NICU Day 123 ~ (April 20th)

~All dressed up for the trip home!!~

 After all the confusion on Thursday, I was fully prepared for a lengthy discharge process on Friday; but it was not necessary.  With one signature, a change of outfits, and the packing of a just a few items, we were out the door and on our way home!! 

~"Thank you for taking care of me!"~

We said good bye to her nurses, a couple of which had been her nurses the first time she was here in February.  She was only half her current size at that time (less than 2 lbs.), so they had enjoyed seeing how much she had grown in the previous 2 months.

~Final Goodbyes~

We did get stopped quite often on our way out due to her little tutu and headband, custom made by our sweet friend, Emily Curtis (http://www.etsy.com/shop/EmmysBB).

~Ready for the ride home~

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip home, knowing that our precious bundle was in the backseat sleeping contentedly.  She is now settling back into her own surroundings, and we are loving being mobile and able to carry her around home without being attached to machines.  While I would never wish the ER experience on her again, we are incredibly grateful for the way God orchestrated the surgeon He desired to perform the surgery, our neonatologist Dr. Tatum to be on service, and the ability for her to come off her oxygen.  In the end, it made this last week worth it and allows us to remove that surgery from the list of things to still be performed. 

~This one is a little fuzzy but too cute not to share.  Happy to be home!!~

We were very aware of your constant love and prayers this past week and thank you for your persistence in prayer on our behalf.  We look forward to sharing more milestones in Noelle's life in the days to come.

***Again, now that we are home, I will post only once or twice a week as we settle into a new routine and enjoy time together as a family***

NICU Day 122 ~ (April 19th)

Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding with the changeover in medical staff, we were unable to bring Noelle home today.  We finally were able to sort everything out and get everyone on the same page this afternoon, but by then they had already decided to monitor her for another 24 hours on her feeds to be sure she is tolerating them well.  While it is disappointing in some respects, we are thankful that it means another 24 hours of monitoring on room air, making it a full 48 hours before she comes home without her oxygen.  We look forward to tomorrow and bringing our little girl home to enjoy both day and night!!

NICU Day 121 ~ (April 18th)

~Can you see what is missing?!!!~

Noelle made huge strides today and even set some new milestones in her little life.  She did so well through yesterday and last night that they decided to remove the replogle tube and allow her to begin eating again, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  Of course she does not understand why she has not been allowed to eat, and so she holds the bottle in her mouth as if you will never ever feed her again!!  The term in the NICU for not being allowed to eat is "N-P-O" {which is an abbreviation for a latin term}, and so the standing joke is that she will probably always greatly dislike those letters for some "odd" reason. She has lost some weight, which is typical of going through surgery and not eating for a few days; but she is already eating like a champ and should be back up to that 4 lb. mark in no time.  The surgeon was also able to perform her {quite painless} biopsy for Hirschsprung disease so we should have some results back in a couple of weeks.   However, the best part of today and the biggest answer to prayer is that Noelle has come off her oxygen support entirely and is breathing room air!!  Overnight they had been able to wean her down to the levels on which she had been while at home {which was an extremely low flow}; so today they decided to do a trial run on room air and see how she did.  We began the trial at 11:30a.m., and she is still going strong and doing extremely well.  Her cannula came out a few hours after that, so she is one happy girl with nearly everything gone from her face; and we are thoroughly enjoying looking at her tiny face with nothing sticking to it!!  She still has an IV heplock in her head which they will remove once they are certain she is tolerating her feeds well and no longer in need of any fluids, which should be within the next 24 hours.  Tomorrow will be the day we find out if she is coming home in the afternoon or if they are keeping her one more night for observation.  Either decision is fine with us at this point, but we are getting very excited to have her home with us again.  We have missed having her here {well, the few hours we are here each night anyway!} and are looking forward to settling into what we hope will be a semi-normal lifestyle for a while.  Thank you so much for continuing to pray for her.  I really do not think we would be where we are today without the prayers of so many faithful believers.  God has been amazing in how He has moved so many to lift our precious little girl up in prayer to Him, and we are ever grateful for how He has used such a vast multitude of people in the life of our little family.  Thank you for sharing in our extreme joy tonight, and we very soon look forward to reporting another sweet home coming day.

