Pneumonia - Blessing in Disguise. *** Updated ***

Rally the troops, we need some serious prayer.

Letha spiked a fever last night of 103.9. After ibuprofen and nebs she felt better and tried to sleep. She was up at 12:30 complaining of pain. Then again at 1:30. I let her decide whether to go to the ER. She chose yes.

At the ER they did chest x-rays and a flu test. Chest x-rays showed a nice big spot of pneumonia. Chest x-ray also showed an enlarged pulmonary artery. And the Dr. ordered a CT scan on the spot. The CT scan confirmed the enlarged thickened artery. The cardiologist that read the scan believes that she has had this condition for some time. He believes it is caused by a heart defect (that we need further testing to find).

The ER ped and I speculated that there could be a hole in her heart that is causing the BP in the pulmonary arteries to be high. If that's the case, surgery could be needed to correct it. It is *possible* that having too much blood flow to the lungs would cause fatigue, shortness of breath and faintness and trouble breathing during exercise. Which are ALL symtoms of Asthma, which we have been treating her for. If that is the case, it's possible that she doesn't have asthma at all. This is just SPECULATION.

As we waited for her IV antibiotics and fluids to ever so slowly make their way into her bloodstream, I snuggled up beside her, gathering her in my arms. She hadn't slept the whole night since she woke at 12:30, she just couldn't get comfortable. I held her and did something I used to do when she used to have nightmares as a little girl. I sang Jesus over her. "Jesus Loves Me (You)", "Jesus, Name Above All Names" and every other song I could recall about Jesus. As I sang just above a whisper, holding her in my arms, she relaxed and slept. And I revelled in the oppontunity to hold my baby sleeping in my arms while my Savior held us in His arms and sang His peace over us. Thank you, Lord, for that moment.

The next few days should be interesting. I will keep updates on twitter and facebook, and will chronolog this here. I'm not a worrier by nature, so we're just going to take this one step at a time, after all, my Jesus is the same today as He was before we went to the ER. (a quote modified from Angie at Bring the Rain!)

--------Not much of an UPDATE--------

The pedi we saw today agrees with the ER doc's assessment, that the pulmonary artery is enlarged and has probably been so for a long period of time, and that it indicates a heart problem. So, he referred her to a pedi cardiologist and got her fit in tomorrow for an appointment! Yeah, no waiting. She will have an Echo (u/s of the heart), and we'll go from there.

He did not, however, agree with the ER doc's choice of Keflex to treat the pneumonia and is switching her to two other antibiotics, and adding a probiotic. None of which is either here nor there for me, except that it was a waste of money to pay for the first prescription.

So, I'll have more news tomorrow late afternoon.

I still feel the peace of Jesus surrounding us. A long time ago, I layed my daughter on the altar (literally and figuratively) and gave her life to God. She's still there because I trust God completely with her life, whatever comes. My God is big enough to heal her and He is big enough to sustain me if He chooses otherwise. I will trust in Him.