. Be with us today. Amen." No, not that, but a real prayer life where I can talk with Him and know He is listening to me. To have real faith - the kind of faith that the Bible says can move mountains. And believe me - raising over $25,000 for Dillon and I to go to China for about a month, and for me to be brave enough to go, would be moving mountains - at least in my books it is!

I promise I will gather info together for you all soon on the cord blood stem cells and put it in another post. I don't know how to end this post other than to say will you pray with me? Not only for the money to come in, and not just that we would see some real improvement in Dillon after the therapy, but also that my faith would grow in all this. That my life would be forever changed after seeing God work in such a might way.


Think BIG - Pray BIG - Rejoice BIG!