Zach Dotsey

This morning Amanda and I had Milly lying on the bed and, in the course of playing with her and loving on her, took turns kissing her.  So I would lean over to kiss her, then Amanda would, then I would again and so forth.  After a few times, Milly would look at the other person after one kissed her, so I’d kiss her then, expecting that her mommy would kiss her next, she’d look at her.  She can anticipate now!  She can learn a pattern and know what to expect based on recent past experiences!  How cool is that?  She’s also definitely tracking movement now, too.

A little later we loaded Milly up in the sling for the first time (Amanda, it turns out, is too small to comfortably strap it on herself, so I wore it) and walked to the grocery store (her first time inside a grocery store!). Not too long after we got back, Joanne, Pierre, Tracy and Ricky came by after leaving the place they were staying at Topsail to see Milly and check out the house and the nursery. They stayed for a little bit (I thought Tracy was going to take one or both of Harvey and Milly) then look off back home.

Milly was able to take a nap a little after that so Amanda and I showered up then waited for Nick and Amy and Eli to come over.  We got news that Missy, Nick’s sister, is not doing very well at all.  In fact, Nick’s text message said he’d heard from his mom that she didn’t expect her daughter to last the day.  At this point we haven’t heard anything, so keep her in your prayers.

Anyway, I told Nick they didn’t have to come over if they didn’t feel up to it, or that we could go over to their house if it would be easier for them, but he said they were on their way over, so we kept things as planned.

Once they got here we ate a chicken salad and the brownie dessert pizza thing Amanda made yesterday.  Part of it had strawberries and the other part had bananas and walnuts, but she made the strawberry portion larger, figuring that more people would like the strawberries and I could just pick them off and replace them if I wanted more.  It turns out that Nick liked the bananas and walnuts better too, and there was a definite strawberry taste left after removing them.  At any rate, it was very good.

I got a call from Mike Paschal asking if I could run a camera tomorrow as they were in a bit of a pinch.  After consulting with Amanda, I agreed.  The main thing was that she isn’t supposed to drive for a little while yet, but Amy said she’d pick her up and they’d go to the 10:30 service at church tomorrow.  Later Amanda realized other issues, such as getting Milly ready by herself and feeding her without any help (I’ve been holding back her arms and trying to get her to open her mouth wider to help Amanda out), but I’d already said I’d do it.

After dinner there were two fussy babies to tend to.  Nick mentioned playing a game, and I thought of Tony Hawk 4, which I have for the old Xbox.  I took that downstairs and hooked it up, but somehow before I got a chance to play more than a round of it, Amy and I ended up upstairs trying to entertain Eli and Milly while Amanda and Nick played the game.  Amanda and I used to play it quite a bit, and though we’d forgotten a lot it came back to us more quickly than Nick could learn it.

Meanwhile, Eli was lying in one of our baby gyms, or whatever it’s called, punching at a singing butterfly while I had Milly on the rug.  She was just staring at things, but she was happy.  Eventually Amy and I held the two of them close together and Eli grabbed Milly’s hand.  At least he didn’t try to beat her this time.

After the Warkentiens left (with our car seat base to make things easier in the morning) Amanda and I took each other on in the Graffiti mode of Tony Hawk.  We tied the first round, I won the second and she won the third.  Pretty even, huh?

Zach Dotsey
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Missy could really use your prayers today. She’s not going well. She’s supposed to have a surgery today to get a feeding tube put in. They’ve been trying to do this surgery for a while, but have not been able to because her blood is so thin. They’ve been trying for days to raise her red blood count. Today is their last effort.

From Nick’s sister, Amber:

Well a lot has happened since last we’ve posted anything. I apologize for the long absence of information, things have been very crazy with Nick and Amy’s new baby Elijah, Jenny planning her wedding and myself counseling at a Youth Camp in NY.

I was able to visit home the first couple of weeks of June. It was such a sweet visit! Missy seemed to be doing rather well. They had a port put in so that she doesn’t have to be pricked so much. They also trained my mother to be able to drain her chest at home, which greatly adds to Missy’s comfort.