NICU Day 120 ~ (April 17th)

~Enjoying time with Daddy~

Today was a fairly uneventful and boring day as NICU days go, and we are grateful for it.  Noelle has not progressed quite as fast as we thought she would; but she is doing well and making good strides, and we would rather she take them more slowly and do well rather than rush the healing process and consequently have a setback at a later time.  She still was not allowed to eat today; however, by the end of the evening, her bowel sounds were returning which means that things are "waking up" and beginning to work again.  Hopefully this means that we can start feeding her again tomorrow, and we're praying that she tolerates her feeds well.  Since she is currently in the NICU, the surgeon has decided to go ahead and proceed with the Hirschsprung biopsy and put that behind us.  He would have performed it during the surgery she had Saturday night; but pathology does not work on the weekends, and they have to perform some immediate tests on the sample.  Lord willing, in a few weeks we will have an answer to some of our questions.  We were told today that this biopsy is not 100% conclusive and could be repeated again at a later time if issues continue to arise, but we will simply keep taking the information as we receive it and handle it accordingly under the current circumstances. Noelle also weaned well on her oxygen today and my hopes are up that she will be able to come off of it completely before coming home.  If not, then we are happy to keep her on it as long as is necessary, but it would be wonderful for her to come home oxygen free {at least when she is awake!  Some babies need it for a period of time only for sleeping}.  I had the opportunity to hold her for a couple of hours which was a sweet relief after empty arms for the past few days!!  Thank you so much for praying specifically for Noelle and her healing as she seems to be doing well with the pain overall unless moved around too much.  We thank God for another good day and look forward to reporting more progress tomorrow.

NICU Day 119 ~ (April 16th)

~Noelle after waking up tonight~

Today was a long day but it ended well, and we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel in this bump in the road.  We walked into rounds this morning with who else but Dr. Tatum, and we were incredibly comforted and relieved to have him looking after Noelle today as he knows her so incredibly well.  The day started off slow with little change from yesterday.  Noelle rested very well and would open her eyes from time to time to acknowledge our presence but still seemed quite out of it and not really herself.  They continued to wean her ventilator settings but it was looking as if it would be tomorrow before anything major would happen as far as extubation.  However, around 8:00 this evening, she fully awakened to an alert state and made it clear that she was ready for that tube to come out!

~Getting ready to extubate~

She was breathing extremely well over the ventilator and was making a concerted effort get the tube out herself.  After running a breathing test, they determined that she was indeed ready and the tube came out, and she was put back onto the nasal cannula with oxygen flow.

~It's out!!~

 She still has a replogle tube down her throat to draw any air off her stomach while it is still recovering from the surgery, but we're thankful to have the breathing tube out and see her getting back to her normal self.

~Happy Girl!!~

She was alert and awake for quite some time, and her nurse gave us a mobile which Tom set up for her to watch and listen to while we are gone tonight.

~Watching and listening to her new mobile~

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our sweet little girl.  Our prayer now is for her stomach to "wake up" from the anesthesia and things to start moving through so we can begin feeding her again.  It looks as if Thursday will probably be the earliest day which we come home, but we'll continue to take it one day at a time and not rush the process.   We want her to be fully ready and possibly even weaned off the oxygen completely.  We look forward to another good report full of progress tomorrow!!

NICU Day 118 ~ (April 15th)

Yes, you read the title correctly, and we are counting NICU days again as Noelle had emergency surgery last night and was readmitted into the NICU at Baptist for recovery.  She is doing well overall, but the last 30+ hours have been quite the ride, and this post will be a little lengthy in catching up the details.  I have debated many times in my mind as to how much I should share, but ultimately we desire for people to pray specifically for Noelle and hope that these details will fade in people's minds as she grows old enough to understand herself all that has happened these first several months in her life. 

~The sweet baby cupcakes that Travis & Tawn made for our baby shower~

 Yesterday began with the joyous occasion of a baby shower for Noelle at the generosity of sweet friends from our church family, and I enjoyed a wonderful time with many of the women in our church while Tom stayed home with Noelle.

~Four Generations~

We then said "see you later" to my mom who had been able to visit while  out here for an event in Greenville, SC.  My grandparents had also come over for the morning so my grandma could attend the baby shower, so we were able to get some special pictures before everyone left.

