This blog post is part of a series that I began for telling our story. You can read the first post here.

From this point forward, I’m going to be sharing the text of posts as they were written at the time. Some will come from this blog; others, from our CaringBridge site. I may from time to time write my own reflections after re-reading, but mostly I will just be sharing words as they were written. So much of this journey for me is revisiting what happened, and realizing just how difficult the journey was for us. And now, seeing how far we’ve come since that time.

From CaringBridge, written on April 24 by my sister:

The infectious disease doctor was just in and said that her other infection (the new one) is entral coucuus which starts in the bowels and spreads, so they are checking her immune system.  They also said that studying her records that she did not exhibit normal growth patterns of a preemie so they are starting genetic testing and bringing in the pediatric genetic doctors to add to the team of doctors working on her case.

So now more tests will start – spinals, possible marrow testing, tissue and organ tests – lots of tests…..

She will have surgery tomorrow to put in a permanent pic line to her heart.  She needs to be on antibiotics for 6-10 weeks.  She is so small and high risk that they will do it under anesthesia.

They are also doing an ultrasound on her lungs this morning because they seem to be filling with fluid. Also the arterial line was feathering to it is being replaced with the pic line, they had to redo her femoral line last night as well with sutures because of bleeding.

So much news.  We just continue to pray.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed – Alleluia!

We are rejoicing right now with some POSITIVE news this time.  
The doctor came in and said that the EEG is no longer showing seizure activity – hooray!  Also the blood cultures are showing a decrease in the bacteria.  Tomorrow Samantha will have another spinal tap to see if this is true in the CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) as well.  Samantha is also trying to breath on her own – she isn’t strong enough to do so by any means, but the fact that she is trying to is a very positive sign!  She is also responding to stimulus like tickling (of her feet), voices, and diaper changes – she gets really mad at those.  This is all very positive to the doctors that she is so responsive.  They actually have to keep her sedated to take care of her, which isn’t always true of preemies that are as sick as Samantha is so we praise the Lord for all of this great news!  

She still has to go in for surgery tomorrow as I indicated on the previous post – they will also do her spinal tap while she is in surgery so that they have the help of the radiology equipment to help guide them, as well as her being under anesthesia.  She still has 6-10 weeks of antibiotics ahead of her, plus many many tests.  We do realize that this will be a ‘time will tell’ and ‘2 steps forward, 1 step back’ as they keep striving to find the balance that works best for Samantha and also to help her heal as much and as quickly as possible.  We are so thankful for good news today – our God is a God of miracles (Psalm 77:14!) and He is performing them in little Samantha’s life.  

Please continue to go forth to Him for precious little Samantha as well as her parents, the doctors, nurses and medical team.  Thank you so much for your faithful prayers, messages and encouragement.  They mean so much.  God’s blessing to you all – Happy Easter!  He is risen!  He is risen indeed – Alleluia!!! 

Next post coming tomorrow.