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