Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Hallelujah day!

I was surprised when Andrea did not jump up from the eye doctor's chair and dance a jig when he examined her eye and told her "Andrea, you do NOT have to put dilating drops in your eye anymore". It was a moment of anticipation and relief, though. He is pleased with the progress of the last operation, and said he hoped for more improvement with time. This doctor is very conservative and very, very good, so when he says there is more hope for improvemnt, I believe him. Patience. And time, and prayer.
We also went to St. Luke's today for a MRI on the soft tissues and muscles on Andrea's back. The bone and joint doctor will give us his last verdict before sending us back to MDA, but he did tell us from the bone scan that Andrea has broken 3 ribs in her back, so that is the most likely cause of the pain she has been experiencing. She is on estrogen, calcium and vitamins. All that will also take time to build up her bones that seem to break as easily as I break a toothpick.
We ask for your prayers as we continue to pray for all you, too. We are in this healing process together!

Monday, February 19, 2007

Back to baby steps

Andrea's eyes have been dialated since her last eye surgery, January 23. She has 1 1/2 more weeks to go before she sees the retina doctor again, and maybe by then he will let her quit dialating her eyes. He's the expert, and we trust him. We have had gorgeous sunshine this past week in Houston, but with dialated eyes, it is hard to enjoy it. She is seeing a bit clearer each day.
Also, Andrea's back pain has gone from irriating to a lot worse. She quit physical therapy and saw several doctors this past week. St. Luke's will take a total bone scan Wednesday to try to figure out if it has to do with her bones, or just her muscles. Then, back to the doctor a week from today to see what he thinks.
Her cold turned out to be the RSV virus that a lot of babies get due to not having immunities built up in her system. Since her bone marrow transplant wiped out all bodies' defenses, Andrea can start getting the baby MMR and other baby shots on her one-year-birthday-from-transplant, May 10, 2007. Nothing like starting over, right?!?!
Despite the aches and pains, Andrea is still a joy to be around. Zeus helps by keeping us laughing.
Thank you all for your prayers and we'll continue to pray for you all too.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Keep On Keeping On

Andrea saw the cataract doctor on Monday and her retina doctor today. Both doctors are pleased with the way the surgeries went. Healing is a slow process, though, and will take weeks or months to know just how the retinas will settle down. The steriod shot has not totally absorbed, so Andrea still sees a haze, plus she has to keep her eyes dialated at least 3 more weeks, which is a real obstacle to knowing what she is seeing. The scan showed considerable shrinkage of the swelling on the right retina, so we were very, very pleased about that.
Andrea has been going to physical therapy for several weeks and the muscle pain in her back is getting worse. Plus she has a very bad cold that makes her feel rotten all over.
We appreciate your prayers, so we will "keep on praying on" for you all, too.