Saturday, March 28, 2009

Finally...an update.  

What a week. We went from high, high emotions on Tuesday night...Great excitement and celebration...to Wednesday.

We slept so well Tuesday night. The boys, however, didn't sleep so well. We let them play in their beds though. The thought is that they need to learn our schedule and get acclammated as quickly as possible. So we got up Wednesday morning and I went to the doctor first thing to get my diagnosis of double pneumonia. Continued on my meds and started feeling better after several breathing treatments and some amazing antibiotics. And some cough syrup with codiene. (In fact the doc said not to tell anyone I had it or someone might steal it...so if it comes up missing, I'll find you. :-) ).

Anyway, Tuesday night when I got in and saw Eli, he was white as a ghost and his lips, tongue and nailbeds were white. That's not a good sign. I thought at that moment that he looked like someone with Leukemia (not that he had it, just that he looked like someone who did). Wednesday morning, he looked the same. Mary and I decided that the needed to see the doctor.

So the doc took one look and sent him for a CBC test because he was obviously (to the doc) severely anemic. The lab didn't even believe the results could be right but they were. His hemoglobin level was 3.0 (should be 11-15). The doc said he must get to the hospital because he could go into heart failure at any time. Also, he mentioned that this was either indicative of internal bleeding or leukemia. So from high excitement of being together again after 6 weeks to complete terror and fear (not lack of trust in God).

The call went out to pray and we began getting messages from all over the world that people were praying and were spreading the word to others. There is power when God's people pray. On behalf of Eli and our family, I say THANK YOU for praying. I'll let you know the answered prayers in a moment.

Eli began receiving transfusions Wednesday evening and they went on through the night and on Thursday. His hemoglobin level rose slowly but steadily. The possible diagnosis changed to either TEC (see a couple of posts ago for an explanation) or Leukemia. The only way to know for sure was to have a bone marrow biopsy but he was not yet strong enough for that so it was postponed to Friday.

Friday morning, Eli's level was at 8.6 and he was our normal Eli again. Happy, laughing, playing, eating.

Before the doc did the biopsy, he let us know that he was pretty sure that this was TEC and that he would recover fully! We were guardedly excited. About an hour after the biopsy procedure, Eli was on his way home. While Mary was waiting on valet parking to find the car, the doctor ran into her downstairs and told us the GREAT NEWS! The bone marrow was perfect and there was NO DOUBT that he did NOT have leukemia. So that means it's TEC. 100% recovery rate. Usually, it takes from weeks to a year for the body to begin producing new red blood cells and most people have to continue having transfusions periodically until that happens. But God had another plan. The doc told us that according to the results of the biopsy, Eli has ALREADY BEGUN PRODUCING NEW CELLS ON HIS OWN!!!! Now that's an answer to prayer! That's the power of God!!! We are so grateful to God that we caught this and that it turned out the way it has. I don't know why God chose to do this, especially right now, but we are so thankful that we can trust Him even when we don't understand.

Here's a couple of other things to be thankful for. TEC is a VERY GRADUAL problem and Eli has probably not been producing blood cells for 5-6 months. Everyone around him was surprised to find out this had happened because they had not seen any signs. The hospital staff told us that caregivers rarely see it happening and it's caught only when other problems pop up and the child is taken to the doctor and the color change is rarely noticed first. But think about this...we hadn't SEEN Eli in 6 weeks so the change over the last 6 weeks was immediately seen by us so we were able to get him help before permanent damage was done. For that we are so thankful. Not only did our trip save the lives of 2 Ukrainian boys, it, at least, saved Eli from heart damage or brain damage and at most, saved his life. God's timing is impeccable. He is SO AMAZING!!!!!!

We simply cannot explain the feelings we have had this last few days or the range of emotions we have experienced. BUT, we can tell you that we trust our Father regardless. He IS faithful. He IS trustworthy. He IS sovereign.

Thank You, Father, for all You've done. Thank you, friends, for your persistent prayers.

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord!

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