ANOTHER UPDATE ON NICOLE

#1 · July 14, 2004, 2:29 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on July 14, 2004, 2:29 pm
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Dear Friends:

We arrived home from Switzerland around 5:15 Wednesday evening, and have already been faced with repair and redecorating work in our apartment still incomplete, with a wet and chilly weather condition, and a shock to discover that the LCD screen on Bob's laptop has lost 99.9% of its brightness. So, after a quick supper of cheese and bread, he rushed off to the board office to have the computer checked by our local tech and then pick up a monstrous monitor which will at least allow him to keep using the computer until we find out how many hundreds of dollars it will cost to repair or replace the Sony, less than two years old.

So much for our adventures. It's still wonderful to be home. We look forward to getting back into the flow of things before too long. As you think about us, pray for us that we get back into the rhythm of missionary life at IBC, and pray that God will provide concerning the computer situation. This is an extremely inconvenient situation, not to mention potentially very expensive.

In the meantime, here is an update from Deanna regarding Nicole Grace. We'll let it speak for itself. As you can see, good and exciting improvement continues, but other very significant hurdles keep popping up. But, . . . . God is a God of "pop ups" ---- when things pop up, He shows up.

This all just reminds us more and more how we need to pray without ceasing, be specific in our praying, listen to the Holy Spirit as He prompts us how to pray, refuse to give ground to the intimidations and lies of the enemy, and abandon ourselves fully to child-like faith. And, above all, . . . . refuse to allow "familiarity" to breed spiritual lethargy or "contempt".

While you're praying, don't forget to thank God for the fantastic medical staff working so hard to do their part in all this.

------------------------------

Here are excerpts from Deanna's note:

Today was another roller coaster of sorts. . . . I ran into Barb, the primary nurse, who said "she's doing pretty good, but she dropped way down around 30% on her oxygen saturations this morning. But she's fine now." Then she went on to tell me the good news that her white blood cell count was down from yesterday and so far, none of the cultures they took looking for infection had grown anything. There appears to be no virus growing in her blood and the urine culture was still showing no signs of infection. She will remain on antibiotics for 48 more hours and as long as nothing shows up over that time in the cultures, she will be scheduled for her g-tube surgery either the end of this week or early next week.

She also gained some more weight and we think is up to 4 pounds 11 ounces (they talk in kilograms and grams here. We have to convert on a chart that I never got to look at today).

Around 11:00, Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds arrived for their weekly visit. This time they brought Aunt Debbie. We had a good visit with them for a few hours.

Just as they were leaving, she "dropped her sats" again. She actually did it 3 times in about 30 minutes and had done it earlier while we had been gone. Barb noticed that each time she did it, she was apniac (stopped breathing). I got to where I knew it was coming, because she would open her eyes real big and just stare. She wouldn't breathe and then she would let out a cry. Each time we would turn up her oxygen tank and she would recover.

Around 4:00 the group of doctors came around and we told them what she was doing. After conferring with her nurse, they decided to change her oxygen settings. Instead of getting a little bit of a high level of pressurized oxygen (low level of pressure, high level of oxygen), they switched to a higher level of pressure of a low level of oxygen. I guess with "heart babies" they can actually get too much oxygen and it makes it hard on them. I do know that when she was saturating at near 100% that they actually wanted her in the high 80's. In fact, Barb told us that too much oxygen, like too much fluid, can cause congestive heart failure in her type of condition. So after they made the change, she didn't have any more trouble the rest of the time we were there (until about 5:45). So, continue praying that they will have wisdom to balance
everything out.

The eye doctor also came . . . . Other than the MRSA infection that is still clearing up in her eyes, she has no other problems with her eyes.

They also are checking again for the MRSA. They screen all the NICU babies on a regular basis. Once she gets 3 consecutive negative screens, she can be cleared from isolation.

So, it was an up and down day. We have a few of those from time to time.

We continue to pray for complete healing and continue to declare that she is in the palm of God's hand and any attempt of the enemy to try to detract from any of God's purposes for her are not allowed. The enemy can't have her. Absolutely all of the "little things" (blood counts, fluid levels, arrhythmia, etc.) we have asked you to pray for have been resolved. Again, lowering billirubin counts is no harder, nor is it a bigger issue for God than miraculously healing her heart and removing all evidence of trisomy 18 from every cell of her body. Just because we haven't yet seen a miracle in what we consider the "big" concerns for her, we still believe God for that miracle. It is not a challenge for Him. Continue to plead for her complete total healing before our Father.

I used to feel a little guilty because when I asked for her healing, I can't honestly do it solely for the purpose of God being glorified. Part of the request was for selfish purposes ---- so she would be healthy and we wouldn't have to go through the uncertainty and potentially her death. Part of my motive was so that she and we wouldn't suffer. But then I realized that any loving parent would have that as part of their motive.

The important part is whether or not I am willing to give Him glory regardless of what He chooses to do or how He chooses to respond. Will I give Him credit and let Him receive the glory if He answers our prayer and completely heals her? Well, duh, of course ---- absolutely, for the rest of my life I will do that. The tough question is will I do the same if His answer is anything less than her complete healing.

So far, through this point today, the answer is still yes. It is my desire that I will always be able to answer yes to that question. I have no reason to answer otherwise. Because He is unchanging, I doubt I ever will.

Deanna

-----------------------

Again, friends, we urge you to not give out, not give up, not give in . . . in praying for Nicole Grace and for God's total and complete healing. Remember ---- we'd rather ask and not get what we ask for than to not ask and discover later that it could have been ours for the asking. The worst thing that can happen is that God simply says, "I have a better plan."

Trusting Him Fully, Confidently, and Joyfully,

Bob and Jo Ann

Bob Tolliver
IBC - Hope4Kyiv
lifeunlimited@pobox.com
Subscribe to "Hope4Kyiv" letter
  --  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: hope4kyiv-unsubscribe@welovegod.org  

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Dear Friends:

We arrived home from Switzerland around 5:15 Wednesday evening, and have already been faced with repair and redecorating work in our apartment still incomplete, with a wet and chilly weather condition, and a shock to discover that the LCD screen on Bob's laptop has lost 99.9% of its brightness. So, after a quick supper of cheese and bread, he rushed off to the board office to have the computer checked by our local tech and then pick up a monstrous monitor which will at least allow him to keep using the computer until we find out how many hundreds of dollars it will cost to repair or replace the Sony, less than two years old.

So much for our adventures. It's still wonderful to be home. We look forward to getting back into the flow of things before too long. As you think about us, pray for us that we get back into the rhythm of missionary life at IBC, and pray that God will provide concerning the computer situation. This is an extremely inconvenient situation, not to mention potentially very expensive.

In the meantime, here is an update from Deanna regarding Nicole Grace. We'll let it speak for itself. As you can see, good and exciting improvement continues, but other very significant hurdles keep popping up. But, . . . . God is a God of "pop ups" ---- when things pop up, He shows up.

This all just reminds us more and more how we need to pray without ceasing, be specific in our praying, listen to the Holy Spirit as He prompts us how to pray, refuse to give ground to the intimidations and lies of the enemy, and abandon ourselves fully to child-like faith. And, above all, . . . . refuse to allow "familiarity" to breed spiritual lethargy or "contempt".

While you're praying, don't forget to thank God for the fantastic medical staff working so hard to do their part in all this.

------------------------------

Here are excerpts from Deanna's note:

Today was another roller coaster of sorts. . . . I ran into Barb, the primary nurse, who said "she's doing pretty good, but she dropped way down around 30% on her oxygen saturations this morning. But she's fine now." Then she went on to tell me the good news that her white blood cell count was down from yesterday and so far, none of the cultures they took looking for infection had grown anything. There appears to be no virus growing in her blood and the urine culture was still showing no signs of infection. She will remain on antibiotics for 48 more hours and as long as nothing shows up over that time in the cultures, she will be scheduled for her g-tube surgery either the end of this week or early next week.

