Omaha Visits

We have had so many blessings today! We met with both the pediatric ENT and the infectious disease specialist in Omaha. They both affirmed the diagnosis of atypical mycobacterium. They also said that surgery is the typical treatment for it...BUT in John Andrew's case they would not advise it because of the location.  They both feel confident that with long term medication the node will go away! Just the news we were praying for!

He will be on a combination of antibiotics for at least 3 months and longer if necessary.  So it will be a long wait, but if the medication works he will not need surgery.

We have so much to be thankful for! First, that our local doctors were fast acting and diagnosed JA within 2 weeks! That is of the Lord! Many children go months without a diagnosis.  Even our specialist said he rarely sees this! One reason they are so hopeful the meds will work is because we are treating so quickly. Second, we have AWESOME physicians in Omaha. Chad keeps calling out ENT a stud :) we have such confidence in their plan for John Andrew's treatment. Third, John Andrew did not have to undergo any blood work or other tests today.  The worst part of the day for him was wearing a hospital gown.  He kept saying, "I WANT TO TAKE THIS CURTAIN OFF!" Finally, We have a powerful sovereign God who loves us! What more could we ask for? He has protected our boy, guided our doctors, and granted peace to our hearts!

We cannot thank you all enough for the prayers, calls, and messages! Thanks to the Pesheks for keeping Luke so we could both focus on JA for the day! It is still a waiting game to see if the medications we have will be effective. Pray that they are and that John Andrew's body can tolerate them.  Thank you all for your care!

Blessings

Diagnosis: Atypical TB

We have had a whirlwind of a day! John Andrew was diagnosed with atypical TB today. It is an extremely rare infection in healthy children. He has a lump on the left side of his face near the parotid gland and the facial nerve. This was our first and only indication something might be wrong. After seeing a couple of different doctors here in Hastings, a PPD to confirm TB, and a chest X-Ray to rule out typical TB infection, we have the diagnosis of Atypical TB.  Atypical TB is NOT CONTAGIOUS! We have been told that he probably got it from eating dirt. Most children are just fine eating all the dirt they want, but every now and then one child is not...If you would like to thank us for biting the statistical bullet, thank you cards can be sent to our home address ;) 

The normal treatment for Atypical TB is harsh antibiotics combined with surgical removal of the nodules and affected lymph nodes.  Many cases of atypical TB are resistant even to the strongest antibiotics but we are hoping they will work for John Andrew.  If they do not and surgery is required, there is a risk of facial paralysis because of the location of the nodule.  He also has several affected lymph nodes that we will be watching.  

We have been referred to a pediatric ENT and an Infectious Disease Specialist in Omaha. We will make our first trip there tomorrow and hopefully get some more information.  

We are all trusting in our Savior!  John Andrew is not in any pain at all and is loving all the attention.  I am assuming after tomorrow he may be “over” all the doctors.  Pray that he will not be afraid and that Chad and I will know how to comfort him.  As for Chad and me, our hearts are at peace. We have SO much to be thankful for and we hope to share many blessings with you when we get a chance! God is guiding us! We are sad for John Andrew to have to go through this process, but we believe his Creator loves him more than we do.  Pray for wisdom for us and the doctors.  We will keep you updated!  Finally here is a song that Chad would want to share with you all that expresses our hearts’ cry and faith in our God.

Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Holy His will abideth.
I will be still whate’er He does,
And follow where He guideth.
He is my God,
Though dark my road.
He holds me that I shall not fall
Wherefore to Him I leave it all

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me
I take, content,
What He hath sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking
My God is true,
Each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart
And pain and sorrow shall depart

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken
My Father’s care
Is round me there
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all

Confessions of a Resolutionist

Well I confess that here at the Haygood home we are "Resolution Junkies!" Oh how good it makes us fee to list our many inadequacies and our plan to eliminate them. It is as though being aware of our need for growth an knowing what we ought to do makes us instantly better. We hold out hope that when we wake up on January 1st every sinful desire that ever made us act or not act in a certain way will be at bay and easily rebuked in the coming year and our decisiveness to "do it" (and I mean really "do it") will be enough. Of course every year we are humbled and fail.

I have failed at many a resolution: to be more organized, wake up earlier, be more consistent with discipline, do the dishes immediately after each meal (after all it is much easier right away than after the food is dry and crusted on to the dishes), to exercise more, eat less, memorize more Scripture, pray more, to not be angry, not gossip, encourage others, write more letters...Oh the list could go on and on! How flawed I am! How flawed we all are and how inept to change. So this year its going to be different right? Maybe!

Maybe it will be different if I put my hope not in my "gumption" but in the One who has the power to change even this stubborn, proud heart. My plan is to depend, depend on Jesus! My plan is to immerse myself in Him and grow in love for Him and allow the Holy Spirit to conform me into His image. Because my ultimate resolution is to be like Jesus! And that's a good one, because I know from Scripture that the God who created the universe and everything in it wants me to be like Jesus too. And I may not accomplish all of my purposes, but He accomplishes His!

So the theme of the year for the Haygoods will be learning about and loving Jesus though His Word and godly men's books. I am so thankful for the leadership of Chad in this area. He picked out a reading plan and asked me to do the same. I am using For the Love of God by DA Carson. It is a book that gives you a reading assignment each day from the Bible (example Jan 1 is Gen 1, Matt 1, Ezra 1, and Acts 1) and also a single page "commentary" on one of the chapters. At the end of the year you read through the Psalms and NT twice and the Old Testament once. I have already enjoyed it immensely and I love knowing ahead of time what I am going to do in my time with God. Chad also asked me to read through Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion with him. I am intimidated by it but I have a really smart guy who works in my basement, and he doesn't mind for me to ask him questions. :) My final reading goal is to finish the books I have started before reading others. I was in the middle of Kisses from Katie, Loving the Little Years, and The Hiding Place! I finished Kisses from Katie a couple of days ago because I only had 3 chapters left. Read it my friends!!! Hopefully the others will be complete soon!

So I am back here on the trying side of things, the working hard at it side of things, and I know in my own strength I will fail. But when I am weak, He is Strong! My only hope is that God will help me. Since I do believe my resolutions are honoring to Him and will increase my love for Jesus I am going to strive with all my might and depend on Him with all my might!

Here's to a year of learning about and loving Jesus! And to living a life that proclaims to the world how weak I am and how strong He is!

For what is more consonant with faith than to recognize that we are naked of all virtue, in order to be clothed by God? That we are empty of all good, to be filled by him? That we are slaves of sin, to be feed by him? Blind, to be illumined by him? Lame, to be made straight by him? Weak, to be sustained by him? To take away from us all occasion for glorying, that he alone may stand forth gloriously and we glory in him? --Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion