Have you all ever noticed the more "connected" you are with other people, the more you share in their sorrows? Being aloof from folks really does make one an island of sorts. In just the past couple of weeks, I have prayed for a woman with a brain tumor, a woman with an adoption gone awry, my own dear niece and sister and a friend's daughter newly diagnosed with cancer.

If I could make a bubble, I wouldn't have to share this pain or grief. Of course, then, I would not share the joy and friendship that comes with it. Excluding my sister and niece, I know none of these people about whom I have thought so much this month.

My sister and niece and brother-in-law are at their monthly cardiologist appointment. Today, they find out what course of action the doctor recommends. Two months ago, the doctor seemed to indicate that one of the holes in her heart had been healed. We know Marshall is being healed, but sometimes the process seems so painful that we forget what has happened.

If you've never before read my blog, I'm not usually so melancholy. This is just one of those days.

Anyway, next week, Marshall is scheduled to have the cataracts removed from her eyes. The opthalmologist believes she will be able to see once they are gone. She does have limited vision now, but is having to look around the cataracts. She also has some sort of optic blood vessel that usually disintegrates at birth that is still intact. The surgery will remove that vessel as well.

It seems there is so much to say about Marshall that I have not been telling and I know people have prayed for her. When she was released from the NICU, the doctors believed she only had a few weeks to live. So, the g-tube they inserted was only temporary. My sister dealt with that tube for four months and then took Marshall to a gastro-enterologist. He was astounded that the doctors were so sure of her imminent death they didn't provide her with a more stable feeding arrangement. Now, Marshall has a "g-button" that is much easier to keep clean and MUCH less likely to be ripped out than the tube was.

Marshall was diagnosed with Trisomy 13 at birth. Usually, this condition is diagnosed in utero. Marshall was flown by jet to New Orleans where she stayed in the NICU for two months. Initially, the doctors said she wouldn't live past two months (95% of babies diagnosed with trisomy 13 die before birth). Now they say, not past 1 year. Please pray with us that our family continues to be able to provide for Marshall's needs. As long as any child receives proper medical attention, the survival rate is much higher! Because of the multiple organs affected by this condition, most doctors just give up the fight. If you are praying, pleas pray that my family finds the best doctors possible.

Thanks for sticking with this post. I'm just really thinking about all of this a lot lately...

Becca

"Jesus is going to make her better..."

Well, some of you may remember my earlier post about Marshall. Marshall is still doing well. She has been home since Christmas week (6 weeks in ICU!) and she and Micah and Drew and Laurel and all of us are settling into the routines of cardiologist visits, 6 doctor teams and oxygen level monitoring.

My little sister is still my hero...

Anyway, the other day they were driving home from Dallas, when Marshall choked. She became angry and held her breath. Micah's story is that Marshall's entire body stiffened and then went limp as the proverbial dishrag. She simply stopped breathing. Micah was in the back seat with Marshall and Laurel while my mother drove. One call to OnStar and three quick rescue breaths (calmly administered by my sister) and Marshall was breathing again.

Thankfully, lungs were clear with no aspiration.

After my mom called Onstar, she began to cry and pray in the front seat. Laurel (3) leaned forward and said, Don't worry MeeMama, Jesus is going to make her better."

Mark 10:15

Marshall and Kermit and New Orleans

I always find it amazing how quickly our plans can change. Remember Helen, GA? Well, we still haven't seen it. My little sister had her second daughter on Wednesday, November 15th. Marshall was taken by jet to New Orleans the next day. So, the last week and a half, I have lived between the Ronald McDonald House and the Children's Hospital. We have met so many brave people in such a short time span. I feel like I have met compassion and pain and love and faith and prayer. I have looked into their faces.

At first glance, I suppose the picture of Kermit throwing up (for that is what he is doing) seems out of place. My older niece came up with the idea for that photo. We were both sick while in NO and so had the experience fresh in our minds. Kermit was rescued from a thrift store in New Orleans. A little sponge-bathing and he'll be good as new!

The middle picture shows my husband looking out Marshall's NICU window. We put crystals in the window to encourage dancing rainbows...which leads me back to Kermit and the Rainbow Connection which leads me to little Marshall. Please pray for our sweet niece to be healed. She was diagnosed with a chromosome mutation. We believe she will be healed.