Summary

Well, we have decided to do one last post - kind of an overview of the journey we have taken:

Diagnosis:
Group A Streptococcus Pyogenes resulting in septic shock (organ failure due to an infection of the blood stream). This is sometimes called Toxic Shock Like Syndrome which differs slightly from the Toxic Shock Syndrome which occurs with excessive tampon use (Strep aureus strand).

Timeline:
May 23 5:55am - Marika was born.
May 24 10am - Julia and Marika were discharged.
May 28 7:30pm - Julia sent to the hospital by ambulance. Though she didn't have much of a fever, she had extreme abdominal pain, didn't eat much all day, and could barely walk. She was admitted into the ER, given an Ultrasound and CT scan, sent up to the Intensive Care unit for pre-op prep, and then to a surgery room for the D&C to clean out her uterus.
May 29 - June 9 - In the ICU fighting off the septic shock.
June 9 - 16 - In post-op recovery wing.
June 16 - Discharged but returned back to emerg 4 hours later due to a high temperature.
June 16 - June 24 - In post-op recovery wing.

Counts:
Number of days in the hospital: 30
Number of hospital rooms: 11
Max. number of IV pumps/meds at one time: 16
Amount of fluid Julia gained while her kidneys didn't work: 11 liters.
Number of IV attempts: too many!



Julia continues to improve and is probably at about 80-85% of her normal strength. Julia's mom and dad left this morning so today was our first time home without some help so we thought that was a good enough step to warrant our last post.

There are so many things that we are so thankful for that is hard to know where to begin, and where to end for that matter. I have been told that this blog has been very helpful and a blessing to a lot of people, but it has probably benefited me the most since it gave me chance to work through a lot of things. It was also really nice for Julia once she was conscious since I was printing it off each day and bringing it in for her to read.

We still don't know what the road ahead looks like. As Julia continues to get stronger the fear of having to return to the hospital has passed. However, some of the long term implications are still unknown so more then likely there will be some appointments in the future with an infection disease specialist.

We can't say thank-you enough to the many people that have prayed for us over the last two months. Your comments here have been a blessing to both of us, but especially to Julia. In some sense, her journey started later then mine and she is still working through all that has happened. However, I am overjoyed to be able to see her with Marika on a daily basis for the last three weeks. Marika continues to grow under the watchful eye of her mother, father, and Oma. She is so interactive with people and will take anyone on in a staring contest. Well what better way to sign off but with a few pictures:

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100:5

July 1, 2007

This is a couple of days late in coming since we did have a full weekend and visits from family. However, we are so thankful to God that we can even write that we had a full weekend. It was approriate that we were able to celebrate Marika's baptism and Julia's first time back to church on the same day. Both signify God's grace, His covenant promises, and the gift of life.

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We have been so blessed to have wonderful support from our families and our church family here in Ottawa. Both our parents were here, along with one of Matt's sisters and her family, one of Matt's brothers, and one of Julia's sisters and her husband. One blessing through out this whole ordeal has kind of been the mingling of two of our worlds. It has been kind of neat to see our family get to know some of our friends more closely and vice versa.

As we start to reflect more on the last month, the beginning of Romans 5 becomes more in focus:

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

That path from suffering, to perseverance, to character and to hope is very true. However, we can jokingly say that we feel like we have enough character for the time being.

Julia continues to gain strength each day. Last night we even took a walked down to the park. In her first week home, she really had to force herself to eat, but foods are finally starting to taste good and her appetite is starting to improve. She is also continuing to lose a lot of the excess fluid she had gained. In the course of the last 3 weeks she has lost 25 lbs.

Marika is also doing well and is really starting to "talk" more and is starting to smile more often. It has been a real blessing to have Julia interact with her on a much more regular basis.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for strength and healing.

Tuesday June 26, 2007

There are some things that you can only do at home. Things such as:

Getting some much needed rest!

Enjoying some of the beautiful flower (and fruit!) arrangements.

Being as cute as possible.

The last couple of days have been really wonderful. Even the simple task of not having to pack up to drive to the hospital is a great blessing. Julia's parents left on Monday, and Julia's sister is coming back tomorrow. We have had a couple of people from church helping Julia while I'm at work or meetings which has been a blessing.

As we, and especially Julia, work through all the has happened in the last couple of weeks, we are so thankful and blessed by the support of family and friends, and the prayers of countless people, many we don't even know. It is very humbling.

I would like to extend a big thank you, on behalf of myself and the family that stayed with me, to the many people that brought over so many meals. We had one basically every other night for almost 4 weeks!

We do ask for continued prayers as Julia does need help around the house and tires pretty quickly. However, she is making great progress and was even able to take a slow walk down the block and back tonight, which is amazing to see compared to what she was like even 2 weeks ago.

Sunday June 24, 2007

Hello All,

We are very pleased to announce that Julia has been home since 10:30 this morning. We have made it past 4 hours, and her temperature is still okay so we are more optimistic with each passing hour. She still has a long slow road to full recovery, but we praise the Lord for how far we have come.




We would like to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and we will continue to post as Julia gets stronger but maybe not every day.