Today though, I would ask again for your prayers. Since my visit home there have been a few steps down hill.

Missy’s Anemia has been very persistent, requiring a blood transfusion about once every 2 weeks. Her Left chest cavity has now started filling with fluid, meaning that they may need to put a port in on the left side so that we can drain that as well. Her Edema is acting up again causing her abdomen, legs and feet to swell. Doctors have told us that the greatest threat to her right now is the lack of nutrition in her body. So, a feeding tube will be place in this week. hopefully they can take care of the lack of nutrition with high nutrition and Calorie shakes. Due to all to all of these complications, Missy has spend about 2 1/2 of every 4 weeks in the hospital. Doctors don’t offer much encouragement in this situation, but that’s ok because they are not God and we know that He still holds Missy’s life in his hands. Her life is His and He can take when He wishes. In spite of all this Missy has gained a bit of strength the past couple of days and the swelling has gone down in her neck almost completely!

We are all doing alright. God continues to show us his Grace and Mercy in the midst of this. I really don’t even what to think about what a wreck we would be if we didn’t have the peace of knowing that Missy has a better home waiting for her in Heaven because she has placed her trust in Christ alone. Thanks so much for your prayers and encouraging words.

Psalm 62:1-2 My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my Salvation. He only is my rock and my Salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.

Amber Warkentien

It’s been another long week in the hospital. But things are going well. Missy was admitted to Bronson hospital in Kalamazoo Michigan again on Mother’s Day. They had removed about 1 1/2 gallons within the previous 10 days but when she got there the entire right side of her chest cavity had filled again. They decided to go ahead and put a port in on Tuesday. The surgery went well and they removed some of the fluid at the same time. With the port, they will be able to draw blood, give her IVs, do blood transfusions and other things of that nature. They will still have to puncture her skin but they can always insert the needle into the port rather than trying to find a vein. She had another surgery today to put a tube into her left side that comes out the front of her abdomen. With that, she will be able to drain the fluid herself and (hopefully) she won’t have to visit the hospital as often. I talked to her just a little while ago and she said she is very sore but doing well. The doctors were very optimistic that this procedure will be very beneficial for her. I have not heard any talk of her going home yet so I’m not sure how much longer she will be there.

A couple more specific things to pray about are her feet and ankles as they are very swollen. The reason they are so swollen has something to do with protein. Protein is what helps distribute water throughout your body but the small amount of protein she is getting just isn’t enough.

She also has lime’s (sp?) disease. We don’t know how she got it but they suspect that that is causing a lot of her pain too. Her homeopathic doctor says it is very difficult to get rid of but they have to take care of that before they can do anything else with the cancer.

As always, thank you for your constant prayers!
Jenni

Praise God! Missy went home last night. The second procedure went well on Monday. All together the doctors removed almost one entire gallon of fluid from her chest. As you can imagine, she is breathing a lot better. They are going to start doing chest x-rays every 3-4 weeks to make sure the fluid isn’t accumulating and if it is they will take care of it right away.

She also received one blood transfusion during her hospital stay. Her white blood cell count was up to 21,000 (average is 11,000) the following day but they weren’t too concerned with it.

Hopefully these regular checkups will prevent this from happening again but we will keep you updated.

Keep up the prayers. They are working
Jenni

Well, Missy was admitted to the hospital last night. They’re pretty sure she does have pneumonia but last I talked to my Mom they hadn’t seen a doctor yet. They removed 2 liters of fluid from her chest cavity this afternoon. They said there is at least that much more in there but they can’t take anymore right now because her lungs will inflate too fast and it would be very painful! They will try to finish the procedure and get more fluid on Monday. She is still anemic (low iron) but not enough to do a blood transfusion yet. However, she will most likely need one before the end of her hospital stay. Please write me with any questions and I will keep you updated as much as possible.

God bless,

Jenni
04/24/09