Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Good News!

In case you all have missed the good news, i thought i better put it short and sweet...

First, Praise the Lord and thank you Lord Jesus that Jere is back home now, very much his happy noisy cheerful self after a day of rest from his MRI.

White blood cells count has dropped from 2000 to 17. Though it's not the best levels as acceptable levels is 0-15, we thank the Lord for this significant improvement.

Dr G who was in the MRI suite and i suppose saw the scans briefly said the water level looks stagnant as of the last scan in Dec and no pressure on brains. Praise the LORD! ALLELUIA! Thank you Lord Jesus! I know it’s His healing hands and grace working upon Jere. Amen!

Thank you all for your prayers!God bless you all!

MRI Scan - The Day

Many's been asking... what happened that day...
here goes, a little long... do bear with me.

To the hospital
6am, Jere was still sleeping when we grabbed him and rushed to the hospital as we were told to admit at 6am and uh oh... we were late. As we hopped on the car, Jere opened his eyes and smiled thinking... "Oh? an outing so early?" Poor boy, not knowing what he is in for.

Prayers prayers and more prayers
I had sent sms out to activate the prayer loop for Jere as he goes for his scan from the night before so i know Jere is very covered in prayer and we just had to trust in the Lord and let him lead.

At the hospital
We reached KKH at 0620 and headed straight for the A & E admissions room as instructed. After signing some papers, we were sent up to ward 55.

The nurses all were gathered at their station, looking reading to hand over to the next shift when we reached the ward. We went to the bed assigned to Jere. Bed 08. Hhhmmmm..... 5508! If anyone of you heading straight to buy... don't forget to contribute to Jeremiah's funds when you make a killing or remember the less fortunate and give some to them. On Jere's bed left is another Jeremiah who's admitted for cough and phlegm and the other side was a Chua Li Wei. Poor child. I could not tell whether the child was a boy or a gal. Li Wei looked like he/she had lots to say but couldn't say it. Tim and I then said a little prayer for Jere and all the other children in the ward. Told Tim to leave to send Nat to school.

I then decided to change Jere's diapers and try to catch some pee to send for the test. Got a container from the nurses and went to clean Jere up. Managed to catch some pee mid stream. Asked the nurses if I should send it to Clinic K or to leave it to them to send. They told me to leave it with them. It was 7am then. They clipped it to the files of Jere.

Got standard questions, no standard procedure?
Soon a Dr A came around. Did the standard kinda questions with me and made me sign some papers. He then said he would come later to set the plug. I was like "huh? Can't you set it when you all knock him out later for his MRI? Then it would be less traumatic to the child?" Dr A's answer was "oh? they did it like that last time? ok. good then i wouldn't have to do it." Then he also asked what drug allergy does Jere has as there was a sticker on his files to warn of allergy. I then explained that the allergy was a precautionary thing for spina bifida cases as 80% of them has latex allergy. then he said... "oh is it? i've never heard of it... where did you hear that from?" then our dear Dr A continued to say all their spina bifida kids never had latex allergy es if doubting what i had to say. Praise God they do not have this latex allergy as it would be tough to be latex free in the medical world... as gloves are latex... and even the sticky tapes they use... has latex...Well, this info is from the neuro surgeon and the internet. so it seems that these doctors may not know as much as you think they do :P but still i feel this dear dr here lacks humility... haven't he heard... everyday we learn something new? the last dr when jere was admitted was nicer about the whole thing.. he too have not heard of latex allergy but he was like... oh... ok i learn something new today! that dr was really nice.. can't remember his surname but i rem his name was Chin Tye and he's a christian too! he even played with Jere and jere gave him a half smile. God bless his heart wherever he has gone.
I just find it so so strange. Can't they just make it a standard procedure if they were going to knock out a child, do the setting of the plug only when they are knocked out? So what would happen to those children whose parents just entrusted to the hospital?

Anyway,
0830 - i was trying to sing Jere to sleep as he is getting a little grouchy. I suppose he's hungry as he has not had anything since 3-4am when he nursed in bed. I don't even know how much has he taken. The ward was just gettin too noisy as the day starts so i carried jere in my sarong sling and went out singing him to sleep. Jere slept.

Dr G came around. Found out about the urine and said to do a clean intermittent catheter (CIC) to have a clean catch of pee to send for test as what was there has been left too long she says. Apparently as they changed shift, they left the urine sample juz there. There was this staff nurse Wan Sin who just stood there for her instructions and me trying to argue... must we do the catheter? can we just send this for the test? Dr G even wanted to wake Jere from his sleep. Then i told her to leave Jere alone and do it only when he returns from his MRI. I supposed then he would be too drowsy or numb to feel much.