She also gained some more weight and we think is up to 4 pounds 11 ounces (they talk in kilograms and grams here. We have to convert on a chart that I never got to look at today).

Around 11:00, Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds arrived for their weekly visit. This time they brought Aunt Debbie. We had a good visit with them for a few hours.

Just as they were leaving, she "dropped her sats" again. She actually did it 3 times in about 30 minutes and had done it earlier while we had been gone. Barb noticed that each time she did it, she was apniac (stopped breathing). I got to where I knew it was coming, because she would open her eyes real big and just stare. She wouldn't breathe and then she would let out a cry. Each time we would turn up her oxygen tank and she would recover.

Around 4:00 the group of doctors came around and we told them what she was doing. After conferring with her nurse, they decided to change her oxygen settings. Instead of getting a little bit of a high level of pressurized oxygen (low level of pressure, high level of oxygen), they switched to a higher level of pressure of a low level of oxygen. I guess with "heart babies" they can actually get too much oxygen and it makes it hard on them. I do know that when she was saturating at near 100% that they actually wanted her in the high 80's. In fact, Barb told us that too much oxygen, like too much fluid, can cause congestive heart failure in her type of condition. So after they made the change, she didn't have any more trouble the rest of the time we were there (until about 5:45). So, continue praying that they will have wisdom to balance
everything out.

The eye doctor also came . . . . Other than the MRSA infection that is still clearing up in her eyes, she has no other problems with her eyes.

They also are checking again for the MRSA. They screen all the NICU babies on a regular basis. Once she gets 3 consecutive negative screens, she can be cleared from isolation.

So, it was an up and down day. We have a few of those from time to time.

We continue to pray for complete healing and continue to declare that she is in the palm of God's hand and any attempt of the enemy to try to detract from any of God's purposes for her are not allowed. The enemy can't have her. Absolutely all of the "little things" (blood counts, fluid levels, arrhythmia, etc.) we have asked you to pray for have been resolved. Again, lowering billirubin counts is no harder, nor is it a bigger issue for God than miraculously healing her heart and removing all evidence of trisomy 18 from every cell of her body. Just because we haven't yet seen a miracle in what we consider the "big" concerns for her, we still believe God for that miracle. It is not a challenge for Him. Continue to plead for her complete total healing before our Father.

I used to feel a little guilty because when I asked for her healing, I can't honestly do it solely for the purpose of God being glorified. Part of the request was for selfish purposes ---- so she would be healthy and we wouldn't have to go through the uncertainty and potentially her death. Part of my motive was so that she and we wouldn't suffer. But then I realized that any loving parent would have that as part of their motive.

The important part is whether or not I am willing to give Him glory regardless of what He chooses to do or how He chooses to respond. Will I give Him credit and let Him receive the glory if He answers our prayer and completely heals her? Well, duh, of course ---- absolutely, for the rest of my life I will do that. The tough question is will I do the same if His answer is anything less than her complete healing.

So far, through this point today, the answer is still yes. It is my desire that I will always be able to answer yes to that question. I have no reason to answer otherwise. Because He is unchanging, I doubt I ever will.

Deanna

-----------------------

Again, friends, we urge you to not give out, not give up, not give in . . . in praying for Nicole Grace and for God's total and complete healing. Remember ---- we'd rather ask and not get what we ask for than to not ask and discover later that it could have been ours for the asking. The worst thing that can happen is that God simply says, "I have a better plan."

Trusting Him Fully, Confidently, and Joyfully,

Bob and Jo Ann

Bob Tolliver
IBC - Hope4Kyiv
lifeunlimited@pobox.com
Subscribe to "Hope4Kyiv" letter

  --  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: hope4kyiv-unsubscribe@welovegod.org