I would like to finish things off with the passage I spoke to Julia just as it was all starting:

Psalm 23
A psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths
of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my
head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Saturday June 23, 2007

Julia was able to get in her CT scan this afternoon. She was told this morning that might be one of her last hurdles before going home. Her MRI didn't show anything abnormal and they decided not to draw any fluid from her since that is always a risk for invection. Her temperature has basically been normal since Friday at 2am (below 38C), so tonight it will be 48 hours. Since she hasn't taken any Tylenol or Advil for a week now, we are pretty sure that is her real temp.

Her doctor is off this weekend, but the gynecologist on call is supposed to check Julia tomorrow morning, review the CT results, give our doctor a call, and then possibly discharge Julia. So maybe, by the time some of you read this, she may be home already :)

Today was another wonderful day. Maria (Julia's mom), Marika and I visited this morning and Julia was able to feed her again and just spend time with her. Here is a little video from today.

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We had a few errands to run this afternoon and Julia had her CT. Earlier this week, my boss had called asking about the hospital food. His wife had an extended stay in the hospital as well and they knew what Julia was experiencing on the dietary front. He told me to go out and get an order in dinner for her on him. This week Julia has been building up her dietary intake to the point where that sounded like a great idea. So Julia got to eat one of her favourite dinners tonight, chicken fettuccine alfredo! Thanks Tom! I also grabbed another movie so we kind of did the whole dinner and a movie thing :)

We are praying that the on call guy shows up tomorrow and we'll keep you posted!

Love,
Matt, Julia & Marika

Friday June 22, 2007

Our midwife Kristen was in the area today and decided that we could do Marika's appointment in Julia's hospital room this morning rather then just Marika and I driving out to their clinic. We all thought this was a wonderful idea so this morning we met there. Marika is doing great and is now 8 lbs 8 oz!

Julia filled us in on the details of that morning when we had arrived. Early this morning her doctor had come in to discuss the gastro intestinal specialist recommendations about drawing some of the fluid from her abdomen area for testing. They were also considering doing a CT scan of her legs to check for any blood clots since that can be a source of infection.

About an hour later, the doctor came back since she had received a call back from the infection control specialist at the larger hospital. He had review Julia's file and had seen all that was attempted and the fact that nothing was found but she was still fighting a fever. He suggests that she might be having a drug fever, and that it might just be a reaction to one of antibiotics. So they took out the IV they had put in last night (since they can cause infection) and she is now just on the once a day oral antibiotic. However, the doctor and the specialist want to make sure she doesn't have an infection so Julia ended up having a MRI this afternoon of the abdomen area and is waiting in line to get a CT scan of her lungs. So she is definitely getting all scanned up.

Unfortunately the MRI required an illumination agent via IV to be inserted, but this time the nurse, after being fully warned by me of the past failures, and with the prospect of 1 Worthers candy for every attempt less then 4, successfully did it in one shot (and walked out with 3 pieces of candy :) )

Her last high temperature was during last night at around 2 am when it was 38.2C. Today it has been very close to the 37 C range and didn't go up during the day. We'll see what happens tonight. Maybe that antibiotic was affecting her!

Thanks once again for all your prayers and here are a few pictures from the day:

Thursday June 21, 2007 - PM

Well, even though most of the day was frustrating, Julia and I had a good night tonight. Another specialist (gastro intestinal) saw her tonight, and he will try to get approval to draw some fluid from her stomach tomorrow. Also our primary doctor (the gynacolgist) is now trying to branch out to the larger hospital in town so we'll see where that takes us.

I have been bringing in the blog print offs for the last couple of days for Julia and today I decided to take it a step further and go through her Yahoo mail (which she hasn't seen in ages) and printed off about 25 messages. We had kept saying, oh, she'll see those when she gets back, but we keep saying that, so I finally decide to make use of all the scrap paper I have and went on a printing mission. It gave me something to focus on. I'm glad I did, since it was a nice surprise and it made her smile.

We had a good couple of discussions talking about what has been happening in the last week, and the last month. We are struck again how much life is a gift. If you haven't hugged a friend this day, told a love one you love them, or spoken a kind word to a stranger, then another precious day has passed by with missed opportunities.

Julia was reading a few emails from family and we got to talking about how her cousin Marisa was doing. We had been following that, but have missed a few in the last couple of week. I'll have to print off some their latest entries for Julia tomorrow. Marisa is fighting cancer and is on a bumpy journey as well. We know many people are praying her (many of the same people as for Julia) but more are definately welcome. Here is where you can find their journey: http://marisavanderveen.wordpress.com/

We again are struck by how we are lead to certain passages. Tonight it was from Phil. 4:

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Tonight we did feel His peace, in spite of it all. I don't mean to say that events in the last couple of days haven't been frustrating, nor that we won't be upset and frustrated again (most likely tomorrow or tonight for Julia if they can't get that new IV line in), but that for some reason (the whole transcending understanding bit) we felt at peace. I should still be fuming mad right now, but I just can't be. It is a wonderful passage that applies to every day. We can so easily be anxious about anything, big or small, from life threating illnesses to forgetting the hospital parking pass, but in all things, through prayer with thanksgiving, God promises His peace.