First Injection/Report from Tuesday

Well, we all made it through the first night! David and Micah's night was shorter than mine, but they did get some sleep. They were awakened this morning by a doctor. Then came another, and another, and the two lab techs, and then the nurse, and then more doctors, and then...you get the idea. I arrived back at the room around 7 this morning, just after the first doctor arrived to check on Micah. We saw our attending doctor, Dr. Nangia, and her team a bit after 9, and then shortly after that our nurse came in to give Micah his first steroid injection. Before she began she explained everything she would do, since we need to learn to do this in order to be discharged. And she handed us the sheet of 29 steps to a successful intramuscular injection. Yep, twenty-nine. Granted, it is broken down into baby steps, but still, it fills up two pages. Lots to remember for those of us who have never done this before. The nurse did this morning's injection, but I will do it tomorrow. We got our practice orange, vial of water and all the other stuff that we need to do this. And we practiced. Not quite sure how an orange will actually compare to how it feels physically to push a needle into Micah's thigh. Emotionally...well, an orange is not flesh of my flesh and doesn't have a tendency to cry when stuck. But we can do this!

As for side effects, nothing of note has happened yet. No grumpiness, no hyperactivity, no sleeplessness. And on the more serious side, no high blood pressure or other problems. His chest x-ray was clear except for a bit of residual something-or-other from the pneumonia earlie; nothing of any concern. Echocardiogram showed a strong, healthy heart of the correct size. Blood work was fine. No problems with the TB test. So we are trying to stay hopeful. No change in seizures yet (no increase either, which sometimes happens initially), but that is to be expected. It takes a few days and sometimes longer to see results.

We had visit from our brother-in-law, who was in town for a conference, to break up the monotony of an afternoon of no doctors coming by. Thanks, Padraic, for taking time to come and see Micah!

We are so blessed by the many ways people are supporting us. Sunnysiders have signed up to pray nearly around-the-clock for these two weeks; Preacher Mamas are antibacterializing our house as I write (if they could find it under all the clutter we left behind!); we have gotten numerous encouraging emails, cards, texts, messages--thank you so much! We are grateful for this time we get to spend with Micah--one of us is with him nearly all the time. We did get a break tonight when Volunteer Diana stayed and read Hooray for Fish to him while David and I went out for supper. They were reading it when we left, and still reading when we came back an hour later. We'll just have to trust her that they did take a break from it somewhere in there!

Good night, sleep tight. Here is a verse from the song we sing every night before bed:

Thank you for the night
A measure of your care
In darkness, as in light,
You, Lord, are there.