I can't believe we're less than a week away from Thanksgiving already. I feel as if I lost the entire month of October and most of November. Besides losing my dad, we've had one scare after another with my granddaughter who is still in the Newborn ICU. The poor little thing weighs just over 4 pounds, and already she's battled an e.coli based form of meningitis, pneumonia, sepsis and, most recently, an infection in her stomach and intestines.
This infection started right after my daughter finally gave up the effort to produce breast milk and they switched the baby to formula. I know I'm not a doctor, but follow along with me here. New food. Stomach infection, spreading into the intestines. New food . . .
Like I said, I'm not a trained professional but doesn't common sense tell you there might be some connection between the two? They tell us no, but at least they've agreed to consider the possibility if the baby develops another infection when she begins to eat by mouth again.
I don't want to complain, really. For the most part, the doctors and nurses have been great, and without them we wouldn't even have the baby around to get infections. I'm truly grateful for their combined knowledge and wisdom, and I thank God for them every single day.
The medical world has been a huge part of our lives all year long, in fact, from the miscarriage that nearly claimed my niece's life early in the year, to the diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes for her husband which, apparently, he's had his whole life but nobody ever bothered to check. From the doctors who saw my sister through an unexplained dizziness that kept her from driving or even walking for months, to the doctor who watches over the sight my mother still has in one eye. The doctors and nurses who cared for my dad in his final days and, of course, the medical folks who saw my daughter through the baby's delivery and those who have kept that sweet little baby alive for the past two months.
This Thanksgiving season I'm giving heartfelt thanks for all of those people who have been such a big part of our lives this past year. God bless all of you!
