One Hit Wonders

Faith is having a procedure done this morning.  They are going to insert a capsule that will take pictures of her small intestines. We are trying to find the source of her bleeding so pray that God works through these doctors.  This picture has our One Hit Wonder nurses who got Faith's IV into her in one shot. We always appreciate nurses like this.

 

 

NEW DAY IN MICHIGAN

Now this is one determined little girl.

Faith putting that determination to work.

Faith continues to improve her walking skills; although, she had an eye appointment a few weeks ago and we found out that she probably has a had time seeing the big E on the eye chart.  We have ordered glasses for her and are very curious to see how it will impact her.  I am betting that her walking will improve because she will now be able to see where she is going.  Also, we think that she will interact with people even better than she does now.  Faith has been pretty healthy with not too many real sickness issues.  We have had a couple of small bleeding bouts, but have learned to manage this issue.  We still struggle with her GI issues and really need to try our own blending to see if it helps her.  Right now, we are just anxiously awaiting her glasses to arrive so we can see how she reacts.

Well 9/11 has come and gone, and for us, this date now has more meaning than remembering the twin towers.  The Medical Good Faith Act has gone into effect as law here in Michigan.  Residents in this state can now go to hospitals and request their policies on providing life saving treatments before they check into a hospital and find out later that the hospital won't help them, or worse and have a loved one die and never find out the hospital deceived them.  So now 9/11 to the Smith family has become a great day to remember along with the memory of the attack on our country.  If you learn of anyone in Michigan who is having a special needs child or even an older parent with medical issues, PLEASE make sure you let them know to check the hospitals for how they will treat their loved one before they find out too late.

Reaching for the Hem of His Garment

Faith sleeping this morning with her bipap.

Well, here I am with time on my hands able to post.  The family is all gone this Saturday morning and headed in different directions.  Grace and Eli were thrilled out of their minds because they were headed to a class on Robert's Rules for meetings with their Nana.  Oh it does sound exciting.  Gideon spent the night with a friend for his birthday, and Hope is with Jesi at Upward Cheerleading.  I am stuck home because Faith has been bleeding again.  She is still sleeping...probably just tired from a lack of blood.  She started bleeding the other night; although, we are not sure what caused it this time.  We decided to start giving her watered down food again yesterday, but we should have waited to do so.  She had fresh blood in her diaper last night.  We keep her away from everyone during these times because her immune system is certainly compromised.  We continue to reach for the hem of Jesus' garment that this little girl will be healed of this issue of blood.

Jesi with Grace, Eli, Gideon, Hope, and Faith in front of the Michigan State Capital building.

Hope in the Senate Committee chambers just before the hearing started.

We were thrilled Thursday morning to learn that the Medical Good Faith Act was voted through the Michigan Senate Health Policy Committee by a vote of 7-0 with the two democrats joining our side.  I think this happened mostly because of Jesi's great performance (very proud of my wife).  We may see the bill hit the floor of the senate as early as this Thursday morning.  We have a bold republican majority doing many things not liked by the other side so I think our bill is not viewed negatively like it was in Minnesota because they have bigger fights on their hands.  Plus, I think, we might have found a good way to sell it.  Once we have it as law, I will share the bill.  The Michigan Catholic Conference wanted to rewrite the bill without mentioning "Medical Futility" of which I was unsure.  They did and both Jesi and I thought it looked pretty good so I sent both bills to Senator Rick Santorum to get his thoughts.  He liked the new version as well so Michigan Senator Jim Marleau's office did a final rewrite of the bill on Wednesday night and submitted the substitute bill on Thursday morning.  Once we get through the Senate, the bill heads to the Michigan House where our friend and State Rep Tom McMillin will help guide it through the house.  We are excited about getting this to Governor Snyder's desk for a signature.

Faith after her bath

Faith is having a colonoscopy this morning. Depending on what they find, we may have exploratory surgery as well. We are praying for them to find the source of the bleeding. We do have a concern about anesthesia because her hemoglobin level is only 8.5 and usually runs over 11. Not having the full blood level is troubling when facing surgery.