Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,

Leah is quite sedated today but when I speak to her she opens her eyes & will often indicate ‘yes’ or ‘no’ by nodding or shaking her head.

The Doc on duty is “old school” and the last time he spoke to me he was so blunt and pessimistic about Leah’s chances of survival that I had a very sleepless night – my ONLY sleepless night since Leah’s admission as I am quite practiced at sleeping in a hospital environment.

Therefore I was not looking forward to what Dr KillJoy had to say to me today. I certainly don’t want any Dr to give me false hope, I just don’t want them to take away hope completely and thankfully today he didn’t.

None of the samples taken from Leah’s lungs on Monday have grown any bacteria, viruses or fungi so the Docs have now concluded that her respiratory failure has been caused by inflammation in her lungs not infection, but this is still a complication of transplant.

They are now giving her mega doses of intravenous steroids. They have also decided to defer the immunoglobulin and I have been given a few different reasons for this – personally I think it’s because doctors differ!

Today’s Doc says that Leah’s condition is static – that in itself is good news – that nothing major has gone down hill since yesterday. He says that if there is going to be a positive response to the steroid therapy it will take at least 4 or 5 days – so let’s keep hoping and praying.

I’m going back in to Leah now to play all those beautiful faith filled songs that she loves to listen to. Thank you everyone for your lovely messages of support.

Every day as I head into ICU I try to fix my mind on one Bible verse that will give me the strength to keep going – this is today’s verse –

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9

In death, In life, I’m confident

Today’s consultant is from Youghal in Cork so how could he be anything but nice?

Leah’s oxygen requirements remain unchanged & he is going to lighten her sedation so that she can respond to us. This makes me feel better as I miss her terribly when she’s fully sedated.

Her kidney function tests are “trending upwards” which is “doctor speak” for getting slowly worse, but they are not yet at the stage where she needs dialysis.

The problems with her kidneys could be caused by all the anti microbial agents she is on (antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, ) or it could be all part of the inflammatory process taking place in her body.

The Docs are waiting on today’s update from the microbiologists re the samples that were sent off on Monday.

If none of these have grown anything then they will take her off some of her antimicrobials which will hopefully lighten the load on Leah’s liver and kidneys.

They will also be able to drastically increase her dose of steroids and they will give her the intravenous immunoglobulin that was recommended yesterday.

On Sunday when a church minister was visiting us, Leah starting playing the song “One Thing Remains” on her iPad and when we weren’t taking any notice she gestured to the iPad for us all to listen to the song:

“In death, In life, I’m confident and
covered by the power of Your great love
My debt is paid, there’s nothing that can
separate my heart from Your great love…
Your love never fails, never gives up
Never runs out on me [3x]”