Well, this girl is just continuing to flow. She is back to where she started with the drainage and it doesn't seem to be abating. We are on day 28 today. The doctor said "She's not even close to going home." So we continue to wait. She is tolerating the albumin infusions twice daily, and will probably be done with them after today. I haven't gotten the results of her blood work yet. Her x-rays are wonderful, showing nicely inflated lungs and no residual fluid. The chest tube is working well, obviously, and she's not in any more pain except when someone comes to flush the tube. She's not taking anything for pain now, though. Not even Tylenol.
Katie Mei is starting to talk a bit more, with some not-so-well pronounced words for going to bed "nigh-nigh", cold "toad", hot "hassa", "gentle", "hello", more "mo", and lots of grunting and pointing. We're getting there. She still babbles a lot and some of it sounds Chinese. But when I ask simple questions in Chinese like "What do you want to eat?" or "what is your name?" she does not respond. My pronunciation isn't perfect, but it's no worse than hers. She is just in that period of language confusion as she trasitions to English. Merrilee did it too, and refused to even listen to spoken Chinese when she came home.
Yesterday evening Katie Mei and I were looking at photos of our family when she took a picture from me, pressed it to her lips to kiss it, and then hugged it to her neck. It was a take-my-breath-away moment. I am so thankful for that little touch. She misses her family, which means she knows she has a family. I am so in love with this child, and these little things just make my heart fill with joy. I can't wait to get her back home.
Thank you all for your comments, prayers, and encouragement. It means so much to me to have your comments pop up on my cell phone (which gets email) through out the day. Even if I don't respond, my heart is warmed by them and I am thankful.
So we continue on into our second month now, and will be here over Easter. I'm disappointed, but we'll get through it.
Love,
Petrie
2 comments:
Hang in there, Petrie! We continue to pray.
Got tears in my eyes when I read about Katie's picture moment. Am sure she and you are missing the kids and your husband so much. Thanks for updating so faithfully so that we can continue praying. I'm not sure I understand all the medical stuff going on, but can I assume that once the fluid is down her prognosis is good? Sounds like she will be able to go home at that point, am I right? Sorry you will miss being home for Easter but praying God will give you peace and joy during this season as we celebrate His awesome love for us. Take care, Gail
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