Seeing Pink

It's going to be another girl for the Livesey family . . . for Bob's parents, this makes five grand-daughters!! We are thrilled (as we would be, regardless) but it is so fun to know and to begin imagining life with two girls. Erica is very excited and has already offered to share her room with the baby.

Baby is due July 15th and, in the meantime, we will be busily preparing . . . getting down the baby swing and infant carrier that we used only 3 and a half years ago.

Prayers for a healthy baby and a successful procedure for Erica tomorrow.

It's the Little Things

Erica's two year panel of tests call came back looking very pretty. I could certainly go into details but I think that the end result says it all; organs look good, blood completely matches the donor and the gvhd is under control.

The one thing that continues to be a struggle is Erica's swallowing; she gags and chokes 2 or 3 times, at every meal. What started as a nerve wracking chain of events is now common place; we just allow her the calmness to gag up the food and then spit out whatever she can. And then we all go back to our meals. It is now just a drill but one that we wish would end. She has been to the docs and she has undergone swallow evaluations by speech and occupational therapists. We have played with several theories but in the end, nothing has worked. So, this coming Monday, she will go under anesthesia yet again and they will perform an esophogoscopy procedure. During this procedure they will be able to view her upper airway and digestive tract. Our hope is that there will be some indication of what is causing this eating disruption. It's one of those catch 22's, we hope they find the answer but we hope they don't find anything that is wrong or worrisome.

It is hard to say if this is a direct consequence of her treatment or perhaps ramifications from the internal GVHD . . . I am sure it is all connected. It's just frustrating for us but Erica rolls with it . . .she continues to eat what she can and doesn't make a fuss. At the end of each gagging episode she collects her breath and then says to us, "I'm OK".

This Friday we will get to tell Erica if she will have a brother or a sister!! We are all very excited.

I'll be sure to share the news on all fronts just as soon as we hear (or see). Please keep Erica in prayer next Monday that all goes well with her procedure. As parents, we just continue to hope that all of these little side effects go away, and you know, they are . . . we can't ever lose sight of how far she has come. I just sometimes think about the questions she may have about her new sibling . . . When does he or she get her tubes put in? Where are her or his tubes? How many "buggies" (meds) does he or she get mama? When do we give her or him the shot? Why doesn't he or she get a shot? ~~All in time, these and many more questions will certainly be asked. It's ok though, she'll continue to learn more and more about the journey that she has already traveled.

In Faith.