Hannah's Prayer Page

Hannah's Prayer Page

Fri., Nov. 21

I have been having longer periods between updates b/c there has not been much change. Since she is doing well, this is good. We do have a prayer request about an upcoming test in December. It is one that has the potential to be quite traumatic and may not even yield any information that will help us. Please pray that we will make the right decision whether to go through with this test or not.

Sun, Nov. 10

Things are about the same. Hannah is steadily gaining weight. From her low point in August until now she has gained about eight lbs. We are thankful for the continued success of the TPN and that her bowels are still handling liquids just fine. We stayed with some friends recently who had not seen her for a couple of months. They were amazed at her remarkable improvement.

Fri., Oct. 24

Hannah had an upper GI/small bowel follow through test yesterday. We are very pleased that her transit time from stomach to end of small bowel was about four hours. Normal for a clear liquid would be three hours. When she had a similar test over a year ago, the contrast did not make it this far for 24 hours. This is obviously a major improvement. She is still on TPN for now. Her liver enzymes are remarkably low so there is no hurry at this time to get her off.

Wed. Oct. 8

Hannah continues to do well. The new pictures of the butterfly on the site were just taken a couple of days ago. Hannah has made a special connection with a butterfly that keeps visiting the flowers on our front porch. God has been using the symbol of the butterfly in various ways over the past couple of months to reassure us of Hannah's healing. Thank you for your continued praises and prayers.

Mon. Sept. 29

Hannah has had a great week overall. She continues to gain weight with the TPN and her output is still good. The bloating is not as bad. The appointment at Wake was more for the doctor's sake--to check on her progress. He was pleased with the progress but not optimistic about her long-term prognosis and ability to be able to gain weight and grow on her own. Of course he is looking at things from a medical and scientific perspective. We know that God has better plans for Hannah.

Mon., Sept. 22

Hannah continues to gain weight, with the help of the TPN. She has an appointment this Friday at Wake to check up on her progress and to discuss future plans. Her bloating continues, but so has the output. We'll try some Flagyl beginning today to help with bloating.

Fri., Sept. 12

This has been a great week for Hannah. Things did slow down considerably (they had to); however, things have kept a pretty good pace this week. We'd like to see a bit more so that we could start giving her more by mouth, but we have definitely made strides and expect more gains in the immediate future. She has probably gained back a couple of pounds from the TPN. It is difficult to know for sure how much she had lost b/c so much volume was in her gut. The lowest she weighed was 27lbs, but that was after 3 weeks of TPN. She was probably down to 25lbs at one point. We will definitely break 30lbs soon. Soon, we will be in new territory as far as her weight. The next thing we hope to see is some growth in height. She said something this evening about not wanting to go back to school b/c the other kids will be so much taller than her. I told that it was ok and that she would catch up eventually. It was the first time that she had ever verbalized to us that she notices the big discrepancy in height with kids her age. Thank you for your continued prayers. We praise God for her healing, but realize that recovery is going to be an on-going process.

Praise God, we definitely have had a breakthrough. Hannah's bowels have opened up and we had over 3500 ml of stool come out today. She needed to lose most of this volume, but to avoid dehydration we are replacing this with concentrated electrolyte fluids. She is also still getting TPN so there should not be a big problem with electrolyte imbalance. Please rejoice with us and continue to praise God for her healing that we will continue to claim.

Things are actually starting to improve. We are using a larger catheter for the irrigation and the results have been good for the last day and a half. We are also seeing signs that her bowels are starting to do some of the work themselves. The more we get out, the more easily it will be for her body to take over. Hannah's lab work is looking really good, which was not the case this time last week. I have sensed that we have been really close to a breakthrough for some time. Now it appears that we are seeing it. Praise God.

Still no major changes. We are going to see her pediatrician today at 4:00 p.m.

No major changes since Monday. We are doing the irrigation now 2x a day. Each time we are getting more out, but it is still small in comparison with what is in her. Thank you for your continued prayers.

So far, more of the same. The bowels continue to move very slowly. We are doing a bit of irrigation to help move things along. Once we get to a certain point, I am certain that things will speed up. Pray that we get there soon. She is still extremely distended and uncomfortable.

Since Wednesday evening, Hannah's bowels have been moving very slowly. This is a praise, since they were not moving at all before then. It is very slow b/c her bowels are so weak and the stool is so thick. She is still very distended and uncomfortable, but we know that things are progressing in the right direction. We have not lost faith. This in itself is a victory for us. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Hannah had exploratory surgery this morning (basically a scope was sent through her small bowel in order to determine the cause of her lack of output). To the surprise of the doctors, there was no apparent cause. It is just thick stool that does not want to go anywhere. She is very distended and uncomfortable. There is no plan at this point, except to keep her here at the hospital for a few days and try flushing things out. Even with the flushing, her bowels are going to have to have enough strength to push things back out. We are at the point that there is no quick fix medically. There really are no good long term options either. We have no where to go except to trust God. We are still praying for the manifestation of Hannah's miracle and believing that God wants her well. Please join us in praying this direction and to praise Him that He has sustained her thus far. If you feel led, I even challenge you to praise Him for her healing, which we will one day see.

Hannah had surgery for a central line Saturday evening at 9:00 p.m. She is doing well and getting much needed nutrition now. Please pray that she can keep the line without infection and have it long enough to restore her to health. Also pray for the bowels to pick up again. Thirdly, we still believe as strongly as ever that Hannah is being healed and that this recent episode is going to fit in to a bigger picture of healing.

We have had a very trying time. A PICC line was attempted in both arms today for Hannah and neither one worked. We have a decision to make about another more invasive option tomorrow. We appreciate your prayers.

We are heading to Wake Forest today for a scheduled appointment with Dr. Fortunato. The timing is good b/c Hannah has been struggling with what appears to be an ileus or blockage of some type in her small bowel. She has been able to get plenty of fluids; however, she is very malnurished. We are trusting God and exercising our faith throughout this situation. We know that God is holding her close to His heart and in His hand. Thank you for your prayers as we continue to believe God for His healing power to be manifest in Hannah.

Hannah has had some struggles of late, but we all as a family continue to grow in faith and confidence in His Word. I appreciate all of your prayers for all of us. God has impressed on me that Hannah is in a cocoon and will soon emerge to spread her wings and fly. God loves Hannah more than we ever could. This fact has strengthened my faith and my resolve to keep believing His promises.

Sorry for the delay in keeping up the prayer page. Hannah has not had any setbacks for the last month. She has gained back a little weight. We still believe that she is moving in the right direction overall. I'll update again soon.

We had a good mini-vacation in the Smokies. Our family needed the break.

ryan@questionreality.org