Just arrived at the
emergency room.

On Saturday, February 6th, I drove Maida to the emergency room. She painfully felt every little bump in the road, howled at every turn, and finally breathed a deep sigh of relief when we got to the hospital. Her and I both thought this horrible pain in her side would soon be over as we walked through those hospital doors. Well, over the course of the next ten days, Maida experienced more pain and suffering and everywhere we turned, we found more questions than answers. We presented to the emergency room with faith that the doctor in the emergency room would heal her, but we checked out of he hospital almost two weeks later, understanding that there is only One who can truly heal - in His time and in His ways. There is nothing our family would change about Maida's journey because it taught us so much.

Serving as my journal and also as a way to update our prayer warriors, I spilled my heart on facebook. Here is the compilation of those posts.

High on morphine!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. Because I'm terrified! My baby girl is currently in the hospital. Please please pray for comfort and for answers.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Just found out it is not her appendix. :(

We were told that there were several churches and several Bible classes specifically praying for Maida today. It's no wonder that at 10:00 this morning and again at 6:30 tonight (usual Sunday meeting times of churches), Maida had two of her most peaceful and pain-free hours of the day! Prayer works and today is a powerful example of how God answers our pleas and provides rest in the time of trial.

A sweet note Skogen
wrote for Maida.

Please continue praying for our girl! This evening as her and I were tucking into our little hospital room, the hard reality hit as Maida cried out in pain. Her fever, which left briefly this morning and also this evening (not ironically at the same time masses of people were praying), has returned, along with the chills. As she glanced at me through the rails of the hospital bed, with her pale-white face and tear-filled eyes, she pleaded with me again, "Mama, please make this stop." And my heart broke all over again.

We are expecting some test results to come back tomorrow. We are praying for answers or for at least a sign that what we are doing for her is working. She needs relief from the excruciating pain in her abdomen and relief from diarrhea. She needs strength and an appetite.

I miss my Maida's smile, her stories, and her happy presence. Just like Maida, I wish this was all a bad bad dream and that we would all wake up soon. Please keep praying.

Monday, February 8, 2016

Thank you to everyone who has been praying! I am completely amazed at how we are all feeling the presence of an amazing God. It was a long day and I don't have any big news or updates, but wanted to share that today, Maida spent most of the day free of pain! We have found a pain management schedule that works amazingly. Also today, we were blessed with a great doctor who was committed to getting to the bottom of this mystery. Even though we have not yet figured out what is going on, we have made baby steps and we feel good about the progress. Thank you for continuing to lift Maida up in prayer. Over the next two days, we will just be waiting on some results to come back from the lab. In the meantime, I'm spending some quality time with my sweet girl. It was so good to see her smile today!! If you're up tomorrow morning, pray for Maida around 8am. She will be getting stuck for a blood draw for the 30-something-ish time and she has a lot of anxiety about this. Thank you!!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 (morning)

Our numbers are improving, which is a reason to celebrate! All cultures came back normal, which is a reason to celebrate! I only just wish that someone could give us a reason for all of this. It's not just everyday someone presents to the ED with severe abdominal pain, 103 degree fever, WBC of 26.9 and a CRP of 170. Obviously, our main goal was to get our girl well, but I know there HAS to be a reason for why she was so sick. Unfortunately, I think the doctors have nothing else they feel they can do. So for now it remains a mystery. Today we will wean her off the antibiotic and the IV fluids. She will need to start eating, drinking, and using the bathroom again soon. Sadly, I think the doctors have considered this a success. I appreciate what they have done, but I do not agree.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 (evening)

Klaasen Burke spent the day with us today! Maida seemed happy to see him and I was definitely happy to have someone to talk to and play games with. It helped pass the time. As this evening approached, Maida spiked a pretty high fever. With the fever came weakness, chills, and also concern from her doctors. This evening we repeated the blood tests to compare some of the numbers from this morning. Nothing was looking too good or too bad, but the plan is, if they look worse in the morning, we will go in for a repeat CT and possibly a chest x-ray. It's my prayer tonight that Maida will heal like crazy overnight so that tomorrow when it's time for another poke, her numbers will show an improvement. I am settled and content with not having a diagnosis, but when she's getting sicker instead of getting better (especially after so much improvement), there is concern and more questions. Thanks, everyone for praying. We need direction. We need healing.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

A day of multiple fevers and then a transfer in the ambulance to a different hospital for (hopefully) answers! It's 11:40pm and we're just finishing up with the doctors. They seem fairly confident that they can handle her case. Guess we'll see! But first, sleep.....

Bingo game!

Bingo winner!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

We need a breakthrough. We need an obvious set of symptoms that can accurately portray to the doctors what is wrong or something to guide them in the right place to look. Maida has been having hours of happy, wonderful, pain-free, sick-free times and then it quickly shifts to painful, horrible, sickly times. We need the right people in the right place to see and hear and feel what is going on when it hits. This is my specific prayer tonight. God, lead us. God, guide us.

This is a picture of Maida playing Bingo today. All the kids stay in their hospital rooms and they call the Bingo numbers out on the hospital TV channel. When you get a Bingo, you call in and they bring you a prize! Maida won twice before she was too sick to sit up anymore. Although not feeling well, she was so proud of herself.

