Updates from the Home Front

It occured to me earlier today that I have made a number of statements and prayer requests, but have never followed up on the news to go along with them. So...here you go.

We had our check-up on Friday to make sure the girls were healing well after their bout with strep. Sure enough, their oxygen levels were perfect and the wheezing had stopped. We got instructions to continue with their Amoxicillan (since it seems they are not allergic to Penicillan-based drugs like their mommy is) and continue life as usual.

We did talk, though, about Faith's failure to gain weight. Right now, there is a larger discrepancy in the sizes of the two girls than there ever has been in the past: a full pound! Fully clothed, Faith weighed only 10 lbs, 7 oz.

Babies at this age should gain six to eight ounces per week and Faith has only gained seven ounces in three weeks.

Dr. Trexler didn't seem too concerned, but wanted me to start forifying Faith's breastmilk again in an effort to up her calorie count. Breastmilk is 20 calories per ounce and with fortifying, it becomes 22 calories per ounce. Two calories don't seem like much, but when you really don't do a whole lot more than just lie around all day, it makes a huge difference.

So we're back to buying Enfacare and putting measured amounts of it in Faith's breastmilk. Hopefully, this will do the trick and she will get chunky like her sister.

And in other news...

So many of you all have inquired about how my niece, Presley, is doing. The great news is she's doing fine. After an initial diagnosis of tubular sclerosis, ZZ took her to see many, many doctors to see how far the disease had reached in her body. An appointment with her neuorologist, though, brought an interesting turn of events -- it may not be TS after all.

It seemed that many of Presley's symptoms were more indicative of epilepsy than of TS. There's no denying that TS symptoms are present, but epilepsy seemed to be the prevailing concern.

So a 24-hour EEG was done on Presley to determine what kind of activities were going on in that noggin of hers. She was hooked up to a machine with a zillion little wires attached to her head. She had to sit in bed for 24 fulls hours, getting up only to go to the bathroom (for which she still had to be attached to the machine, meaning ZZ had to carry all of the wires for her!). She was also videotaped for the entire 24 hours, to monitor any physical correlations with any seizures that were recorded.

Can you appreciate what it must have been like to have a four-year-old stuck in bed for 24 hours? It wasn't pretty...

A few days later, though, Z and Presley saw their neurologist and he confirmed it: While it may be TS, it's more likely epilepsy. They just can't ignore the epileptic-type sympoms she has.

They will continue to test and monitor for TS, which could rear its ugly head at any time. But epilepsy, especially juvenile epilepsy, is much preferred over TS. Praise God!

You can keep up with Presley on her CaringBridge Web Site.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for Presley and inquired about her health. Once again, God has shown His mercy.

During her stay, Presley was given a very special hat, made by a local ministry, to help keep her from fidgeting with her cranial connections and to make her smile. I couldn't resist taking a photo.