Great news, Eli came home!

Hey everyone, good news! Praise God, Eli is home!

Thank God, the tide turned quickly this morning as test results came in, and the pediatric infectious disease specialist got a good look at Eli's records and Eli himself. Except for one test that we don't yet have results for, Eli's bloodwork showed no signs of concern.

Bottom line, the infectious disease doc felt that he could send us home with a powerful oral antibiotic that would fight the infection in Eli's foot, which at this time appears to be staph (not MRSA, but some type of staph). He saw no advantage to keeping us in the hospital for observation, and the IV antibiotics did not contribute very well to Eli's rest and/or recovery. (or ours! He had 5 things hooked up to him...)

When the docs examined Eli, they were confounded by the number of health issues he has faced in his 4.5 months; they place their greatest confidence in kids who exude health & energy by outward signs in addition to test results which show no real reason for concern. Thus, even with his history, they really don't feel he has a problem with his immune system or any problem with his blood / bloodstream. Praise God!

We have two follow-up appointments and we will of course be watching Eli closely. For now, he and Faith are resting comfortably here at home with us. God is good, and He is the Great Physician and Healer. We have Him to thank most of all. We also thank you for lifting us up to the Father. We owe a debt of gratitude to the incredible hospital staff (nurses & docs) and the infectious disease guy who "spoke with authority" and let us come home today instead of Thursday.

Thanks for your concern & your prayers. We still need your prayers that Eli will heal from this staph infection, and that he will experience many months / years of good health. As we move forward, we'll keep you posted about Eli's progress, and hopefully it will be a long, long time before he experiences another infection.

Murray & Jaime

Prayers for Baby Eli

Please pray for our infant son, Eli. We don’t want to alarm you, and we’re trying not to be alarmed, so here are the facts.

He was admitted to the “Peyton Manning Hospital for Children at St. Vincent’s” in Indianapolis today for a skin infection in addition to ear infection. The docs are giving him a strong combination of antibiotics intravenously, and they’ve told us Eli will be there at least 48 hours after the first dose, which wasn’t given until late tonight. So we’re thinking he’ll come home on Thursday, but there’s no guarantee.

Here are our specific prayer requests:
Pray that God will heal Eli of this skin infection, and his ear infections.
Pray that that today’s extensive blood tests will reveal that Eli has no other underlying issues with his blood or immune system.
Ask God to keep Faith safe & healthy during this trying time for our little family. (What a blessing to be near Jaime’s family at times like these…and my mom was already headed here for a visit and arrives Wednesday…)
Thank God for the great medical care we have in this country!
For more background, go to our blog www.murraysanderson.blogspot.com


BACKGROUND

Eli had a mild case of pneumonia in August, then a stomach virus earlier this month, followed by a significant ear infection that has lasted 2 weeks. This ear infection wasn’t phased at all by the low grade antibiotic, Amoxicillin. As an aside, I think doctors will soon be giving out Amoxicillin to trick or treaters, as it seems to compare only to candy in its impact on bacteria. After our 2nd trip to the ER this month for a fever spike a week ago, the docs upgraded him to Omnicef, the antibiotic a level up from Amoxicillin.

At this point, with Eli having pneumonia, stomach virus and ear infection all by 3 months of age, our pediatrician set an appointment for us to see an Infectious Disease specialist in mid-November. This caused us alarm, but hey, whatever it takes…

Then just before his bath last Saturday night, we found a quarter-sized red bump on his left ankle…I immediately thought it was a spider bite, but on further investigation, our docs now believe it is a skin infection caused by bacteria of some type, a type that is not eradicated by Omnicef.

Ok, we’re talking about a 4 ½ month old here…what a medical history he has! So our pediatrician advised us this morning that the best course was to admit him to the hospital, and then we would better be able to get an MRI and bloodwork completed, and get evaluation from pediatric specialists and an infectious disease specialist.

The MRI took 60 to 70 minutes, our boy is strong and he kept waking up from the mild sedation and moving around before they could finish the test. It took them awhile, but they finally got what they needed. (They had to administer the maximum amount of sedation, which weren’t crazy about…but you do what you have to do.) Thankfully, the MRI revealed that the infection is not in his bone, and appears to be only in the skin and the underlying tissue.

After the MRI, they took significant amounts of blood from him (don’t get me started on the pain of this process) and we’ll hopefully get those results tomorrow.

All of the docs who examine him just say how adorable he is, and how strong he is. He is very healthy if you’re just looking at him…he’s “chunky” in the words of the supervising pediatrician, and he has great color, a great appetite, smiles a lot, and sings quite loudly in notes just under those which shatter glass. He has lots of wet & dirty diapers (that’s my boy!) and he has a sparkle in his beautiful blue eyes. Because of how he looks and acts, they really don’t feel there’s anything wrong with his immune system, they just think we’ve been really unlucky, and that he’ll improve with this round of treatment and be just fine.

