Looking better...

Just a quick post to say that she looks better since yesterday evening. She has been happier and more playful. She is still pale looking but no episodes or spells since yesterday.
She had begun on Monday having these spells of retching, gagging or choking, whatever you call it. They were lasting a really long time and she was miserable. She was very tired falling asleep within an hour of waking. This is very unusual for her as she was getting hard to put down for her naps. My fear was that she was trying to do away with her naps. YIKES! I still need that down time in my day. She has had oxygen before when hospitalized but we have never used the oxygen here at home. On Monday we had to begin to use it most of the time. By Tuesday she was not doing better so her pediatrician ordered x-rays. We also discovered by using her pulse-ox that her saturation levels were dipping into the low 70's at times during the night. Basically from after midnight until about 6:00 a.m. They always came back up, but the doctor doesn't like these numbers. I really never learned what all of these things meant. The x-rays came back with a pneumonia, asthma or bronchitis and enlarged heart. They put her on a stronger antibiotic and she seems so much better today. I really thought the respiratory was fairly cleared up.
Some of this doesn't surprise me. I have been noticing how loud she has begun to snore. She has always been a noisy breather, but I think it had become better for a couple years. Maybe just the summer seemed to get worse. Her episodes of not breathing when she sleeps were getting much longer and then her gasping up waking was more noticeable than before. We will now see our cardiologist to check on this and probably get a base line exam with a pulmonologist.
We are going out of town early in the morning until late Sunday evening. I hate to leave her when she may not be well. She is not able to make this trip with us and I do not have an option to not go. I know I am leaving her in very good hands. Already tonight I have received a video and a picture message of how happy she is.
All this said, I am really praying that this is all due to the air quality that she has been exposed to since the storm. If all goes well we should be moving next week and hopefully will see her stablilze in this area, especially before the winter months hit. I will close with a picture of this precious happy little face!

Simply beautiful words..

I received an email from a lady in Switzerland wanting to add Annabel's site to her site. After reviewing her site, I said yes and thanked her for taking the time to read Annabel's story. On her site were these very simple words by Max Lucado...

You are valuable because you exist.
Not because of what you do or what
you have done...but simply because
you are!

If only our medical experts could take this to heart when giving such lethal diagnosis! I believe they should be honest and tell you the facts, but there is still that percentage that do exist. Their existence bring such love, joy and happiness to all that are blessed to know them.

We are thankful...

Just a quick post to say thank you to all who are praying. The things that affect me most are of course my children. Things are looking better and Annabel is showing signs of getting herself back to normal. She doesn't seem to be as congested, sleeping much better and eating well. She is still having some gagging and retching episodes but they are fewer and farther in between. She had several at school this week and kept everyone on her toes. She didn't experience any color change but they have been lasting longer period of time. As you can see from the pictures she is not as smiley as normal but they are much happier period with less weak period. I have said many times before, it is truly on by God's grace that she is here and through so many prayers that she keeps going. Today after morning Mass we had a church breakfast and this sweet lady came up to comment on how cute Annabel is. When she asked her name and I told her Annabel, she said "Oh, this is who we have been praying for so long!" In our community, people know her by her name and pray for her without ever having met her. I never want anyone to think I take their prayers for granted. Each smile and her sweet touch from Annabel reminds us of how good our God is.
I now will apologize for this past post. I felt I needed to update but in reading it over now, it was not a very positive post. I do think our drive this past Sunday to the beach had more of an impact than what I realized. Talking with our friends who have also sustained damage or lost their beach homes have expressed similar feelings. Also, when seeing it up close you just wonder about how many lives were lost and still not accounted for. People now are talking about building again and that maybe this little community will return and provide many more memories for families in the years to come.