Smiles

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Here's a cute picture of Jocelyn and me a week and a half ago. Poor Jocelyn is wiggling out of the frame and has her eyes closed, and the lighting isn't great, but for some reason I still like it! :)



And another smile-y thing to share: I love my doctor. She just called to check on me before she left the office for the weekend. Little things like that make me smile!

Newspaper junkie

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And, no, I'm not talking about myself! Take a look at the little girl who loves to point out letters (specifically in headlines, since they're big letters) and balls (thus the sports section being her favorite) ...

From January 2009


From January 2009


From January 2009


From January 2009


And then she stood up, saw the snow outside (since these pics were from a couple of weeks ago ... I'm a bit behind on the blog!), and was done with the paper.

From January 2009

Pictures of us outside during the snow are coming soon!

A few more prayer requests ...

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Hi again, friends! I'm blogging right now to procrastinate getting in the shower because I know I have to change the bandages on my leg when I get out of the shower. I'm not usually queasy about medical stuff, and I can handle just about any image House or other shows throw my way, but there's something about the wound and infection on my leg that makes me feel truly ill. So that can start off the list for today ...
  • Please pray for the bandage-changing times (morning, early afternoon, late evening). In addition to the gross out factor, it also hurts a little more than usual during and after bandage-changing times.
  • I've just started the new antibiotics. Pray that they do the job and that they agree with my system (often antibiotics upset my stomach). If these don't work, I think the next course of treatment will be IV antibiotics at the hospital.
  • Pray that I'll be able to figure out a good schedule for taking the new pills. I'm supposed to take one every six hours or as close to that as possible to keep a constant amount of medication in my system at all times. I think I'll be taking them at 9am, 3pm, 9pm, and 3am (since I get up to use the bathroom then anyway at this point in pregnancy!). This also shouldn't throw off my other meds' schedules either, since I take my prednisone around 9am and my prenatal vitamin around 9pm. My thyroid meds come earlier in the morning since I'm not supposed to eat for an hour or two after taking them, but my sweet husband gives me those when he wakes up since I sleep longer than him and like to eat breakfast as soon as my feet hit the floor!
  • This one is going to be tough to put into words, since it's actually two somewhat conflicting requests ... first, pray for me to have enough energy to do the things I need to do. Being in pain and monitoring this infection to make sure it doesn't get worse is exhausting. But, also, pray for me to get the rest I need, since pushing myself too hard could provide an opportunity for this bacteria to spread. I guess another way to word the second request would be to pray that I would be able to rightly determine what things need to be done and what things need to wait so I can rest.
  • Pray for Lee. He is doing SO much right now and, at times, being both mommy and daddy to Jocelyn in the evenings. He doesn't complain or grumble, but I know he's tired. I am so blessed with a man who loves me and cares for me like Lee does.
  • Pray that I will be able to eat enough. The combination of the pain, the grossness I mentioned earlier, the antibiotics, and the exhaustion is affecting my appetite, and I've caught myself feeling a little lightheaded from not eating enough a few times in the past few days.
  • Pray for my heart, particularly if anything changes again. I like to have a plan, so I was feeling good about everything yesterday morning as I left the doctor: finish antibiotics, change bandages three times a day, pay attention for these signs of it getting worse, and so on. When I got the call yesterday afternoon that it was MRSA and the plan changed a bit, it was tough. There's still room for the plan to change again, mainly if these antibiotics don't work for me or if the infection doesn't continue to improve.

Thanks, friends! I have been so encouraged by your comments, emails, and calls ... I am so blessed to have you as my friend!

It IS indeed MRSA

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The culture came back, and this infection is MRSA, which is a nasty and mostly drug-resistant form of staph. We're switching antibiotics to one that usually isn't prescribed during pregnancy but should be fine given how far along I am. Having an active MRSA infection during pregnancy is incredibly uncommon from what I've been told; this lines up with my search results in all the medical journals available online through ECU, in which there were a whopping 7 results of articles about both MRSA and pregnancy (and five or six of those were about colonized MRSA infections rather than active ones!). So, to a certain extent, my doctors are having to figure this out as they go. Lee joked that there's eventually going to be a medical journal named after me, and Jenelle thinks that they could do at least half a season of the show House based on me. Goodness gracious!

Please continue to pray! It's totally a God thing that the infection has been healing well, since the antibiotics that I've been taking orally are no help against MRSA. (The ointment they prescribed does work for MRSA, but I wasn't supposed to use it while the drain was in, so I only have used it Thursday evening and Friday prior to the surgery and then starting again this morning, so I haven't used it enough for it to have made the difference.) It is true that draining infections like this with the surgery I had does usually help, but not typically this much against MRSA. Isn't God good? Modern medicine is a blessing, and while I am thankful for it, I am so much more thankful for our faithful and dependable Healer and His answer to our prayers in all this!