Wiersma Family Blog

WIERSMA FAMILY BLOG
A glimpse into our lives as a family with micro-preemies. Our twins boys (Lovingly referred to as our Miracle Men) were born almost 16 weeks early.

Our journey continues when our son Max was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 3. This is his story....


Sunday, June 21, 2009

First Father's Day

The last few days have been pretty good. Maxwell was heading the right direction quickly following his feeding tube being moved into his GI tract. He is currently at a pressure of 42 on the jet, so down about 3 since the last post. The doctors had expected to see a decrease in the amount of goo they are sucking out of his lungs once the feeding tube was moved into his intestines, but it seems like there are gobs and gobs of secretions every time they suction him. That could be every 2 hours or every 30 minutes...doesn't matter. So the docs decided to do a "culture" of the secretions, and have since discovered the presence of both serratia and another bacteria. This was a little surprising because none of his blood work indicated that his white blood cell count was on the rise. Max has had both of these bacterias before, so that could be part of the explanation. Apparently, when he already has known colonies of these bacteria and an immature immune system, it is possible for these bacteria to sort of "over take" the immune system and the bones cannot produce white blood cells quickly enough to combat them. Long story short, Max is on antibiotics again and does seem to be a little less cheerful than he had for a few days. We pray that God will work through the medication and heal Max quicker than anyone could expect, and keep those pressures on the vent coming down. Max reached the 6 pound club on Friday night and tipped the scales at 6 pounds 3 ounces tonight. I cannot believe he actually gained weight after the diaper I changed today. I could tell just by holding him that he was working on something, but I was not prepared for what I saw. I won't even try to describe it, but it weighed 90 grams...or 3 ounces. Quite a Father's Day present buddy!!

Wes has been doing very well. He is still a very angry child, unless his CPAP is off. He has tolerated his "trials" or "weans" very well thus far, and is currently off CPAP 2 times a day for 4 hours!! It is so much fun to hold a child that can be moved around a little bit and repositioned easily. I thought Wes had given his mother a little bit of a present during a diaper change...but he left the finale for Dad. Thanks Pal...that was really special. These two kids can clear out a room. I am looking forward to the day they no longer need their mutli-vitamin, because we are pretty sure that is the culprit.

Our basement survived the 7+ inches of rain on Friday night...but I am not so sure about our car. We were heading home from the hospital at about 9:00 on Friday night and decided we needed some ice-cream from the Drenthe Village Dipper. In hindsight, the ice cream may have been a poor decision. The driving conditions off of the highway were maybe the worst I have ever seen. I could see maybe 30 feet in front of the car and the wipers were not nearly fast enough to actually clear the water from the windshield. We made it to the Dipper...and then about 100 yards from the entrance to our neighborhood, we hit a puddle that was a little bit longer and deeper than the previous 500 puddles we had successfully navigated. This was complicated by a silver Dodge Caravan straying directly into our lane in the middle of said puddle. The water actually came over the hood of our Mazda Millenia and I had just enough inertia to make it out of the deepest part of the water. The car then stalled. I was able to get it going after a few minutes, but it has not really run well since.

This is where the post ends for the casual reader and now becomes a forum post for the mechanically inclined: I took the entire air intake side of the vehicle off and dried it out. The air filter was soaked through and I know for a fact that water made it into the cylinder heads. The engine oil has some opaque bubbles in it and I checked the spark plugs and found the electrodes in good shape, but the firing end was completely white. I do not know where to go from there. The car starts and runs fairly well (I only drove it up and down the street), so would it only need an oil change and some new plugs? That would be nice. I fear the worst, however. Email me at markwiersma@yahoo.com with any tips.

7 comments:

  1. You lost me on that last paragraph, Mark... unfortunatly I don't have any tips for you about your car. I hope it's okay though!
    Great to hear that the boys keep heading in the right direction. Love the Father's Day presents they gave you. You must be proud! :) We'll keep praying for God to heal the infection Max is fighting right now and to keep strengthening both boys' lungs.
    "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior." 2 Samuel 22:2-3
    In Christ, our Hope & Healer,
    Amy Sluiter

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  2. We are still constantly praying and thinking about you all and wanted you to know. We are praying hard for a week of healing and strength! We love you guys!

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  3. Happy Father's Day!!
    Glad to hear that Max is doing a little better now. We will pray that the antibiotics work quickly for him.
    They are gaining weight so fast now-keep it up boys!!
    Good luck with the car (that's all you need, like you don't have enough going on).
    Love to you all-
    Stacy, Geoff, Cassi, Evan & Sadie

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  4. Praying for you!

    As for the car...

    You probably would have been fine if you didn't take the spark plugs out & just let the cylinders dry out. The timing is probably off, every time you do anything to the spark plugs, as I understand, the timing most likely has to be adjusted.

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  5. I just found your blog - I will pray for your family. Little Max and Wes are beyond adorable, I pray that they will continue to win their battle. Trish

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  6. Just wanted you to know that I am dropping in to let you know that you and the boys are being prayed for. I will post this link to my prayer blog and be lifting you all up to the precious and mighty throne of Grace daily.

    I pray God's comfort, peace, and healing power upon max and wes.

    In His Grip,
    Beth

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  7. I found a prayer request for your little family on KellysKorner. Your hardships touched my heart and I wanted to let you know that I would like to add your family to my prayer list. My heart breaks for your situation but I am so thankful that your heart belongs to Christ and He hears the desires of our hearts.

    Please continue to post on your blog. Let this be a source to vent and ask for prayer and help.

    Your sister in Christ,
    Renda

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