9am, still no news to go down to the MRI suite. Asked the nurses at the station. They said MRI side would call. at 0930, Tim returned. I handed Jere over to him and went to pump milk.

THe pump at level 5 which we were on was spoilt so i was sent to level 7 to borrow their pump. I went up to level 7 and it took them awhile before they found the funnel for me to attach to the pump. As i was pumping halfway, Tim called to say they were heading downstairs to the MRI suite. i quickly finished up with whatever i was pumping and headed straight downstairs.

At the MRI Suite
Tim was carrying Jere and the staff nurse Wan Sin was there too.
The anaesthetist came out and ask some questions then carried Jere in. We said a little prayer and left the place. I know it's gonna take at least 2 hours before he can be out. It was 1030 then.

The wait
It was starting to drizzle. We thought let's get out to grab a bite and fetch nat home and return.We went for some noodles and fetched nat to grandma's and headed straight back to the hospital.

We returned to the hospital about 12 plus and were told that it would take another half an hour more or so coz it's a long study. We left and walked about and returned at 1pm but still no news. I was getting a little worried and started to activiate prayers again. Dr G came out and apologised saying that they had to set the plug at the neck which is some big vein as they could not find any on the hands or feet. This made me feel a little worse. All i could think was... poor child. Lord, spare him. Heal him even now!

Finally
at 1.30pm, they came out and told me baby is in recovery and i was allowed inside to comfort him. Jere was crying a really weak cry as if complaining. His voice was almost hoarse. Poor baby. I was allowed to carry him but still he was complaining. Then i carried him and walked around, sang hymmns and rocked him to sleep. I suppose he must be feeling the aftermath of the anaesthesia... maybe a horrible headache that he did not know how to deal with.I told the Lord to take away all his discomfort and pain.

Back to the ward
It was about 2pm before we were sent back to the ward. I laid Jere down on the bed to rest and watched him till about 3pm. i decided to lift him and make him nurse otherwise he can't go home as he had to be observed for the next 6 hours that he drinks eats and not puke before he could be discharged. i activated everyone on the prayer loop to pray for i want Jere to go home that evening. Jere drank from mama's bar and had a baby bites biscuit. then he fell back asleep.
4pm, Dr G came and removed the plug. Poor baby screamed while it was being done. then i comforted him and nursed him after. He fell back asleep. Dr G still insisted another clean urine sample to be caught via CIC. Staff Wan Sin who was with us since morning said she would do it when Jere wakes. She's really kind. Dr G went about her rounds. Tim and I discussed the necessity of doing another urine test. Then we saw Dr C doing his rounds. Told tim to go ask his opinion. I think Dr C is just a medical officer so he did not dare to voice out much, putting everything very diplomatically. Then as he was explaining still, Dr G came and stood like 3 feet away from me, writing her reports. i quickly turned to her and asked again is it necessary and her opinion is still the same yes.... explaining that the staff did not send the urine sample straight to test and kept at room temperature and the test may not be accurate. actually i was quite furious then but kept my cool coz i felt the staff was at fault for not acting on it. anyhow, dr g also said that getting the pee from CIC would be really clean and that would be better. We finally gave in since Jere was already in the hospital... might as well la...Jere is still sleeping while the whole world turns... haha almost upside down thanks to dear mama me :P Dr G then said we would see Dr T in 2 weeks time and she said the scan shows the water quite stagnant and no pressure on the brains. PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU LORD! Urine in the morning was sent for test after all. The results was the wbc has fell to 17 from a high of 2000! These 2 pieces of news were great news! wonderfully good news! all we had to do is TRUST IN HIM.

First experience of CIC and news of discharge
5pm we carried jere into the treatment room. Staff Wan Sin was really gentle. Jere was still drifting in and out of sleep as she did it. Then a Dr came in and said Jere can be discharged. We exclaimed PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU LORD! and she echoed after us yes PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU LORD! she really seemed like an angel sent to us to give us the news. Then we realised staff Wan Sin has finished what she was doing. We cleaned Jere up and we were all ready to go home.
We left the hospital about 6pm! earlier than expected! Thank you Lord! ALLELUIA!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Urine Culture - Results

Staff Nurse Zhang from KKH just called to say the lab reports a mix bacteria growth.
To repeat urine test to see what's the wbc again tomorrow. Pray that it'll be back to normal.
Staff Zhang says once Jere wakes from his GA tomorrow from the MRI, whisper to him ask him to ssh sshh... so cute the way she put it. She's quite a nice one from KKH. God bless her heart.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

MRI Scan

Jere will be admitted on Tuesday 20th March morning at 6am for his Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan. Fasting will start at 2am.Please pray that it will be a smooth one and the scan results would be positively good, so good that it's just gonna shock those doctors and they juz gonna believe that it can only be by the work of God. Amen.

