Getting closer...

Dear all,

We are getting closer to Isaac coming home. I saw Dr. Ishii and we are still targeting early October - he said he is thinking first week of October! Basically, we need to sort out a few things - the hospital providing post-discharge care and having Isaac's oxygen equipment set up at home (and I think it has to happen in that order).

Dr. Ishii said that he contacted both Red Cross/Nisseki Hospital and Aiku Hospital both in Hiroo and very close to our apartment but neither will take on Isaac. Apparently, because Isaac is coming home on oxygen, hospitals view his case as very difficult so its more difficult to get hospitals to agree to take on Isaac's case. Dr. Ishii did find another hospital called Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital (Tokyo Jyosei Iiryo Daigaku Byoin) in Shinjuku that would take Isaac but I haven't figured out how far that is yet. We are also going to try to contact St. Luke's Hospital in Tsukiji ourselves (which we don't think is too far away) to see if they might agree to take on Isaac. St. Luke's is very close to Jong's office, is international and a Christian hospital so we want to give it a try. Please pray that God will lead us to the right hospital for Isaac's long term post discharge care. We have talked to a pediatrician/neonatologist whose patients are almost all foreigners/non-Japanese called Dr. Che but he only has a private clinic so we need to make sure that Isaac has a hospital for his long term care as well.

Dr. Ishii told us that based on Isaac's MRI yesterday, he doesn't think Isaac has had an PVL (Periventricular Leukomalacia) - basically cysts in an infant's brains which is mainly caused by insufficient blood flow to parts of an infant's brain. We don't think Isaac has had any brain bleeds either. We just praise the Lord for protecting Isaac from this as its a real miracle for Isaac to escape this problem being born so very early.

Isaac got an EEG (Electroencephalography) which is basically a brain function test and also got his ears and his heart checked today. Dr. Ishii won't be available to talk to us till this Sunday with respect to the results.

Again, I can't thank all of you enough for all of your prayers for our little miracle boy.

Also, I heard back from Jennifer and she gave me permission to link her blog to my blog so that you can check on Emily's updates directly and continue to pray for her. Their blog is at http://jakae.blogspot.com. I will also put it on our sidebar. Please continue to pray for Emily and her parents Jennifer and Tony.

Sonia