~My grandparents & Noelle's great grandparents~

~Our little family~

Soon after that, we headed up to the NICU at Forsyth to deliver leftover cupcakes, to visit, and to also have Noelle's nurses check out her inguinal hernias.  Before we had been discharged on April 2nd, they had taught me how to reduce her hernias and what to watch in regards to them.  Last Thursday we saw a surgeon who was unable to reduce her hernia for the first time.  I had not had any issues prior but we left with the instructions to let her know if it still was not reducing in a few days.  I knew what else to watch from the Forsyth nurses, so when it started turning pink on Friday night and even more red on Saturday, it was time to get it seen.  We received confirmation on Saturday afternoon when her nurses took one look at it and told us to go get it checked out, thus beginning our "bump in the road" of the last 30+ hours.

~Waiting in our triage room in the ER~

We arrived at the children's hospital ER around 6:00p.m. and while we spent some time waiting through the next six hours, the majority of the period was involved with evaluations and many attempts to reduce the hernia.  Finally, after a combined effort on the part of several doctors and the pediatric surgeon, they determined that they had no recourse but to proceed with emergency surgery.  The concern was that something was caught {often intestine}, and when it reaches the point which Noelle's had, it usually means something has been compromised.  She went into surgery at approximately midnight and was out of surgery and into recovery in the NICU within 2 1/2 hours.  The surgery went well overall, but they did discover that one of her ovaries and fallopian tubes had been caught and twisted in the hernia and had died, requiring removal.  While the results saddened us, it honestly was good news in light of the entire picture and all the possibilities that had been present.  Had it involved compromised intestine, the surgery would have been much more difficult and the recovery much longer.  Her body should adapt and operate very well with only the one ovary, and we are very thankful for God's guidance and protection through the process.

~Noelle recovering after surgery~

We were able to see her shortly after she was admitted into the NICU, and it was heartbreaking to see her tiny body after so many hours of trauma.  She was extremely pale and still under the influence of the anesthesia, but she did hold onto our fingers and showed faint signs of her normal self. 

~Holding onto Daddy's finger~

~Holding onto Mommy's finger~

We went home and slept for a few hours before heading back up to the hospital and were encouraged to see more signs of improvement as the afternoon progressed.  They expect her to be extubated sometime tonight or early tomorrow, and we hope to be home by Wednesday at the latest.  Ultimately, we know that God had this timing already planned and had everything in place for her to receive the care He desired on this specific day.  We knew she would eventually need this surgery, we had just planned for it several months down the road and were not expecting this to happen in the manner that it did.  Still, we are very grateful that we can "check this off the list" of things to be accomplished in Noelle's tiny life and pray that she will recover quickly and be back to her normal self.

Tonight, she looked much better than she did nearly 24 hours previously, and we cannot thank you enough for your continued prayers.  Our biggest concern right now is her breathing and the need to come off of the ventilator as soon as possible.  She already has CLD {chronic lung disease}, and each day on the ventilator only adds to the issues with her lungs.  We will continue with daily updates while she is in the NICU and look forward to the day we can again bring her home.  Thank you so much for you continued love and support and your faithful prayers before the throne of grace.  God has been faithful to see us to this day and will not leave us for one moment of this process.  We are ever grateful that He holds our days in His loving hands.

NICU Day 75 ~ (February 20th)

Wow.  Day 75.  If I had one word to sum it up, it would be "weary."  This past week has been the longest yet, outside of the week Noelle was so sick with her heart issues.  We have sincerely tried our hardest to adapt to our new surroundings and deal with her current situation as best as possible, but it seems that circumstances happen almost each day that make us anxious to get back to Forsyth.  Of course none of this is intentional, and all of the individual people which we have met or worked with here are really nice, but when it comes to your baby, "unintentional" just is not okay.  Everything should be done intentionally and should be closely watched.  The NICU is a field where human error just is not and cannot be tolerated like it might be in other fields.  Today, it was an infiltrated IV, and I cry every time I see her poor little arm, swollen to twice its normal size.

