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Day 36:

My Dearest Kitty, (That is what Anne Frank called her diary)

Long days of waiting produce answers, right? Early this morning our resident doctor asked us to keep Harper off of food and drinks until after the scan. I rocked my starving baby all morning hoping that the rhythmic motion would lull her to sleep and keep hunger away. Her bony hips and bottom dug into my legs while I cradled her thin shoulders close to my mama bosom. Almost every time that a sigh of relaxation escaped her sweet lips, the door would creak open and a nurse, doctor or consult would come in for something. I finally asked the nurse to place a sign on the door asking people to knock and wait until we stepped out of the room. Of course, about that time Nick went to grab a snack and they had to come into the room anyway. Mama bear tried.

The cat scan and pic line went well. I found her in the recovery area happily sucking down a purple Popsicle. When the baby next to us began to wail Harper looked at me with big eyes, "I think we need to pray for that baby." I kissed her sweet forehead, glowing.

Finally, after a long, gloomy day our new doctor knocked on the door. He is brilliant and co-wrote the chapter in the textbook about pediatric infectious disease. After examining the cat scan images he was able to identify an area about the size of a kitchen sponge, or deck of cards, lingering in the bottom of her lungs. It is like a big scab in her pleural sack, or lung sack, with some icky areas within. The surgery team will re-examine the images with his recommendation to proceed with surgery to remove the infection. They will make the call, but I am sure his advice carries a lot of weight. We don't know for sure right now, but we feel like they will do surgery. There are two ways to do this. 1. use a computer arm with a camera or 2. open her up and go through her ribs. This should remove the lingering infection that isn't responding to antibiotics and alleviate the fever. It may also help them discover just what bacteria is causing this. I don't like either option, but I also don't like having a seriously sick child for over a month. I just want what is best for her in the long run. I want my Harper.

Please please continue to pray for wisdom and discernment for our doctors and nurses. Pray for my sweet girl. Pray for healing and a full recovery.