Transported to UAB

Psalm 71:20-21

20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

Emily was transported to UAB in Birmingham yesterday. She started taking a downward turn on Friday and the doctors in Lubbock felt that she needed to be moved. She started swelling up a lot and they were not quite sure of the cause. Em has a blood clot in her arm due to the pic line that she has had for awhile and that is a possible cause.

The plane arrived in Lubbock @ 5 AM and now that they are in Birmingham, they once again seem to have a better outlook for Emily. I have not been able to connect with Jason yet but Stephanie (Emily's Mom) believes that the outlook is much better and positive than it has been over the last 48 hours or so and that Jason does not think it will be as long and drawn out as earlier this year with the Swine Flu. Jason's Dad and I believe his brother too are in Birmingham with Jason.

Em is still sedated but she was at a 1 on sedation and her vent settings were low...50% oxygen and 3 PEEP. This is good. She is maintaining good oxygenation as well. Pray for her physically and that her numbers and stats would continue to improve.

As many of you know because of your faithful prayers for Emily, her bout with the Swine Flu and long recovery has been and is still in process. Her body has not recovered to where it was before and her mind, heart and spirit have suffered as well. Please continue to pray for her in all of these ways.

I'm reminded of a song we used to sing in our Student Ministry growing up. It's by Darrell Evans entitled Trading My Sorrows and is taken from 2 Corinthians 4. I would encourage all of you to read it. Here's a link: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor%204&version=NIV

I'm trading my sorrow
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

Chorus:
And we say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen

I'm pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength

Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning

:-(

Hey everybody, it's Emily T. I talked to Jason this evening after not hearing from Emily all day. Em was intubated at about 4:30pm this afternoon and placed on the ventilator. The consensus is that she is fighting pseudomonas (which she has fought many times before) and the unknown fungus they were looking into last week has been ruled out (a good thing). After she was moved to ICU earlier this week, she remained on 100% oxygen with a face mask and her saturations stayed in the low 90s. Today, her breathing became labored and her stats went down which led to being intubated. They have her sedated and although in typical Emily fashion, she has fought it some, they have been able to get her comfortable and she is resting.

Please continue to pray for her body to fight off the infection, that this time on the ventilator will allow her to rest, and for Jason and the family to have strength and energy to fight along with her.

Against all Hope, Abraham in Hope Believed

This is going to be brief because I need to rest but we had quite a scare last night as my oxygen continued to drop and I couldn't breath and had lots of pain. They quickly moved me to ICU and tried to calm me down because I thought I was going to have a panic attack. The doctors said they didn't want to antedate me again but if I continued falling they would need too. As tears ran down my face, I could only think of this verse in Romans 4:18~ Against all Hope, Abraham in hope believe and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him.
..............Being fully persuaded that God and power to do what He had promised". Romans 4:21
Hope was not looking very bright for me last night but I just kept thinking if Abraham found hope in Christ when there was no hope then I too need to trust in that same hope.

I'm on high oxygen right now but my stats are staying up right now and I got some rest today. I'm still pretty sick but we just need to take one day one step at a time. Try to write tomorrow and give an update. We continue to need your prayers.........thanks!

The Buddies

Maggie has now found her favorite sleeping spot......up the first flight of stairs and lays around at the top. I think she feels powerful because you can't really see her but she can watch all that is going on in the house hold. Looks like the Queen on her throne. =) Of course, Faith loves to go snuggle and kiss Maggie and so here is a picture of a typical day for the two, laying around at the top of the stairs.

We are not bored......what would give you that idea?!

Health update~ Pseudomonas has grown from the samples they took, which wasn't surprising but there are 4 different strands of pseudomonas and they are not sure which one I have at this time. I'm feeling a tad better today but still have a ways to go. I pray the medicines I am on now will be the right ones to fight the strand I have. Thanks for your prayers....

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him

It's been a rough 48 hours as I can't even get out of bed to walk to the restroom without dipping into the low 80's with my oxygen. I've got quite a bit of pain as well. So far everything that they have tested for (samples from the bronch) have come back negative which is a good thing yet not a good thing at the same time. They believe it is still a pneumonia and so I'm on 1 antibiotic and a couple of inhalation meds. So not much has changed but we continue to pray the Lord will give the doctor's wisdom to know how best to treat this infection. So far nothing seems to have worked and I've gotten worse the past couple of days. Not sure how long I will be in the hospital although I know I won't be going home this weekend. As you think of us in your prayers please not only pray for physical healing but emotional strength. It's hard to describe your emotions when you live with a terminal illness and when you are tired physically you can't help but feel beaten up emotionally. Pray for Jason has he has so much on his plate and I feel like he never really gets a break. I will be the first to say I don't understand God's ways but He calls me to trust Him and so that is what I'm trying to do. As long as Peter focused on Christ he could walk on water, it was when he let the circumstances around him become more important then focusing on Christ did he begin to sink. Though I continue to walk through the storm of physical trails I pray the Lord will help me stay focused on Him and not the uncertainties that surround me. We appreciate all the prayers and encouragement you give. Thanks!

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3

It's a waiting game

Well they did the bronchoscopy yesterday but of course it is too early to tell anything for sure. My doctor said that he could tell there was some kind of infection going on though. However, like most bronchs in the past it has left me feeling even worse today (a lot more pain, very short of breath and I was coughing up some blood this morning). I try not to dwell on all the what-ifs and the fact that I'm not getting better but right now we just don't know a whole lot. I've been praying that the Lord, who sees all and knows all would help bring to light what we need to know to hopefully treat it. Even though my doctor's are puzzled, I know nothing is hidden from the Lord and so I just pray He will give them the wisdom to know which path to take.

