Oakley's Adventures

Boy oh boy have we had a tough couple of weeks. I have seen the site visits checking in on the blog and feel it's probably time to update you guys on the events of the last couple of weeks. It hasn't been the most fun, but we are continuing to learn a lot through it.

Last weekend Oakley, who celebrates seven months of life TODAY, had a bug bite appear. We still don't know what kind of bug bite it was, and we will never know, but it didn't appear to be out of the ordinary. Over the next couple days it grew a little bit and spread a little. We didn't think much of it, as everything we looked up said it appeard to be normal.

After a couple days Oakley started not acting like herself. Mom was sick, and we had gotten wind that there was Hand, Foot and Mouth going around her daycare, so again we didn't think much of it. Wednesday evening we had noticed it had started getting larger and harder. We called a friend who is a nurse and got some great info, and in turn called Children's Mercy. At the time they thought it sounded like a boil. They said we could come in tonight or wait until Urgent Care in the am. We eleceted to wait. By 5am it had gotten much worse and we were counting the minutes until they opened. We barely got into the room at Urgent Care when they sent us to the Childrens Mercy Emergency Room in Overland Park. We weren't there long before they in turn sent us to be admitted at the downtown Kansas City Childrens Mercy.

They discovered she had a very bad case of Celluitis and began antibiotic IV treatment. The next 36 hours were incredibly nerve wracking. Not much progress was being made, she hadn't seemed to be responding to treatment and conversations started being had about other possibilities and treatment paths. They decided to wait until the next morning and thank God they did as the treatment seemed to begin working.

We had multiple ultrasounds that showed no liquid collections under the skin which was a great thing. Saturday morning two of our friends had brought us coffee and to visit. One was the nurse we initially called and her sister. Thankfully they were there when it was determined Oakley would need a new IV put in, as they suggested we started the attempt to switch to oral antibiotics, becase that was the goal anyway. This one suggestion from two friends ended up allowing us to go home just a few hours later. We are so incredibly thankful God placed them there at that moment.

Fast foward a few days to yesterday. The Celluitis had continued to decrease in size, but the middle of the area had raised significantly. We had a follow up appointment with her pediatrician, and as we were being seen by a nurse there some puss began to come out from the area. At the time we thought it was a lot, but her Dr determined we would need to get back downtown to Childrens Mercy to have a procedure to drain whatever had pooled up and possibly blocked itself off.

So once again we found ourselves booking it back to Childrens Mercy downtown. While in the middle of the ultrasound to determine where to cut into during the procedure, God decided he was going to drain it himself, and it began to flow out right in the middle of the ultrasound. And by flow, I mean FLOW. It was a massive amount. After several minutes of continuous puss, the infected area had become flat and looked 10 times better. Even more importantly you could see the sense of relief overcome Oakley. Almost instantly we had our daughter back.

So we got to go home again last night, and we are hoping warm compresses will help get rid of anything thats left over the next few days. They extended the anti biotic treatment as well. I can't wait to see what she looks like once that ends next week. We have cancelled our trip back east to see Tanja's family, but we assumed that decision was coming with everything going on.

Through it all Oakley has been absolutely incredible. She's been the definition of a fighter. Through most of this process we had absolutely no idea how serious it was. Very little was communicated to us in regards to the seriousness of what was happening inside her body. So finding all of that out yesterday was overwhleming. After a week of holding it together, I finally broke down. It's difficult to watch your little one go through so much and have absolutley no control.

It makes you look at God's love for us in a brand new way, that is for sure. I can't imagine the love he has for us even as we make decisions that may not be in our best interest. Or do something that doesn't glorify him. He still loves us sooo much. We made a decision early on that we trust his plan for us even in this situation. Whatever the outcome is, however long it takes to get through this, we trust his plan in our life, even in this situation.

Yesterday I had taken Oakley to her follow up appt and a nurse at our Dr's Office commented on how present I am in her life and her health care. I'm at every visit, sometimes bringing her alone when Tanja is busy with work. I'm blessed to lead the life I lead today which affords me the opportunity, but when she said it, it also made me think about God's presence in our lives. He's not just at every appointment, but he is here with us every minute of every day. Through every high and every low. He is the most present father ever.

So we ask that you continue to pray for us, and mostly for Oakley. As there is still some more liquid in there and we are trying to work it out slowly at home. Pray that God intervenes and heals her completely. We have full faith that he will. Thank you to those that have known what is happening and an even bigger thanks to those that have been there for us through this journey already in so many ways. We can't thank you enough. Our New Life Community Church family has showed up in a VERY VERY big way and we can't thank you all enough.

Remember, no matter what happens in our lives, God has a plan, and his plan is perfect. Sometimes it isn't the most fun. Sometimes it means we might walk through a fire to get to the mountain top, but the mountain top is awaiting. Soon this life no matter the path will be behind us and we will be praising him who deserves all praise until the end of time. I can't wait. It's going to be truly epic in a way we can't even imagine.

God is good, All the time!