Many of you have probably heard about the health problems Jeff & Kate Estes'
infant son has been having. This was just posted on their blog. Please pray for this little boy:
I only have a minute, so this is going to be short, but I wanted to get this out as early as possible. I met with an infectious disease specialist a little while ago. The infection in Noah's blood is Staph A. It is very possible that it is one of the drug resistant staphs such as MRSA. Staph A is bad, but resistant staph is terrible. We should know more tomorrow. In the meantime Noah isbeing treated as if this is resistant staph. He is on two incredibly powerful IV antibiotics - the dosage of one is even being increased as a result of his most recent labs. The area around his line is being cultured, and his line is going to be treated with a solution that should clean up any blood that could be clinging inside and providing a hiding place for more bacteria.
He is not considered contagious at all except to people who are immune-compromised, so visitors are still OK. I will probably be getting some testing as the doctors want to be sure that I am not even carrying this bug - being pregnant and diabetic does make me somewhat immune compromised, and they want to be a little extra cautious with me.
The large amount of Benadryl that he is recieving is making him very irate and unhappy. Each new dose puts him right to sleep for a little while, then he gets distraught and is doing a lot of crying and screaming. He had some visitors today and the distraction was great - he was very friendly while they were here and even played with one long enough for me to shower.
The last big whammy for today is that while the doctors are still considering sending him to Atlanta, it is now more likely that they will send him to Philadelphia. That is quite a hike from South Carolina, and Jeff would need to stay here with the other children. I have seen how God has sent people here to Greenville to minister to us with each new need, and I know that He can work as well in Philidelphia as he can here. Just pray that we end up in the right place at the right time, and pray for all of the logistics of insurance, transport, etc.
Please share this with your friends, prayer groups, etc. I'm hoping that by getting this out early today some of you will be able to share this in church or Sunday school tomorrow. Also, if you have a blog or website, please check out http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/BChsMamaof3/
She has created a great button with a picture of Noah. Anyone who clicks the button is directed to Noah's blog. You can put it on your blog or website - she gives directions for how to email her and get the code. This would be a great way to spread the word about Noah and we would appreciate it if you could do this.
**************** I had to stop writing to go to the treatment room for Noah's dressing change and cultures. The place where his Broviac enters his skin has been red and raised, but there is a balloon under the skin there that often causes this sort of irritated area, so no one has been concerned. There has been a little bit of drainage around the tube, and it is that drainage that was being cultured. Before a new dressing can be put in place, a little scrubby thing is used to clean the skin. When the nurse started to wash around the entry site, a large amount of pus erupted out of the site. The more she pressed, the more came out. This is troublesome as it would seem to indicate that the infection is also driven into the tissue. We don't know how deep this infection goes. This is SO, SO close to his heart. The nurses, who know and love Noah, wouldn't say much to me about this and weren't prepared to answer my questions,, but it was clear from their expressions that they were very upset. The drainage has been cultured and sent to the lab and all we can do is wait and pray. We know that he is in God's hands. We are taking this seriously but are not given over to grief or worry. Noah is as safe as he has ever been.
Love,
Kate
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