Another day at TCH

Good afternoon from all of us at TCH! We wanted to update everyone and you know how we are doing.

Things are going well and the blood from James Thomas' pic line is not growing anymore bacteria. This is the plan: we have to wait until we have three consecutive days of no bacteria before we can go home. Today is day 1. We are also waiting for the bacteria from Saturday to grow so we know what kind of infection he has. Right now they are giving him heavy duty antibiotics that kill most of the common infections, but once we know the exact type they will switch us to a more specific antibiotic. They said we should be able to administer this one from home. I know we will be here until Wednesday but hope we will be home by Thursday!!!!

They are also monitoring his RSV virus. He has a pretty bad cough that comes and goes and he is fighting a viral rash on his little body. They said the virus has to get worse before it gets better but he seems to be handling everything o.k. I am glad that we are here for them to keep an eye on it all.

Nancy is still here and stayed the night with me yesterday. We actually got some decent sleep which is suprisingly wonderful! She is a wonderful help! Melissa came by this morning and we went and had lunch at Chick -fil-A on the third floor. I always loving see any member of the Jones family. Some people from Walmart stopped by and brought James Thomas a stuffed dog. They are delivering Christmas gifts for all the kids which is so sweet.

It is such a small world in the hematology/oncology family at TCH. Our bestie Caroline is here right now with an infection as well, another sweet girl I met one day at clinic is also here getting chemo, and a few other families I have met on this journey. It is great to see familiar faces but also sad to see all these kids fighting off these horrible conditions. I ask you keep all of them in your prayers as well.

Speaking of prayers: I have a great praise report! We have officially switched doctors and I LOVE LOVE LOVE our new one. We had a meeting with her last Wednesday and she spent an entire hour talking with James, my dad, and I. I feel like she was able to really see who James and I are and what we need from her. She was totally open to everything we had to say and I know we are going to be a great match. On Saturday in the ER one of my sorority sisters, Hillary Skelton was on call. She is a second year resident up here. She asked who our hematologist was and when I told her we just switched to Dr. Betusch, she was so excited. She said Dr. Betusch was her favorite when she was working on the 9th floor. She even emailed Dr. Betusch and told her she knew James and I. It is such a small world and I know God has his hands over all of this. I have learned that even when things don't work out exactly how you think, DON'T GIVE UP! Since October we have had two home health nurses and now two hematologists and I the ones we have now are FANTASTIC! It is truly a blessing and I am so glad we weren't content with what was assigned to us. It is such a great feeling to completely trust your health care team. I LOVE IT!

I am going to try and post a picture of Elizabeth and Julie from Sunday. I was so disappointed that I didn't get to run with them but when I saw the picture of them in their DBA shirts I was filled with joy. It makes me smile just thinking about them running with everyone reading Knock Out Diamond Blackfan Anemia!!!! Thank you for representing us in the White Rock 1/2 Marathon!

Hope you are having a great day!
PS I can't upload the picture right now but I will try again later.