The Tube is Out!

Today we went to the doctor and they took out her g-tube (feeding tube)! Praise the Lord. They placed this during surgery so that after surgery if we needed to use it to feed her due to complications we would be able too. We did use it and those first two weeks after surgery were some of the hardest days of our lives. God was continually good to us and we by His grace made it through and she made it through too! She is doing great and gaining weight and we are no longer using the tube so out it came! We are praising the Lord for his goodness to us.

Surgery went well

Today, Fiona's surgery went really well. She is recovering. We have made it through the Post-op recovery time wonderfully. It's the toughest time for Yetta because Fiona is usually angry, frustrated and crazy. Today she just slept through almost all of it.
Grandma Karen is sleeping at the hospital with her tonight so Tom and I can get some much needed rest. Grandmas are the best.
We were able to encourage our post-op nurse today. She claims to be a believer and was wanting good materials to encourage her in her walk. Pray for Cherry that we will have further ministry in her life. She shared with us her burdens for patients and how she prays and fasts for them. We gave her a copy of a small booklet by JC Ryle called Sickness which has been very encouraging to us. We also gave her a copy of the Two Ways to Live track to help her in her witness to patients. She told how she shared with a patient and kept up with him after his Cancer treatments and how he later became a believer and was baptized. To God be the glory!
We are also sharing our room with another family. Please pray for many opportunities to share the gospel with them and to encourage them as their 2 month old baby is in the hospital!
Thank you for your prayers!
The Garwoods

We will trust the Lord

Fiona had her pre-op today. Tommorow, May 30th at 9 am Fiona will have surgery. Please pray for her as she will have three procedures done. They will try laproscopic but if they are unsuccessful they will have to follow a much more invasive method. Please pray for people we come in contact with that they may know of the love and grace of God in our lives and for us to take opportunities to share gospel. Pray for Fiona's surgery and recovery. Pray for mommy and daddy to trust God all the more tommorow. Pray for Abby while she hangs out with Grandma and Pa Garwood this week.
We are leaning much on the Lord. This past week Yetta took the girls to the zoo and one of the animals they saw were the eagles. She shared with them words from the prophet Isaiah who said, "...but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;they shall mount up with wings like eagles;they shall run and not be weary;they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31 ESV) Please pray for us as we wait for the Lord.

Sweet Fiona Fairy

Our sweet Fiona is returning to the surgical room Wednesday, May 30Th. Although she is just three years old, over the past eight months she has had pneumonia five times. Two cases required hospital stays. In our efforts to discover the cause Fiona recently underwent a procedure to test for reflux (GERD). A new technology was used called the Bravo™ pH Monitoring System. A capsule, about the size of a gel cap, was temporarily attached to the wall of Fiona's esophagus. It measured pH levels in her esophagus and transmited readings via radio telemetry to a Receiver Fiona wore on her waistband.(pictured below on her back) The capsule collected data for 48 hours. After we turned in the receiver they uploaded the data to a computer for analysis.

Bravo pH Capsule $800
Bravo pH Receiver $10,000
Co-pay for the procedure $10
Diagnosis and treatment plan....Priceless


Diagnosis: GERD. The results of the 48 hour study revealed 58 episodes of reflux and for about 2.6% of the day she had acid sitting in her esophagus. Acid enters her lungs causing infection that leads to Pneumonia.

Treatment Plan: Surgical. We met with Dr. Applebaum to schedule a Fundoplication. This is where they take the top of your stomach and wrap it around your esophagus so that you can't reflux. We also know from previous studies she has slow gastric emptying, which means just that, her stomach empties into her intestines slowly.

When she had her feeding tube put in at 13 months they opened up the pyloric muscle between the stomach and the intestines to give her more room to pass the food through, but they may want to open it up more.

We have a gastric study study scheduled for Wednesday, May 16th. The surgery scheduled for Wednesday, May 30th. We are trusting God for our dear sweet Fiona and know that He is so good to us. We pray that we will be able to be a testiomony to all we come in contact with and that we will be able to tell them about the great hope we have in Christ!

Never Enough Time

So here it is...With all the effort I can muster...I find that there is never the time to do all that I hope to do with my life. Blogging sounded like such a great idea but where do we find all the time necessary to do all this reading, and reflecting and writing to keep up the posting every day? Being a dad and a husband and a friend and a neighbor and a brother and a son and a whatever other hat I can fit on my head hardly affords me the time to get it all done. But I find myself amazed at all the volume that someone like Al Mohler can produce with all the hats that he wears.
It's after 11pm and Yetta is working like a mad woman to finish our birthday gift for her mother. Karen turns 60 this month. Our oldest Fiona is ailing with something that might look like pneumonia. Our youngest Abby cannot stop touching Fiona, kissing Fiona, climbing on Fiona, poking Fiona, chasing Fiona, stepping on Fiona, and taking anything from Fiona. Fiona for her part only appreciates Abby about 12% of the time.

We are adopting from Uganda! It will still be some time before we are in the final stages but we have been approved on all levels and are just waiting for a baby to be assigned to us. Amani Baby Cottage is the orphanage from which we will be adopting. My sister Abby and her husband Aaron are also adopting from the same place which is a great joy for us all. We will have Ugandan cousins to grow up with.

Pastor Steve Severence from Placerita Baptist recently asked me if Yetta and I were praying together regularly. I had to confess that we were not. I am always thankful for Pastor Steve because he doesn't hesitate to challenge in such a loving way. I was encouraged to demonstrate my love for the Lord and my love for my wife by praying for her and with her everyday. We haven't yet arrived but breaking long time habits of not praying together takes time. I am just thankful that we have a gracious God who brings gentle persuasion our way (sometimes in the form of Pastor Steve.)

Kicking Things Off Right

A Merry Christmas and Happy New year. On our 3rd Christmas together Yetta and I remembered fondly our first Christmas as the Garwoods. It was just two years ago but so much has happened since. Now, a new appartment and a second child later, here we are. The providences of God are many making them hard to catalogue. But that is my task in the opening weeks of January 2006. I don't want to forget what God has taught us through this year. From Hospital stays to surgeries and helicopter rides God has been faithful to us in so many ways.
Praise the Lord forever!