~Poor Little Swollen Arm~

Of course some of these things "just happen" at times, but often (like today), they could have been avoided had things been watched more closely or done differently.  So please pray for us as we talk with our neonatologist tomorrow about transferring back to Forsyth and having her monitored from there.  The same opthamologist would be examining her eyes in either place, and although it would mean a transfer back if for some reason she needed a repeat surgery, this seems less traumatic to us in light of the entire picture.  Please pray for gracious spirits and wisdom as we seek to have our tiny daughter in the best place possible for her care and growth.  Is God still sovereign over all that has happened?  Yes indeed.  However, that does not mean we have to stand idly by and let "whatever" take place.  I especially hate being put into positions to deal with things like this, but I am beginning to learn what the term "mother bear" means, and while we do not like the position, we will do whatever necessary to insure the best possible situation for Noelle.  Thankfully, God already knows what will happen tomorrow and how this will play out, and we can continue to rest in Him.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

NICU Day 74 ~ (February 19th)

While we would not term today as "rough", it certainly was not an "easy" day in the NICU.  When we called and checked on Noelle this morning, they had stopped her feeds due to the amount of residual she'd had through the night (although I strongly felt a lot of this was possibly positional....I had requested for her to be put on her tummy through the night but it did not happen).  She also had jumped up 70 grams (obviously due to all the IV fluids), and her blood sugar had jumped up a lot from where it had been previously.  We went straight to the hospital for rounds so that we could talk to the doctor ourselves regarding her care.  Thankfully, her doctor was on top of things and already prescribing what we were requesting when we walked in the door today.  Still, things have still not gone quite as we had hoped.  The one main positive thing from today was that she was extubated and put back on the nasal cannula.  She definitely seems more comfortable having the tube out of her throat, and it was nice to see her take another step toward getting back to her "baseline" of where she was before she was transferred.  They still have not started her feeds as of yet,and obviously this has a domino effect.  Our prayer is that sometime tonight, she will be able to start back on her feeds and decreasing on the IV fluids and just getting back to normal.  Please pray for wisdom and patience for us as well.  Due to her first few days after being transferred and events that happened, we have definitely become more assertive regarding her care and it is difficult at times to know how hard to push for what we feel she needs or how much to trust the medical staff in these situations since they just do not know her as we do.  One step at a time, we hope she continues to recover from the surgery and get back to her normal self and start growing again.  I hope we have even better news to report tomorrow!!

NICU Day 73 ~ (February 18th)

 ~Sweet Baby Girl (Headband: courtesy of Chastity Gomez)

Noelle had a pretty good day today and was able to rest most of the time...well, in between the eye drops every hour and the heel sticks to check her blood sugar almost every hour.  That was the main struggle today--her blood sugar.  It was pretty low all day while they adjusted various fluids, but finally tonight it seemed to be back in normal ranges and stabilizing.  We are very grateful for that since "central line" was mentioned as a final resort if they could not get it stabilized.  She has not had that in weeks, and we do not want that being put back into her.  We're praying that her blood sugar continues to stay stable so they can start increasing her feeds and getting her back to her "baseline" where she was before all of this started on Tuesday.  She has not gained any weight this week, and she needs her food in order to be able to start growing again.  She has been able to wean down on her ventilator settings today, so hopefully she will be extubated sometime tomorrow.  

 ~Teddy Bear IV Tape~

While she did sleep most of the day, she certainly was not out of it and was her feisty self, pushing back against things being done to her.  It is nice to see that side of her again and know that she seems to be feeling better.  The swelling and redness in her eyes is already decreasing, and she is just looking more comfortable overall.  I hope we can report tomorrow that she is off the ventilator and increasing on her feeds again and getting back to where she was originally.  Thank you for continuing to pray!!

NICU Day 72 ~ (February 17th)

Thank you so very much for all your prayers today as Noelle went through her eye surgery.  We spoke with the opthamologist shortly after it was done, and he said they were able to get an even better look at her eyes after she was sedated, and they were a little worse than they originally appeared.  He said that the surgery was definitely the right choice and that they felt they had caught the issue at just the right time.  We talked through some further logistics with him such as what to expect over the next few years and whether or not the surgery would ever need to be repeated (it is possible it may need to be repeated at some point); but for now, he was very happy with how things had gone and expects her to do well as a result of today's procedure.  It was hard to watch her get wheeled away to the OR today; but she was in great hands, and we were very comfortable with the doctor God provided to care for her through all of this.  She now receives drops in her eyes every hour for these first 24 hours and then the dosage slowly backs down from there.  She is intubated and on the ventilator at this point, but she is doing very well with that and will probably be off of that within the next couple of days.  They told us to expect her to sleep for the next day or two after coming through anesthesia, but only a few hours after coming out of surgery, she popped her eyes open!!  She was pretty "zonked" otherwise and not moving around much, but she was definitely awake and recognizing our voices again.  We actually just checked on her a bit ago, and she had somehow worked the tape off her face around her tube, so they had to reposition that again for her.  She seems ready to extubate herself already!!  We're so thankful to God that she is through the surgery and appearing to do so well.  They will follow up tomorrow and then on Tuesday but do not expect to see much progress within that period of time, so the "telling" eye exam will be one week from Tuesday in which we expect to also get the clearance to go back "home" to Forsyth.  We are already in countdown mode and cannot wait to get her back to her original environment.  The staff at Baptist has been very nice; and after today, we were especially grateful for the care she received, but we are also very ready to get her back into her normal routine in familiar surroundings with the people who love her.  God was so gracious today in giving us a definitive path to walk, and we cannot thank Him enough for that.  Thank you for lifting us up in prayer all day today.  We had true peace through this process and knew that we were far from being alone through this procedure today.  We will share some pictures and hopefully more good news tomorrow!!