We thank you in advance for your prayers, and we look forward to updating you as soon as possible. Lord willing, the next email you get from us will be on Wednesday or Thursday, saying that we’re headed home and they didn’t find anything more serious.

(When I have time and have gotten more sleep, I'll say more about how cool it is to be in Peyton Manning's hospital and the upcoming Colts game...)

Note from Christian Chronicle Editor

I've posted multiple times about my frustration with the extensive ads placed in the Christian Chronicle boasting that a cappella singing is the only scriptural way to worship God.

Well, the Chronicle recently asked my congregation if we would be making our annual contribution and that gave me a chance to voice my concern, and say NO, we would not be offering them support any longer since they seem to be amenable to running such divisive ads.

I am VERY PLEASED to post this note that I received today from Lynn McMillon, the editor of Christian Chronicle...and I shall resubscribe to the paper, cautious but optimistic about their tone on the subject of instruments in worship. (Please note that I lead worship for an a cappella church, and am so thankful for my a cappella heritage. I just refuse to teach it as the only scriptural way, or the way that God is most pleased with...that is heresy and represents a very divisive way of thinking/acting.)

Dear Murray,
Thank you for your recent note regarding the music ad in the paper. I understand your frustration and wanted you to know that I have decided not to run that type of thing in the future. Please note the editorial this month that explains the change. In the meantime I have attached the new policy and the editorial for you. If you would like to discuss it further please let me know. Be assured that I do understand. I hope that you might give us another chance.

Lynn McMillon, CEO/Editor

Meeting Adam Vinatieri

I just met Adam Vinatieri, kicker for the World Champion Indianapolis Colts, at the Sharp Business Systems Expo at the Colts Center here in Indy.

I got an autographed picture, and I'm trying to figure out how to load my pic with him from my phone to my blog.

We had a nice chat, here's an excerpt (ok, it's the entire text of the chat.)

Murray: You guys are going to kill the Patriots, no problem.

Adam: Hope so, we're gonna stick it to 'em.

I think I'm his new best friend.

You would not believe the size of that Superbowl ring, and then his wedding ring is the biggest man's wedding ring I've ever seen and it was covered with a band of diamonds.

How did I get to do that? We took a field trip as an entire church staff (sans Jason) to learn about new business products from Sharp, and for a free lunch, and to meet an unnamed Colts player. I actually met a guy who could do color banners and other promo stuff for us, and I also found out about other cool products. So it was actually productive as well as fun!

(Nancilynn, thanks for the comment...what's your email? Send it to me at murray@nccoc.org)

Oct 16 - various

Well, we went to Nashville for the ZOE worship conference, but never left our hotel room except for runs to Target for pedialyte, and trips to the Emergency Room. Everyone in our family except me got the stomach bug...Eli ran a high fever so we took him in to Vandy Children's Hosp at 2 am one morning, then the following night, Jaime got dehydrated so we headed back to the ER to get help for her. If you're ever wondering, it's not fun to have 3 people regurgitating in one small hotel room. I do not recommend it.

Thanks to be God, we are all better now! Since we missed being encouraged & inspired at the conference, we are heading down to Evansville, IN for the Chris Tomlin/Matt Redman worship event on November 11th...I can't wait. Thanks to the Elmores & the Beasleys, we already saw this concert once in Fairfax in February of 2007, but we simply must go back. It is such a good one.

We just finished up a fun weekend with our friends the McClures who visited us from Jermantown, MD. Ben & I have been friends since we were 4 years old...who would have known our 1st children would have been born 4 days apart?!!

I wish so badly the Cowboys had beated the Patriots, but it will make the Colts victory over the Patriots that much sweeter when they come to Indy on Nov 4th...

Loving the fall here in Indiana...

My Thoughts Exactly

I've always liked Mike Cope...it all started when he was my preacher for 4 years while I attended Harding University. I this is still true, he's the only one who went through Harding Grad with a 4.0 grade point average. Anyway, he's brilliant, a great orator, a sincere follower of Christ, and the best student of Scripture that I know of.

On Aug 27, I posted about an ad in the Christian Chronicle...well, a similar ad has run again in this month's issue, and it's even worse. Here is Mike's post from a few days ago, and they are my thoughts exactly...and the thoughts of most, if not all, of the church leaders with whom I've worked in the past 15 years.

http://www.preachermike.com/ and go to his post entitled "A Time to Speak".

On a more positive note, we leave tomorrow for the ZOE worship conference in Nashville, and we are SO EXCITED! Besides hearing some awesome speakers and spending lots and lots of time in worship, we'll get to see some of my mom's family as well in our free time.