News about Liam

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October 2, 2007

After the rain…a rainbow!

Today was a good day – relatively speaking, that is. The weather is still gloomy, with patchy dark clouds and a gentle misting of rain that feels like it has now lasted for days (I think it has!). As I look outside Liam’s window, it is hard to miss the fact that fall is now upon us. The trees, which were just moments ago overflowing with the deepest shade of green one can imagine, have now begun their transformation to celebrate the arrival of a new season. The chameleon changes seem to leave the locals unaffected. They wear more layers to stay warm, drink even more hot coffee and just continue on, never missing a step. For me, the change is breath taking, awe-inspiring, incomprehensible. All of life, the details great and small, are a wonderment of God perfect plan. This too, I will talk with Him about when we are face-to-face one day. But for now, I will just quietly say thank you.

Sorry for the rambling, but today is so out of context in comparison to the medical trends that we have been experiencing over the past week. Liam has been fighting increased nausea and vomiting; today he ate pasta salad – the first bit of food to pass his lips in 9 days, and so far, he has kept it down! Liam has been struggling with muscle spasms in his back, which have come on more aggressively and without warning. Time alone was all that would alleviate the crippling spasms; Today Liam was visited by Physical Therapy who worked to stretch his body and walk him up and down the halls. In addition, Occupational Therapy came in and brought a yoga mat and taught Liam 6 Yoga moves – the cool thing is that he did not want to get off of the mat when he was done. Clearly this brought his body the gift of relief today.

Marcie, the fun-loving, young, adorable Child Life Specialist came in today to spend some time with Liam. She is trying to get him back to connecting with people – eye contact, a smile here or there and to learn how to ‘dump’ the junk that we all tend to keep inside…Let’s just say that she is VERY good at her job. Marcie and Liam talked about things he is interested in like snowboarding, myth busters and Wii. They also talked about the tough stuff about being sick. The nurse came in to do Liam’s vitals while Marcie was in the room and lets just say that THIS time, Liam’s blood pressure elevated above normal for a very good reason – laughter sure is good medicine!

The most amazing gift Liam received today arrived about an hour and a half ago. James, the respertory therapist who has been working with Liam the last few days decided to come in early before his shift begins so that he could ‘hang out’ with Liam. They talked, played Wii, made plans for pizza once Liam gets set free, and told Liam that he really wants his friends to meet Liam. Liam got all “puffy” with pride – James really made him feel special.

Today was indeed a good day. There are still concerns about Liam’s kidney functions (Toxic Kidneys), elevated liver functions and symptoms that have yet to be explained. He will have a liver biopsy tomorrow to determine if he is yet again in rejection, if there is a virus in the liver or if there is something else that could be causing all of his symptoms.

Prayer for tonight: Praise and Gratitude for answered prayers.
Prayer for tomorrow morning: Successful biopsy procedure and divine medical intervention to determine the best way to help alleviate these symptoms and allow Liam to once again be thinking about going home.