Noelle's Eyes Update ~ (February 17th)

Noelle had her follow up eye exam this morning, and based on that, they have decided to send her for laser eye surgery this afternoon between 1:00 and 2:00p.m.  The surgery will take a couple of hours from start to finish, and she will be intubated and sedated.  Our prayer for her is that she tolerates everything well and that the surgery does not overly stress her yet again.  As far as the surgery, our prayer is that it is successful in stopping the growth of the extra vessels and tearing the retina from the back of her eye, causing blindness.  This surgery usually is very successful, and they feel they have caught the issue early.  We're very thankful that God has revealed some purpose in being transferred here.  He did not have to do that, and He could have had us wait here indefinitely, but He graciously did not make us walk through that this time.  We have a revealed purpose in being here, and we also have a time frame in which she can be transferred back to Forsyth, provided everything goes well with her recovery.  Regardless of how the surgery goes, she still could have eye issues the rest of her life...it's the life of a preemie, and some have problems and others have none.  All in all, it honestly has been one of the least of my worries in light of all the issues she has faced or could have faced in the past ten weeks.  My heart would certainly grieve if Noelle could not see and experience things normally, but in comparison to the heart issues they thought she originally might have, this seems to pale.  I'm probably more nervous today about how she will handle the intubation and anesthesia.  Either way, we're grateful yet again for how God orchestrated the moving of our care just a couple of weeks before she was born.  Could He have prevented these issues from the start?  Of course.  But this has how He has chosen to work...through medicine, and we're again thankful that we ultimately rest in His hands.  Thank you for praying along with us.  I know we keep saying that, but I simply cannot seem to find other words that would express our deep appreciation for everyone's love, care and concern and ultimately prayers.  Thank you.

NICU Day 71 ~ (February 16th)

Today was pretty uneventful overall as Noelle continued to adjust to being in a new place.  While she definitely could not be termed as a fussy baby, she cries more than I have seen her do before, and it just seems to take longer to get her settled into comfortable positions.  I think a lot of it is the bed is made up differently than to what she is accustomed, and the acid reflux makes her more uncomfortable in certain positions.  All in all though, she rested better today, and I held her for periods of time in the morning and afternoon, and that seemed to help settle her down as well and give her something reminiscent of our familiar routine.  Her eyes did not look as red and swollen today, and the one that had bled some originally seems to have cleared up....just in time for another eye exam in the morning.  We are really praying for some definitive answers from this exam tomorrow morning.  They could say that she needs the surgery right away based on the progression they see, or they could choose to continue observing her (in which case, we will request that she continue to be observed at Forsyth).  Thank you so much for praying for us.  We need a lot of wisdom and patience right now as we have had to advocate on her behalf the last two days like never before.  We will update as soon as possible after her eye exam tomorrow and let you know how things are proceeding.  In closing tonight, I'm just going to list some of the blessings that I have been focusing on the past couple of days as we try to adjust to all this change.  God is teaching me to be content right where He places me, and to rest in Him yet again.  Thank you for also praying with us to that end.

Current Blessings:
~Noelle has the same Neonatologists who have been seeing her since day one.  While the rest of the medical staff/care is different, her head doctors are the same, and it's comforting that they know her and her history and can continue to diagnose accordingly.
~The Neonatologist who has been following her the past two days is the same one who toured us through the NICU 3 days before she was born, who was at her delivery, and who has been with her during her two most difficult sick periods since she was born.  We were so happy to see his face on Wednesday morning!!

Ultimately, we know that God has a purpose through this, and while we do not understand at all, we can continue to rest in His goodness.

