Little Update

(Update from our mom, Melissa)

Forwarding Hannah's progress today. Just wanted to pass along an update before we head off to bed.

Hannah is still waiting the results of the bone marrow biopsy (may be several more days to find out) but had a few other tests updated today.

Her hemoglobin at 10.1 (very good for her!), white blood count is 1.5 (better but 4-8 is normal) and Dr. Koenig said she can't go home til her neutracells (sp?) are above 1 which she's hoping will be tomorrow.

injected her with a lot of fluid last week when she arrived (she's 10 lbs or so heavier) and also gave her strong steroids so she's feeling kinda puffy again but will get lacix (sp?) for that.

She's sounding very chipper (the kids came to visit last night with Daniel David since they'd been apart for a week...VERY good medicine, in deed!)

The very good news is........................ her creatine level is down to 1.5 which calculates to 43% kidney function!!! Praise God for how awesome a Creator He is and especially of our human bodies.

Please keep praying for wisdom for the plethora of doctors caring for her, the right meds to help her heal and her system to stop destroying the blood.

Thank you! Thank you for praying and those who've served with Adonia & Creed, food, visits (Aunt Amy from Iowa came for her biopsy day:) and overall for being there for our family. WHAT would we do without you?

God's grace be poured out on each of you treasured friends.

(note from Chloe: Hannah told me that the Doctors think that one reason for the low blood count is that her lupus medication is too high a dose. So they are adjusting dosages and hoping this will help.)

Hannah in hospital again...

Hello dear ones,

Just wanted to let you know what's been going on lately with Hannah...

Thank you so much for your prayers after my last update. We are very thankful that the doctors were able to figure out what was going on, specifically with her nausea and loss of appetite. This seems to have been taken care of and Hannah has been able to eat more.

Unfortunately, Hannah started feeling really bad again this week. She started getting sores on her face and swelling. This was very discouraging to her as she was again stuck in bed, and worrying that she was on the verge of another Lupus flair-up.

She went to a doctor's appointment yesterday to get the sores on her face checked out, and ended up being admitted to the hospital. We are very thankful for this because they then found out that her blood count was down to a 5! Yikes!! That's almost as low as it was when she was when she was admitted into the hospital last August. Also, Hannah's white blood cell count was extremely low. Normal is 6-10 and hers was at .29! Not good. No wonder she's been getting every cold and flu that comes around. Throughout the night they gave her 3 units of blood and this morning her blood count had raised to an 11. This is good, but obviously we and the doctors are very concerned about how her blood count got so low in the first place.

Hannah is one of the most optimistic, happy, fun people I know, so its very easy to forget that her body is still not strong. This is just a reminder to all of us how much she still needs our help and support.

One good piece of news is that they also checked her creatine levels (kidney function), and that number has gone down from 2.4 (in January) to 2, which means kidney function is going up. Praise God!

Hannah is going to stay at the hospital for a couple days so that the doctors can try to figure out how to best help her.

Here are the main areas that we need prayer right now:

- Please pray that the doctors are able to figure out why Hannah's blood count dropped so low. Pray that the doctor's have wisdom if her medications need adjustments.

-We're realizing that we're going to need to arrange help in the next coming months so that Hannah is able to get well for GOOD and so that she, Daniel and Esther don't over-do it. : ) We're going to be meeting soon to schedule out help with child care, meals and house cleaning for the next 6 months. Please pray for grace and wisdom as we do this. Also, if you have any interest in helping out with any of these things, please e-mail me at chloe (dot) heston (at) yahoo (dot) com, and I'll get back with you as soon as we know what the specific needs are.

-Please pray for the encouragement of Hannah and Daniel through this difficult time, that their hearts would be strengthened with hope and comfort as they place their faith in our Father.

Thanks so much for all the prayer! What a huge blessing you all are!!!

Blessings, Chloe

Some Prayer Requests...

Hello everyone!

