Month: April 2008

Hello Everyone

Just a quick update; Mandy is doing ok. She is still at the hospital. The doctors are waiting for the all of the testing results to come in. Apparently they actually have to collect samples and let them grow for a period of time to see if there is any kind of bacteria in there. They then should be able to identify what kind it is. They have already started her on antibiotics, so they should have a head start. They also did an MRI, but are still waiting for the official results.

Once these tests are complete, we will have a better idea of what kind of bug she is fighting. She is definitely fighting something. She was running a fever during the day shift. So that’s where we are at this point.

Teresa and I have learned a lot during this process about waiting on the Lord. With all of the different things that we have been through, we stopped asking the question, “when? “and started asking instead “What’s next?” How similar to our Christian walk. God doesn’t operate in our time. Instead he has his time frame. When we give up our preconceived notions about how long something should take and instead start trusting God and waiting on him to act, then it’s amazing how things start to work out. We cannot drop our guard though. Like Jesus said watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. We must continue watching and waiting for our Lord to achieve victory for us. Another scripture that deals with this Is come to me ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But that rest starts with trust. Trusting him that everything is going to be ok, and that he will work everything out for our good.

Thank You again for all of the prayers. God is answering them. Have no doubt of that.

Love in Christ
Michael and Teresa Blaes

PS. Please feel free to share your thoughts by clicking the comment link below, even if you disagree with me. We would love to hear your insight and experiences.

PPS. If you have any prayer requests, please leave these as well.

Hey Guys

I have a major update……

Mandy is not doing too well today. We just got a call from the nurse, She was running a low grade fever Monday, and her oxygen stats dropped so they put her back on oxygen, and ran some blood tests. The results came back today, and she has some kind of bacterial infection in her blood. They don’t know what kind, it will take a few more days to find out what. She had also had an abscess on her tummy that tested positive for MRSA, which is a Staph infection that is resistant to Antibiotics.

So they have decided to transfer her back to the hospital in the PCTICU which is where she was before. They have to install a Pic Line and re-run all of the tests. It feels like a bit of  a setback She was doing so well. We saw the cardiac doctor Monday, and her heart is doing well. She still has two small holes in the heart, but the doctors expect these to close on her own. She was supposed to be transferred to the long term care facility today, so that we could go through the more intensive phase of our training of how to take care of her.  Obviously that’s not going to happen right away.

The thing that really stinks about this is that her insurance would help us with transportation to the hospital for training, but not for visiting her. So we are back to the whole trying to get around thing. We will make do, but it is pretty frustrating, not to mention expensive.

We will keep you informed as things develop. I know God has his hand in this

Love in Christ
Michael and Teresa Blaes

PS. Please feel free to share your thoughts by clicking the comment link below.

Hi Everyone,

I have another quick update. Mandy is doing really well. She is growing, wiggling, moving, crying etc just like normal baby does. I love saying that. There for a while it was touch and go. Many of our supporters around us were trying to prepare us for the worst, while hoping for the best. But when you are a follower of Christ, surrendered to his lordship, how can you possibly lose. We made the choice early on to totally give Mandy’s life and care over to God, and to take our hands off completely. It was easier than I expected. There is something about resting in your creator’s arms know that regardless of what is going to happen. He has everything under control and is working it all out for your good and his glory. I repeat, when you are in that position how can you possibly lose. Im reminded of one of my favorite scriptures.

All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28

So what our adversary means for evil and our destruction, God will turn the situation for our good. Glory to God! Thank You Jesus!

Forgive me for getting a little preachy. My heart is just overflowing with love for my heavenly father.

We spent a couple of hours at the hospital last night, working with Mandy. I changed her diaper, checked her temperature and cleaned the area around her G-Tube. I held her for a little bit until she started crying. I heard a little congestion, so I suctioned her, but she wouldn’t settle down., Then we realized that she was hungry, just like a normal baby, even though she doesn’t eat by mouth. We set up her feed, and she settled down and fell fast asleep.

You may be saying to yourself “Duh” but you have to understand that for most of her life she was fed through an IV or Nasal Gastric Tube. Most of the time she was heavily sedated, so we didn’t get to see her reaction. She just lay there and pooped, and slept. So it is so cool to see her express her needs. I learned some new things last night as well, including how to give her medication through the G-Tube.

Here are the plans for the next couple of weeks. Mandy has 3 Doctor’s appointments, and if everything goes well, she will be transferred to the long term care facility on the 23^rd. It will take a few weeks to get all of the resources in place, including home nursing, respite, etc. After that she will come home. I’m glad we have some more time to work with her, learn the skills that we need to know to take care of her, and get things ready here at the house. We have most of what we need, We just have to get it organized a little better.

Thanks for all the prayers,

Love in Christ
Michael and Teresa Blaes

PS. Please feel free to share your thoughts by clicking the comment link below.

Hey Guys,

It has been a really busy week and this has been my first chance to write an update. I apologize for that.

Mandy is doing great! She is growing like a little weed. It seems like every time that I hold her she is getting bigger. One really cool thing happened yesterday; I put Mandy in a swing for the first time. I wasn’t sure how she would react. At first she was a little fussy, and then she settled down and fell asleep. It was so cool to watch her doing something a “normal” baby would do. It is starting t feel like we are reaching the end of this part of the journey and getting reading to begin the next.

I have learned how to take out and replace her trach. It’s not as hard as I thought it would be. It is a little unnerving though, knowing that you have to get it back in place fairly quickly because it is her only way to breathe.

The doctors are weaning her off of the last of her pain medications, and the oxygen. If everything goes as planned, she will be weaned off about 10 days from now. Then they will want to watch her for a few more days and make sure that she is doing ok. After that she will probably be transferred to another facility.

Teresa and I want to make sure that all of the support Mandy needs will be in place, including equipment, long term care, home nursing etc. It will take 3-4 weeks to get everything into place. And the process cannot begin until after Mandy is discharged. So based on everything, it will probably about the first of June before she comes home.

Teresa and I are totally comfortable with the time table. We have some work to do to get ready ourselves, including taking CPR classes. Also we need to be completely confident with all the aspects of her care. We are still a little nervous about some things, especially the trach care. I for one want to do the change a few more times under supervision before I will totally comfortable with it.

Thank You for all your prayers and comments. They mean a great deal to us. It seems like just about the time that things get difficult, someone posts an encouraging comment.

Love in Christ
Michael and Teresa Blaes

PS. Feel free to share your thoughts by clicking the comments link below.