NICU Day 70 ~ (February 15th)

This post will be short and we'll provide more details tomorrow after we get some rest, but Noelle finally seems to have settled into her new surroundings after a rough first night.  She is finally back on full feeds and has weaned down on her oxygen to nearly the levels she was at before being transferred.  They have decided to repeat another eye exam on Friday and from there hopefully determine whether she is going straight to surgery or whether they are going to keep her longer for more observation.  We will provide a more detailed post tomorrow but just wanted to let everyone know that she is okay right now.  Thank you so much for praying for us.

NICU Day 69 ~ (February 14th)

Well, our Valentine's Day ended up being pretty rough, to say the least.  It started out well with no changes being made to Noelle's care, and she had a good morning although her acid reflux was still bothering her quite a bit.  Still, I was able to hold her for a short while and spend some sweet time with her.  However, everything changed this afternoon after her eye exam.  I had left the hospital for a few hours to get some things done and received a phone call from the NICU.  My heart always skips a beat when I see that number, but they informed me that she was okay but that they wanted my consent to transfer her to Baptist for laser eye surgery.  The vessels in her eyes are growing too quickly and need to be dealt with as soon as possible.  Tom and I gave our consent and rushed to the hospital in time to meet the transport team and say goodbye to our Forsyth NICU family.  They have assured us that we will be allowed to return once she has been cleared after the surgery, but we're still looking at a week or two being away from our "home."  I knew I would have mixed emotions the day that Noelle moved to NIC 2, so being transferred completely out of the hospital in which we have lived the past 9+ weeks was/is extremely disconcerting.  We had lots of hugs "goodbye" with promises that we would see everyone again soon, and we're praying that that will indeed be the case.

 ~Exhausted Sweet Baby Girl~

Noelle seemed to handle the transport fairly well, but by the time she was starting to get settled into her new place, I could tell she was getting very tired.  She had been awake for quite some time, and since she was being admitted into another hospital, she was constantly being touched, poked, and prodded.  She had to have yet another eye exam, and shortly after that is when she decided she had had enough.  She clamped down, quit breathing, and as Tom half jokingly put it tonight, "she proceeded to take another 10 years off our lives!!"  She has done this once before, but today the episode lasted longer, and they had to do some chest compressions and bag her for about 30-45 seconds.  They almost intubated her again, but thankfully she recovered and started breathing on her own.  The evening still has been up and down as she has had one "brady" (dropping of her rate) after another.  She is absolutely exhausted, and it is obvious that she knows she is not in familiar surroundings.  I never thought I would be wanting to hear the alarm sounds from our old NICU, but after the new monitor sounds all evening, I found myself just wanting to hear the normal alarms to which I am accustomed.  I know what every one of those sounds mean, but here, everything is different.

 

 ~Holding Mommy's Hand & Trying to Get Comfortable~

She finally seemed to settle down late tonight, and we are praying she gets some good rest and can adjust well to her new environment.  She will have to have another eye exam tomorrow, and from there surgery will be determined.  I know it is probably harder on us than it is her, but she is definitely aware on some level that these are not her regular nurses, and this is not her normal space.  It was incredibly hard to leave her tonight.  At "home," all of her nurses know her, her likes and dislikes, her history, her tendencies, and they really do love her and care for her incredibly well.  The nurses here are good as well, but the atmosphere here is completely different than what we had before.  Honestly, I dislike it all very very much, and God is teaching me patience and a new level of contentment like never before.

 ~Noelle's New Corner~

There are still blessings through this.  Her doctors are exactly the same, since all of her neonatologists at Forsyth are actually from Baptist.  It is also a huge blessing that she is here for something more "minor."  Twice, they have had her papers ready to transfer her when they thought she was developing NEC and another time during all the issues with her heart.  Thankfully, this issue is not as serious in many respects.  Still, it's scary and disconcerting, and we're praying that she can do well through this and be back "home" at Forsyth very soon.  We are now readjusting our schedules and plans again so that we can be available to her as much as possible through all of the transitions and procedures. We should learn more tomorrow about what is exactly happening with her eyes and what the ramifications are for her, and we will definitely continue to keep everyone posted.  Thank you so very much for praying for us.  I know that you have not stopped even through the good days, and that is an incredible encouragement to us as we hit the "rougher" days.  God continues to make Himself real to us and show us that He is in control, not us, and we know He will continue to see us through.