Update from Carrie

Hi all (including Europe, Finland, Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and of course the US!),

It's no wonder we are so well taken care of with all the prayer support we're receiving around the globe! God has been so very gracious to us.

So here's the story: Seth was pretty miserably sick over the weekend, with Saturday being the worst, but improving a bit each day from Sunday onward. When I called his pulmonologist on Tuesday to schedule a follow-up, it was just to be sure everything was okay, that the crisis was past, because Seth was acting a LOT better. He was crawling, playing, clapping, laughing, babbling, and deciding sleep was overrated (whereas before it seemed he woke up just long enough to cry and go back to sleep). They wanted to make his appointment for Thursday, but I had another appointment for the babies already scheduled on Thursday, so asked for an appointment yesterday even though it meant I would have to drive twice as far. Thank God for that! Who knows how bad he might have gotten overnight?

He went from having good oxygen saturation at home to poor saturations by the time we reached the doctor's office. The staff started rushing around, called in a nurse to listen to his lungs, she couldn't hear breath sounds on his left side (it was "very quiet"), so she called the doctor out of another patient's consultation, he came in and listened, noted Seth was working harder to breathe and was breathing shallower than normal, sent him for an x-ray, compared the x-ray to his x-rays taken the last time he was in the hospital, identified partial lung collapse and possible pneumonia on the left side (a lot worse than the last time we were admitted), got on the phone with the hospital and got him a room on the Pulmonology floor within half an hour. Whew!

There were absolutely no problems the entire process. The Lord really directed our paths and went ahead of us. And Seth, though tired and hungry, still acted fine. He was definitely more pale and breathing differently, but he didn't act distressed at all, thank God!

The doctor explained to me that Seth, while feeling so much better as he got over the respiratory virus, was falling farther and farther behind in being able to fill his lung with air, hence the collapsing. In addition, his viral infection seems to once again have paved the way for a secondary bacterial infection.

The pulmonologist said this has to stop. Seth can't keep getting one infection on top of another or his lungs won't have the chance to heal and grow. His issues are so interrelated: He needs to learn to take all his nourishment by mouth, but his lung illnesses make him feel weak and crummy, completely disinterested in food. He also vomits when he feels gross, so he can't keep in enough nutrients to grow, so his lungs too aren't able to heal and grow as they should. In order to avoid infections long enough to give Seth the time and growth he needs, we have to stop taking the babies to crowded public areas or any place like the church nursery or Bible Study Fellowship Children's Program (sob!). We also have to re-double our hand washing vigilance at home, especially Isaac when he comes from school.

In response to all your sweet concern, I am actually doing great. I got a good night's sleep with early morning help from sweet Sarah G., I have so many wonderful people stepping up once again to serve at home, and Nanny Sam (I love her, I love her, I love her!) stayed at the hospital all night. She's the one who most needs prayer. Seth didn't sleep well, which of course meant she didn't, and whenever Seth would finally fall asleep someone would come in for some test or procedure or treatment and wake him up!

Gavin comes home tonight! Praise God! He is so bummed all this has been going on while he's been gone, but The Lord has taken beautiful care of us and provided for all our needs. Gavin had a fabulous time reconnecting with friends in Papua New Guinea and is SO glad he didn't try to do the house move with our whole family there. It was quite the job, even working late into the night the last night with some of our best friends lending a hand. (Thanks, Metzgers and Smiths! We love you!)