Thank you so much for your prayers for Noah. It looks like we are on the right track with the antibiotic - we haven't gotten sensitivities yet to be 100% sure, but based on preliminary results Dr. B feels that we started right off with the correct antibiotic.
He came over yesterday to check on Noah again and to use the silver nitrate on Noah's stoma. (Yes, we DO know that we are VERY blessed to have a doctor who does house calls!!!) He called me about 30 minutes before he came so I could put a bunch of lidocaine gel on the stoma to numb it. It (and PRAYER) worked because even though Noah was very frightened, the process didn't seem to hurt at all. I know from past experience with Noah and silver nitrate that it burns an awful lot most of the time and I am incredibly thankful that he was spared from that pain.
We definitely need continued prayer for our nursing situation. I was supposed to interview a Friday-Sunday nurse today but yesterday she told the agency that it was too far to drive and she turned down the job. There is also a chance that our Monday-Thursday nurse will be cutting back one day/week for the same reason - a long drive means a ton of money spent on gas.
We adore our Monday-Thursday nurse and are really hoping she'll stay at 4 days/week. Doing 100% of his care for 3 days/week is very difficult and I don't want to think about having to do it for 4 days every week. He requires so much care and while I'm happy and able to give it, it does get exhausting not to have that 9-5 break. Our nursing agency is doing quite a few things to try to find a local nurse and will be meeting with the Piedmont Tech nursing program in a week or so - please continue to pray that we will get full time coverage as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, the Finding Nemo song "Just Keep Swimming" is playing on auto-repeat in my brain LOL. We just keep swimming along even when it feels like we are swimming upstream and I'm choosing to focus on the blessings. At least we DO have SOME nursing and it is a blessing to have Noah home and to have a team that supports me so that I can care for him and keep him home.
Blessings,
Kate