Lord, we submit Jeremiah to you Lord as he goes for his MRI scan. You are the Creator, the Healer. We trust that You go before us and You will set everything aright. Thank you Lord Jesus. Praise You Lord Jesus. Alleluia! Amen!

Friday, March 16, 2007

Urine Test results OUT

Jere's white blood count is 2000 when the acceptable range is 0-10.
Now gotta send the urine for culture.
Please pray that God will intervene and protect Jere from all infection and complications. Amen

Urine Test

Been bugging Ros to catch some pee from Jere to send for urine test. She finally caught some at 0915. Gonna ask Tim to rush it down to KKH for a test. Ros is worrying me with what she says about the urine that it smells and it's not clear. I just hope that she's not too good at expressing herself here.

Please pray that the test would be clear.
Lord, into your hands I commit Jeremiah as we send his urine for test. Please clear it Lord for we know through you all things are possible. Amen

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Dennis Brown Shoes - Part 1


What a fanciful name! Plainly put, bluntly or crudely said I would just call them shoes with bolts and nuts!

These shoes are prescribed for Jere by the orthopaedic and now Jere puts them on 23 hours a day! Yes! Crazy! Absurd! The only time he has them off is when he takes a shower. But looks like I've got no choice as it's better to correct them now than later. The consoling thing is that Jere do not need the bolts and nuts so we took them all out. Talk about taking them out... I'll fill u all in about our adventure later...

anyway...

After seeing the Orthopaedic in Jan and being prescribed these, we could only get the earliest appointment on the 27th Feb to get these shoes. Yes we had to see a physiotherapist to fit the shoes and get them so for that one month, i googled and saw things that really scared me silly coz i saw pics of kids wearing these with the bar holding the 2 feet together.


Well, in actual fact these shoes don't look too awful though anytime I would rather choose the nike and adidas that I wore for Nat before. They look like skate boots that we wear on the ice skating rink don't they?

March Spiritual Calendar

Lenten Reflection & Triduum by Fr Augustine Mundackatt V.C. & Team
www.parithrana.org
Family Mass and Healing Service
at St Joseph's Church 143 Victoria Street
Family and Love
7pm Thur 15 Mar 07

Family and Prayer
7pm Fri 16 Mar 07

Family and Eucharist
6pm Sat 17 Mar 07

3rd Sat Mass with Healing Service
Church of St Michael
Fr Michael Arro
Rosary session 6.45pm
Praise & Worship 7.30pm
Mass with healing session 8.00pm

March Medical Calendar

Mar 8 - Neurologist Dr W to assess global development and progress.

Mar 20 - Scheduled MRI Scan to assess of progress of the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)in Jere's head and spine.
Please pray that the Dr could give Jere a sedated MRI rather than a GA and that the results would be positively good that Jere need no shunt. Amen
To see neuro surgeon Dr Tang in 2 weeks.

Mar 29 - Urologist Dr Y to assess progress of neurogenic bladder

Mar 30 - Orthopaedic Dr A to assess the right foot that is a little bent inwards.

Please pray that Jere will be covered from the top of his head to the soles of his feet with Jesus precious blood and be granted complete healing Amen.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Discharge gone!!

ok.. i know the title sounds kinda gross.

But i juz wanna tell everyone's who's been worried that it'a gone!!!
As i posted on Monday that Sunday Jere had some creamy looking discharge from his penis and we continued to monitor on Monday, it was diminishing almost gone. This morning i changed him it was a clear pee.
Praise be to God! Thank you Lord!

However he seems really uncomfortable when he's having a bowel movement. Some babies have constipation after starting on solid but Jere's also got a nerve problem to start with and we've been warned that his anus muscle may not be as strong. Please keep Jere in your prayers that the Lord God would strengthen Jere's hips down everyday and straighten his foot that Jere would soon start crawling and walking and running like you and me :) Amen.

Monday, March 12, 2007

thoughts....

As I was walking to the mrt to take the train to work, my mind was so full of thoughts.

Firstly, frankly, I am worried. Jere had some creamy discharge from his penis since yesterday morning. To bring him to Dr Simon Ng or to KKH. Whichever I go, they are bound to send jere for a urine test and take it from there. As Jere has a history of a neurogenic bladder and urinary tract infections (UTI), i tend to worry. However, he's still the happy smiley self. Praise be to God! I told my dear helper Ros to try to catch the pee if she can and zoom it down for a test and to watch out for anything that is not normal.