I keep up with another CF girl (http://livinglifebreathlessly.blogspot.com) who got a transplant almost 2 years ago and her most recent post she talked about being admitted to the hospital and that it had been the first time she was back in the hospital since transplant (2 yrs). First of all I am so happy for her and amazed at how well she has done but it is also hard to understand why some do really well after transplant and for others it continues to be a daily battle.

Faith enjoys being at the hospital especially when the hospital dogs come around to brighten up the patients. You know how much she loves dogs so she was beside her self having 3 dogs in the room. She kept saying,"they are soooo cute! They want to kiss me!" She thinks every dog should be her best friend. =)

Hanging on.....

Once again I apologize for not staying in better touch, one of my excuses is that AT&T can not get their act together and get us going with our Internet so I've been going over to my sister in-laws house to check my e-mail. Besides that our life has been very busy crazy with Christmas, 4 birthdays, family staying at our house during Christmas and trying to get settled into our new house. Our Christmas was a very nice one and it was a breath of fresh air to be able to spend it with all our family and not in the hospital. However, I am back in the hospital this week. I've never really felt better since my last visit to the hospital and I've just continued to get worse. I'm coughing a lot, shortness of breath and pain in my chest. They think they might have found a fungus in my lungs but they are also not sure if it is really effecting me. The treatment to help this fungus is very toxic and hard on the liver and kidneys so they don't want to do the treatment unless they have a better understanding of how it might be effecting me. They plan to do another bronchoscopy tomorrow but as of right now they don't have any answers for the way I'm feeling. It's been frustrating and discouraging as I feel like I am back to where I was before transplant. I'm not sure if the H1N1 has damaged my lungs permanently or if this is something I can get over. I'm not sure what God's plan is in all of this and we just continue to ask for wisdom and grace. Please pray we would have peace and joy in this situation. Thanks...

Ok, on to more interesting news..........
I thought I would share Faith's most recent adventure..........hanging on.....at least to the garage door! The other day we were headed out and as we walked to the car to load up I pushed the garage door button to open it and walked around the car. Faith ran the other way around the car and before I got to the car door she began to scream! I had no idea what had happened so I rushed to the back of the car and couldn't believe what I saw! My daughter had grabbed the garage door and it had pulled her up and she was hanging in mid-air. She was not about to let go and her little hands were hurting from holding on. I grabbed her and after comforting her began to explain that we never do that because you will fall not to mention could break the door! So now every time we go into the garage she says, "I have to be careful of the garage." I'm just glad it was our 8 ft high door and not the middle door that is 14 feet high!

Also, we ended 2009 with a bang! I'm so proud of Jason and Brandon (my brother in-law) for working so hard to meet their goal in the Chick-Fil-A business. We are ranked the #1 Chick-Fil-A in the chain! We had the strangest Christmas because it snowed (we never get snow around Christmas) for several days and it really killed our sales so we weren't sure if we were going to make the goal but somehow by God's grace the last two days of December we were busy crazy and made it! Very proud of them!!!

Well, I promise I'll get a picture up soon of our house but we have really enjoyed it and it's more then I deserve or could hope for. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that 2010 has started out on a good foot for you.

Going Home

I'm getting out of the hospital today! I'm still not where I need to be but I can do my IVs and treatments at home..............our new home! I still appreciate your prayers as I continue to try to get well but very thankful to be going home.

We also have some other great news. Brandon and Christie (my brother & sister in-law) were able to finally adopt Georgia (Sissy)! It's been quite a journey trying to keep her but we are so thankful the Lord provided the way for her to officially be apart of our family! Georgia and Faith sure are good buddies so it's a huge blessing to have a good cousin close in age. Our new house is right by Brandon & Christies so I'm sure they will be playing all the time now. =) We love you, Georgia!!

Success

Thanks for your prayers......they were able to get the PICC in! The PICC sure saves me from lots of sticks! I'm going to really try to get out tomorrow and go home on IVs, I'm hopeful my doctor will agree. Yes, Katey my doctor here wants me to get a port but they won't do it while I'm sick so I have to get over this and then I'll come in to get one put in. Most people are surprised that I don't have one but it's only because I've never wanted one and held out this long but with being in the hospital so often it probably is the right step to take. Anyway, thank you again for your prayers and I'll let you know what the plans are for going home.

Pray for success with PICC

It looks like I will continue my hospital stay possibly through the weekend. I'm feeling a little better but not a huge improvement right now. Also my veins are pretty used up and my arms are sore and black and blue due to all the IVs this week so I think they are going to try to put in a PICC line because I'm running out of options for an IV access. As you know it's never easy to put IVs or PICC lines in so I would really appreciate your prayers for that. I'm not sure when they will be trying to get one in today but I'm hopeful it is soon as I haven't had a working IV since 5 this morning. I am so ready to be home and I'm hopeful that if they can get this PICC in then I can go home on IVs.



Please continue to pray for my sweet hubby as he has so much on his plate right now. Our CFA store is trying to hit our goal of 6 million (we would be the first store to accomplish this). So between trying to work at the store, living between houses, caring for Faith (our family is helping a lot with her) and me and finishing little things on the new house, it getting to be a little overwhelming.

Thanks for your prayers and I'll let you know how today goes.