The Good News Is...

Before we get into Presleigh's status, please pray for our dear friend, Debbie Russell. She's in the middle of a crazy battle in the hospital and could use every ounce of prayer to fight it. She's in great spirits, confident that however this turns out, God will be glorified. Her faith has been an incredible beacon, even to those who are walking in the light.

Well, of course, the Good News is that the Kingdom of God is near, Christ is risen and sin has been defeated. But, in other news, Presleigh's in great hands.

We met Dr. SuperMacDaddy, the urologist, last week. He's very much a Clark Kent - closer to the nerdy guy than the life of the party, but isn't that what we need right now? Dr. Smith knows his stuff. His very manner is calming and reassuring based on his calm confidence in the subject matter at hand. (Yeah, that's how a conversation would go with him.) Otherwise, a man of steel when it comes to his field of expertise.

He inspected Presleigh externally, which made her wail nervously as she recalled her most recent medical run-in (the VCUG required pumping contrast dye into her bladder through a catheter... wouldn't you be a bit leery of the next person who inspected your goods?) No trouble apparent. Then, he invited us to look at the images below. These are from her VCUG.

What you're looking at is Presleigh's bladder filled with dye (the dark stuff), and the ureters pumping it backward, up into the kidneys. (Wrong way on a one way street, remember?) You can see the thickness of the ureters, which connect the bladder to the kidneys, is wide on the right and wicked wide on the right. In Med-speak this is called "grade 2" and "grade 5".

The fact that there's a duplicate (not visible in this photo) ureter on the grade 5 side is not a problem in and of itself. As Dr. Smith explained in terms only a man would appreciate - "think of it as 'dual exhaust'". Cool. In this case, the exhaust is trying to make its way back into the muffler. Not so cool. When that happens, Presleigh's at risk for another UTI.

Prognosis: Presleigh will be on a once a day preventative dose of antibiotic for at least the next 4 to 10 months while her body grows. Once her bladder wall is thick enough to withstand surgery, she'll get to have a brief (2 hour) operation where Dr. Calm-Confident-and-Collected will get rid of the two little bulbs (diverticulum) in her ureter where they meet the bladder and reinsert them into the bladder wall.

The better news is, we got to go to Florida for Presleigh's great-grandmother's 80th birthday, a huge celebration with all of the brothers and sisters, etc. I'm so glad I married a woman of God like Cristine. The fact that she's Italian is a mad bonus - yum, Yum, and more YUM!!! We really enjoyed getting to be with all the family, especially those who hadn't yet met Presleigh.

Presleigh got to dress up with her sister to go out to a big dinner for Nana! Both sisters looked dashing, as you can see. Thank God they get their looks from Mommy! Poor Presleigh, the life of the party, refused to go to sleep until the wee hours of the night. She got the social butterfly side from Daddy, didn't she?

She also ate her first strawberry. Very impressive. Grandma introduced her to some new rice crackers that are now equal in favoriteness to Cheerios. But, those strawberries... Mmm...

While away, I distinctly heard the voice of God telling me to be calm and rest in Him. In other words, "be on vacation". For once, I was obedient in this situation. I did no fundraising, made no phone calls, answered no emails, but did all I could to lean into Him and let His name be known. We returned well rested... for once. God has used many hard circumstances to reveal blemishes in my character that He wants to transform into the likeness of Christ. This time, it was great for Him to use the company of family, tastes of great food, and salty surf of Pompano Beach instead.

in Him,

AP - Grateful Son of the Lord Most High