Evangeline was able to return home last evening!  We are thrilled to have her back with the whole family.  She has continued to do well on her treatment plan and slept pretty well overnight.  

As life starts to return to “normal” I would ask that you keep her and our entire family in your prayers.  Of course, there is a tremendous amount of illness all around and we desire to do our best to protect Evangeline without operating out of fear.  We believe God is in control and taking care of her and us. 

Mom could also use your prayers as well since she bears much of the weight of caring for Evangeline on a day to day basis.  As you may imagine, hospital stays are very draining for her.  Please pray that we can help her to get some rest and refreshment over the next few days before the new year starts.

Thank you so much for all your prayers!  We deeply appreciation your care for our family.  

The last 24 hours for Evangeline have been very good as she is trending in the right direction.  Her aspirational pneumonia is responding to treatment, and we are hopeful that she will be able to come home tomorrow.

Yesterday was a a bit of a roller coaster, so we are glad to see the current trend.  She woke up after a good night and seemed to be in good spirits.  Then she took a turn for the worse as the pneumonia flared up.  The effects of the illness hit her fast and hard.  In the afternoon, the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) doctor came to visit her because it looked imminent that she was going to have to move to his floor for additional care.  By that time she had received some antibiotics but extra seizures had left her tired and unable to give a strong cough.  During the doctor’s visit, Evangeline repositioned herself and coughed.  It turned out to be exactly what she needed!!  After observing this, the doctor had the medical team reduce her oxygen and her numbers held stable.  Since that time she has steadily improved.  It seems to be the Lord’s hand at work!

Thank you for your prayers.  We appreciate your love and care for us and Evangeline.  Please keep praying that she will continue to improve – the rest of the family is anxious to have Mom and Evangeline home!

Yesterday was a relatively good day because the whole family got to go up to the hospital and visit Mom and Evangeline.  We enjoyed spending time together even though it wasn’t exactly the Christmas for which we had hoped.

Overnight Evangeline did well and we were all hopeful that today would be the day that she would get to come home.  Unfortunately, this morning has not gone as planned.  Upon awakening Evangeline seemed agitated and Mom thought maybe it was due to her being ready to come home.  But, as the agitation continued and seizures occurred, it appears that other factors may be at work.  Based on her physical symptoms, and a recent lung x-ray, the doctors are concerned that she may have developed aspirational pneumonia.  This is always a danger for Evangeline because of muscle weakness in her upper chest and neck.

At this time the plan is to begin treatment for pneumonia with antibiotics and increased respiratory therapy.  Evangeline is currently on the regular care floor but her oxygen needs are near the max they can offer.  There is a potential that if she does not respond to these treatments as quickly as the doctors would like, or if her need for nursing attention increases that she would have to move to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. 

Thank you for your words of encouragement and prayers for our family!! We sincerely appreciate them.  Please pray that Evangeline would respond to these treatments and the pneumonia would not progress. 

A couple weeks ago Evangeline got a cold.  As she was finishing up with the cold, she got hit with a 12-hour stomach bug that saw her unable to keep anything down, including seizure meds.  This all led to a significant amount of seizure activity.  ‘

Last Sunday we determined that we thought she may be okay to travel for our Christmas trip.  After arriving at our destination Evangeline did not have a good day.  We administered some rescue medication that we hoped would help her through the difficulties.   The medication improved her condition making Tuesday and Wednesday good days.  However, Wednesday evening the problems returned.  Early Thursday morning we decided we needed to return home to be close to our preferred hospital. 

This roller coaster of events culminated in a trip to the Emergency Room this morning.  The doctors administered heavy doses of medication to stop the seizure state that had overtaken our precious little one.  This evening Mom and Evangeline are settled in with the doctors monitoring to see how she responds. 

While this is not the Christmas we expected, and it is difficult to have Mom and Evangeline in the hospital, we still celebrate Jesus as the reason for this holiday.  We appreciate your prayers for our family during this time.