She's GAINED

Laura weighed in at almost 10 pounds 3 ounces this morning which is a gain of nearly 3 ounces, and is the heaviest she's been yet!!! YAY!!!! Thank you Lord!

Hopefully we're going home in the next 2 hours.

Our New Schedule

Laura is doing well on her new feeding schedule. She has an NG tube now (nose to stomach) and takes her feeds that way. When weighed this morning, she had lost weight, but after a full day on her new schedule, we are hoping that tomorrow morning will show movement in the right direction!!! If so, we can go home tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers!

Update

Hi Everyone,

Laura had a video feed today in which they x-rayed her while eating. She passed with flying colors and therefore does not have any problems swallowing or getting her food to the right place.

We have a nutrition plan now and she'll need to have so many ounces every few hours. This means getting an NG tube (through the nose) to facilitate these feedings. We can't wait to see her put on weight and are praying for 10 ounces gain before surgery in three weeks.

Otherwise the hospital staff are terrific, life is a little boring in a hospital room, but we are thankful for many blessings.

Back to the Hospital

Despite our Herculean efforts over the past few days, Laura's weight has continued to decline. :( So, we are going to be admitted to Riley Hospital this afternoon to stay until they figure out how to help her continuously gain. Not sure if that will be 2-3 days or more. We'd appreciate your prayers!!!

Praying for Weight Gain

Well, Laura has put on one ounce in the last 2 weeks. While this is good news, the bad news is she has only put on that one ounce over all since the end of August. So much effort is put into getting her to eat, try to take a bottle, etc. each day. I would appreciate your prayers as it is hard for me to know she needs to put on weight before surgery and to not see it happening. Thanks for your prayers for us!

It's Friday

We've enjoyed two nature outings this week -- one to Eagle Creek Park and the other to the apple orchard. Lots of pictures to come, but here's a sweet one for today.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement. We're set with some meds to get the Grave's Disease under control and now need to see if there is any way to boost my immune system. My energy is taking a nose dive.

Fall is beautiful this week. I can't wait to show you my pictures. The temperature is warm and the sky bright blue. We're set with a bunch of apples. We devoured 1/2 bushel in one week so have come home with almost 1 1/2 bushels today. Maybe that will last us 3 weeks. My kids eat and eat.

It's back to soccer tomorrow with three games and one set of pictures. It will be a nonstop day from then on.

I must post about our state studies soon. We've been reading some great books.

Happy Weekend to you all!

When It Rains It Pours

Dear Friends:

Today I have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease: Grave's Disease. It is a thyroid problem that I am just beginning to learn about and it's not very exciting.

I have no idea what this is going to look like for daily life in the future. We won't find out about treatment plans until Thursday. I know it will involve a radical diet change, and most likely a period of rough times getting the thyroid medication balanced out.

I'm sure I'll look the same and have many days that really are the same. But, this is going to always be there in the shadows and I'm not sure yet of the effects.

I'm sad, but sure that this is God's plan for my life from here on out. It's just the newest way that I can submit to Him.

We would appreciate your prayers -- it does feel like a heavy load this fall.