First Dr. visit...

  Precious baby girl in her big gown

We had Luisa's first PID (pediatric infectious disease) doctors appointment last week Friday.  We started out at DeVos Childrens hospital for chest x-rays and then we went over to the Dr.'s office.  The chest x-rays showed some 'abnormalities' so the doctor was going to call the pulmomologist to get his opinion.  She sent us down for lunch and told us to check back after we had Luisa's blood drawn to see if he was able to look at the x-ray or not. 

While we were at lunch, God arranged a little impromptu get together for us!  The pulmonlogist and our doctor met in passing while in the hall right in front of the cafe, the cafe that we were eating in!  So there we all were!  We were able to talk for a bit and he told us to come up to his office as soon as we were finished.  YAY God!  We got an appointment with the pulmonologist the same day!  Luisa is scheduled for a bronchoscopy on Tuesday afternoon at DeVos.  We would appreciate your prayers!

The good news is that her viral load (amount of hiv in a ml of blood) is now 1,347 copies, down from approximately 90,000 copies in January!!  This is a lot of medical jargon to say that...we are heading in the right direction!  Eventually we want to see this number be below 50, at which, she will be considered 'undetectable'.  This is because she is receiving her medications on a regular basis under our care!  Thank you Lord for ARV's (antiretroviral drugs) and their life saving capabilities! 

I know there are millions of people all over the world who do not have access to these drugs, and are dying.  It breaks my heart.