Here we go again...

Hello. This Matt writing. And just to get things out there quickly, Elizabeth was readmitted to St. Louis Children's Hospital again this morning. I'll spare you the dramatic details, but briefly put: last night she was fine, but this morning at 5:30 developed a VERY high fever...to high to be anything benign. So I woke Sara and we took her to the ER. A lot has happened over the day, but the take home is this: Elizabeth has an anaerobic bacteria growing in her blood stream. With this information, we've been able to get her on a set of antibiotics we think will work. In fact, after just two doses, Elizabeth's fever has started to come down and she's looking more like herself.

Most of tomorrow will be organized around trying to discover the source of the bacteria. Leading possibilities for the source focus on her intestines or the ascites fluid she has had in the past.

Through all of this, we are grateful to God for a number of things:

1. My board examinations were Tuesday, and it would have been considerably more stressful if Elizabeth had gotten sick just 1 day earlier.

2. The nursing staff knows us so well that they arranged for us to get the big half of our room from the outset.

3. Out support network here in town has been forged with our previous hospitalizations and is already helping us out.

Aside from focusing your prayers on Elizabeth's recovery and wisdom for her doctors, please also pray for:

1. Sara's health. She has the beginnings of a cold and is 81/2 months pregnant. Sleeping in the hospital is less than ideal in that state! We have an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow morning to check in the baby and make final plans for delivery.

2. The co-worker who normally covers for me when Elizabeth is in the hospital is out of town this weekend. And in fact, I'm covering her patients! The logistics of helping with Elizabeth's care and fulfilling my work obligations is complicated.

We'll keep you updated as information becomes available,

Matt

Here's a picture of Elizabeth from yesterday...happily playing with her Physical Therapist.