Been praying that the whitish creamy discharge is something that the Lord wants to get out of jere's system and it's juz a process of healing.Go worries! Go creamish discharge in the mighty name of Jesus! Jere will be well! Amen!

I am so excited about the healing services this week. I've been looking forward to meet Fr Augustine since I heard about him from Henreeta. I believe, God chooses certain people to work through and Fr Augustine is one of them.
There will be mass and healing service by Fr Augustine Mundackatt V.C. & team at St Joseph's Church at Victoria Street. The mass and healing services on 15th 16th and 17th Mar are family themed. I'm gonna try getting people like Jo, Laura and family to go. I think it's gonna be a wonderful experience for all of us. I think we all need healing and we just need to open our hearts and minds to do that. I hope to get my dear sis gladys to come along too.

I really hope that i will be able to finish my work early this week so i can attend all the sessions.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Honeydew face!



This was how Jere smiled after i fed him some Honeydew.

He cringed then he blinked then he smiled and opened his mouth for more. Hilarious! I just could not get enough of that honeydew face! Juz look at his happy face! You won't believe what he has been through. Jeremiah, my brave warrior of God.

Value of life?

From jere's birth till now, there are a handful that have told me that they would have aborted the baby if they had known baby had a birth defect. Why? why would anyone abort a child? Just to preserve the quality of life?

I look at jere and I know i would carry the guilt for life if i had done it. I am glad i gave Jere the chance and I bless and thank God for making Jere an instrument of His love. To be a testimony of how loving and merciful He is. I thank God for giving me a purpose driven life, that is to journey this life in faith with Jere. I never regret bringing jere into this world. he's such a beautiful child smiling in all his sufferings. Jere has taught me so many things. To smile in my sufferings. To love unconditionally. To surrender it all to God. The value of each and every life is just inestimable!

Why i start this blog?

Been reading lotsa blogs but never ever thought I would start one... coz I thought "where got time????"

but i know i have to start it coz of Jeremiah, my precious blessing from God since 5th July 2007 if not for myself. I need to tell and share of how loving and merciful God has been to us.

I would try to alternate between giving recent updates and filling up on what has happened.

This blog would definitely be easier for all who's asking about the updates of this special little child since he was born. Thank you! all of you who's been keeping Jeremiah covered in prayer.

For all of you who has yet to know this special little one Jeremiah, Jeremiah is a gift from God to Tim and me for our 5th wedding anniversary in 2006 when we found out we were preggy with him.


Jeremiah was born on the 5th July.
I will backdate posts to tell you more of this little fella. In short, little Jeremiah was born with a birth defect spina bifida. Spina Bifida means cleft spine, which is an incomplete closure in the spinal column or in other words also known as an open neural tube defect. In general, there are three types of spina bifida (from mild to severe) unfortunately bb jeremiah has got the most severe form of spina bifida, Myelomeningocele. Stayed in Neo natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Mt Alvernia for 16 days after his birth and has had 2 operations since. One of the first day of his birth and another on the eighth day to repair a leakage.

However, while putting him through treatment, I am still praying for a miracle and i am really blessed and comforted to know that there's many also in the prayer loop for baby Jeremiah.

Currently Jeremiah is seeing the neurological dept, orthopaedic dept and the paed surgical dept to monitor his kidney and bladder closely.

Today, we are still praying as we take him for his routine treatments and checkups that God will grant Jere complete healing and bring His works in Jere to completion. We know God has plans for Jere, Plans to prosper not to destroy. Thank you Lord.

There can be miracles.... if you believe....

Friday, March 9, 2007

TGIF?

People would thank God it's Friday but i do not know why i am feeling so bogged down and blue and horrid tis Friday.

Is it because Tim is outa town and I am holding the fort myself?
Is it my job nature when Friday, there's more work that i am feeling so sucky?
or is it that i took meat consciously and feeling damn guilty about it? esp it being Lent season?

Had lunch with a colleague D who's preggy and she wanted to have Indonesian food and i really did not have the heart to turn her down. heh. D, don't kill me for not being honest :P Left it to her to order though she did ask for my opinion. In the end we ordered some chicken soto kinda soup and a fish with rice. I should have just kept away from the chicken. Felt guilty and horrid after for taking meat as it is not only a Friday but a Friday in Lent :( Maybe i should go for a good confession. but the lunch is good D.

Monday, March 5, 2007

My first post


yes... my first ever...

told myself... sit on it no longer.


Jere's 8 mths today. Jere's the real reason why I am starting this blog so i told myself. I have to make an entry today to mark Jere's 8 months!

Praise God for this child so wonderfully made!