Friday, February 12, 2016 (morning)

Maida smiled for a few minutes today, but mostly it's been rough. I'm thankful for answered prayers, though. I'm thankful for obvious symptoms that have moved the doctors in certain directions. I'm thankful for baby steps. I'm thankful for specialists and a team of doctors who have provided awesome care. I'm thankful that Erik just arrived at the hospital with Skogen (5 days is waaaay too long to go without either of these boys!) I'm thankful for our church family here in Rochester who I know I can depend on whenever I need them. I'm thankful that Klaas and T-bird are having fun with their cousin Natalie at Bumpa and Grandma's house. I'm thankful for my Maida who I can't imagine life without. Even when she's down, she keeps these nurses and doctors hopping!!

Friday, February 12, 2016 (evening)

Today Maida had THE WORST DAY. I felt a little guilty because I asked that God would make her symptoms completely clear to the doctors. He did. Now we need the doctors to actively listen, to reach out to other specialists if they need to, and to boldly move forward. I am so so thankful that Erik's coworkers switched things around so that he could be here with us, now. I can be a big bad mama bear, but when it comes to having a pull and an influence, being a physician is a lot more respectable. I am thankful for friends who have taken Barkley into their home and for others who are providing us a place to sleep away from the hospital if we need to. Tonight I am praying that these doctors will stop the observation stage and actively pursue ending this eight day nightmare. And that Maida's body can endure.

Saturday, February 13, 2016 (just after midnight)

Erik took Maida down to the ultrasound
at mighnight.

Me and Skogen praying Maida
through the ultrasound - begging God
for answers.

Prayer warriors, God is good. He guides and He provides. I am so thankful that Maida's body continued to give us signs and more loudly when we asked God to allow. I am thankful that I fought for her, even when she was feeling well, but I KNEW something was wrong. I am super thankful that Erik was able to come tonight and push for the ultrasound that no one else seemed to think was too important. Tonight at midnight, Erik accompanied Maida to this ultrasound and there they found that our baby girl had a ruptured appendix. Thank you for praying and going to God on our behalf. We are beyond thankful for answers and super thankful to soon start recovering. I'm trusting that God will lead us through the draining of the abscess and through the surgery. He is good and He is faithful. Even in dark and difficult times, I hope you all remember that.

Within minutes, they could see the
ruptured appendix.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day from Maida! She is feeling SO much better!! Many have asked about the plan and if she's had surgery, yet. She has not. On Saturday morning, she had a CT scan to see where exactly the abscesses were and it was decided that because of their placement, it was just going to be way too hard to get to them to put a drain tube in. So she has spent the last 36 hours resting and healing on some heavy-duty antibiotics. Tomorrow morning she will have an ultrasound to see if things have changed and if there is any chance we can get a drain tube in now. If so, they will put a drain tube in that will drain for a week or two. If not, we will just continue on with the antibiotics only. The plan is to be in the hospital for another week so that they can monitor her healing and she can get stronger. Then in about four months, we will come back in and she will have her appendix taken out then. We are so thankful to have our Maida back. Today was a wonderful day!

CT to check for drain placement.

Sunday, February 14, 2016 (evening)

I heard from behind me, "Hey Skogen, grab this balloon and hold it for a second." I quickly turned around and saw my sweet girl sitting up in bed all on her own and inviting her brother to play! It was such a surprise! Yesterday at times, I honestly felt like she was closer to death than life. And today, because of God's mercy and direction, she is back and all mine to love on. I missed my sweet baby girl.

Maida's first time to sit up all by herself!!!

Waiting on ultrasound.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Waiting. We've been doing a lot of it lately. This morning we're waiting on an ultrasound to see if they're able to place a drain in her belly. If so, she will go right to CT where they will put her out and get that drain in. If not, we'll head back to her room and hangout with the antibiotics some more. She's the toughest girl I know.

Monday, February 15, 2016 (evening)

Sometimes I forget I have a husband and three other kids. I hardly think about our house, having a computer, or sleeping in a real bed. I don't remember cooking, cleaning, long baths, or cozy fires. Life outside of here, outside of Maida, is foreign and distant. As I walk down the halls I see other moms of sick kids and they all have the same look. Deep in thought and robotic. Smiles aren't expected and any kind of chatter is uncomfortable. The humming and beeping of machines, high heeled doctors clunking down the hall, children occasionally crying, and IV poles rolling through are all an accepted part of the silence. It's a crazy world in here. A busy sort of lonely quiet. A sterile, sanitizer-smelling abode.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The drain was not possible yesterday, but we were able to see that the abscess is shrinking nicely. This morning Maida is all prepped and ready to get a PICC line! She doesn't want to, but knows she can go home soon after, which helps.

All ready for PICC line to be placed!

Wednesday, February 16, 2016 (morning)

This morning Maida got a PICC line. This afternoon we went through PICC line training. Now I feel so big and bad and ready to take on the PICC line world!

PICC line training

Wednesday, February 16 (evening)

Look who busted out of the hospital tonight!!! Woooohoooooooo!!!!!

******

Getting out of the hospital was a very freeing experience! Maida got her IV out, some real clothes on, and then her and I walked down the hall while we waited on some paperwork. Maida was amazed at what the hospital really looked like! After we checked out of the hosptial, we didn't have enough time to get home before giving Maida a dose of meds. So we stopped for dinner at HuHot and I solo administered the meds for the first time in the restaurant booth!