This update can't be too long, and actually, it isn't much of an update, more like prayer requests. :)

3 prayer requests:

1. Because Hannah's immune system is so weak, she's been sick for what seems like forever. Right now she has a really bad cough, congestion, headaches, stomach aches, nausea, fever, etc. She's basically just been surviving in bed. For various reasons Hannah has had no appetite and has lost a lot of weight (too much). Please pray that we can figure out an antibiotic that will get rid of the cold/infection that she had, and that she will get her appetite back so that she can get some meat back on her bones. Also pray that she will be encouraged...it can be very discouraging being sick for sooo long, and not being able to function normally.

2. Our parents just got on the plane this morning to head back to Africa. Because my parents were living with Hannah & Daniel and helping with so much, now while Hannah is so sick, most of the load of taking care of the house and kids falls on our 16 year old sister Esther who is still living with them and Daniel. Please pray for grace, strength and encouragement for Daniel and Esther. Also we are hoping to get something set up so that a couple other families can help babysit the kids a day each week...please pray that we'll get something like this set up soon.

3. It is one of our main desires that Hannah's immune system/gut and body in general would be strengthened and healed through a healthy diet and natural supplements. Please pray that Hannah and Daniel would have the motivation, wisdom, time and grace to be able to go about changing her diet and such. Its easy to get overwhelmed when it seems like there are so many “to-dos”...and as you know, it always requires huge amounts of motivation and discipline to change ones lifestyle...it can be a big learning curve.

Thank you all so very much for praying. At times things can seem so dark and its easy to get discouraged, but we are remembering His faithfulness and that His mercies and new every morning - ah, so good to know! We also continue to praise Him for answering our prayers so far and lavishing us with love...Hannah is OFF dialysis and we just can't be happier about this. :)

Much love to you all!

Chloe

PRAISE GOD!!!!!

(Update from Daniel Winter)

Hello All!

It has been quite a while since an update and we have great news! We are celebrating like Crazy!!!
Hannah's kidneys have been improving! The kidney doctor took her off of dialysis the Thursday before Christmas to see how her body would handle it. She saw the kidney doctor today to go over her blood tests. He said that her kidneys are functioning up to 25% and that she is doing well enough that they can remove her catheter and she will be able to stop doing dialysis! This is a huge answer to prayer!, because if she was not doing well enough, they were going to install a more permanent catheter or shunt. Both of which are more work and very undesirable. So we are very thankful for this! So please keep praying that her body would keep improving and her kidneys would heal and gain even more function. We are just hoping Hannah doesn't have to go back on dialysis anytime soon in the future (or ever in her life! :)
Hannah is very super excited to not have to spend 12 hours a week in the dialysis chair. She came to me today after her appointment and shouted "I'M FREE!" Now that she is 'free' from that, she hopes to do a bit of traveling this year.
Also she saw the lupus doctor on friday and he also had great news! He said if he did not know hannah's history and just looked at her blood work he would not even know that she had lupus! The lupus is in remission! This is due to our gracious Lord and the work of the newer drug - CellCept. She may still have to take CellCept for several more years. By March she should be off prednisone. We are very excited about all this!

One other big big answer to prayer is Hannah's blood count. Like we had prayed, it went UP the past few weeks, even though she wasn't getting the medicine to help with that. It is now the highest its been since August...at 10.5! Praise God!

We (the fam) are doing great! God is really good and I just so appriciate God's design when He created family. We have had wonderful support and lots of love pouring in. Hannah and I have been constantly growing closer as we have been working through life's adventures together! We are quite a team! And I am so blessed to have her and the wonderful children we share!

Again, I (and Hannah) just want to thank you so much for all your prayers, encouragement, and support. Can't even express how much this means! God is doing His mighty work in us. And there is nothing sent our way that God can't give us the strength to handle. We just take it one step at a time, holding on to His mighty hand.

Love to you all,
Daniel, Hannah, Adonia, Creed

SIDE NOTE: Hey guys, Chloe here. I know quite a few of you have asked for Daniel and Hannah's address so that you could bless them financially. Their address is 616Walnut, Leavenworth, KS 66048. Thank you all so much. We praise the Lord that Hannah's medications are going down, but she is still taking quite a few, and they have to pay a pretty high deductible. You all are such a blessing!