MAY 4: ONE YEAR OLD!

Isabella celebrated her first birthday today! Thank you SO much for your prayers. She is doing just great now. Her pulmonologist said that it would be hard to convince her that this was the same baby she saw 6 weeks ago.

Last week Isabella crawled for the first time! And in the picture you can see one little tooth.

Her lung doctor explained to us that the walls of her lungs are thick and soft due to being premature. Because she is so little, when she gets a flu bug and there is irritation and swelling in the lungs, it can block off her bronchial cavities all the way. However, the doctor said there is a 95% chance that Isabella will never suffer another symptom after age 2!

We were also informed that the steroids lower her resistance, making her susceptible to illness. Therefore, we are forbidden to take her to any enclosed public area – mall, church, etc – until she is completely off the drugs.

It was hard to believe all she has gone through, seeing her so full of life and energy. It was especially painful to think back to her traumatic birth one year ago, choking on her own blood as doctors performed an emergency c-section. The ICU team suctioned out two vials of swallowed blood.

She's had a lot of close calls, this one. But the Lord Jesus has special plans for her.

March 25, Wednesday: ISABELLA COMES HOME!

Yesterday doctors finally told Mommy and Daddy that I was well enough to come home! I am still on a lot of medication to open up my little airways, but I look and sound perfect.

Thank you Lord! And thanks to all of you for your concern and prayers. I will not regularly update my blog unless there is a change in my condition, so if this is the last entry you see it means I am still doing well.

Love, Isabella ("Bellaboo")

for Mommy, Daddy, and Marc

March 24, Tuesday: Status Unchanged

Isabella is content, but her lungs are still full and noisy when she breathes, improving after each 3-hour inhalation treatment. So she still needs to be in the hospital.

Corenne's friend Teri came from the USA to help take turns at the hospital for a couple weeks, so my wife and I got a babysitter for Marc and actually went out to dinner and a movie alone last night! It's probably been close to a year since we did that.

Sunday, March 22, 2009: Still in hospital, stable & unchanged

Isabella is still in the hospital. She has remained stable since Thursday, and is not in ICU.

Her condition fluctuates. She is no longer crying and inconsolable, in fact she is very happy, but her lungs are still very full and her breathing yesterday was double what it should be (at 66 bpm) as she struggles for air, so the hospital is definitely where she needs to be.

This is her 6th day hospitalized this round, admitted Tuesday the 16th. She had been released March 12 after a difficult 2-week stint in the ICU.

Wednesday, March 18: Isabella to ICU

Isabella is hospitalized and currently being upgraded to ICU. That is all I know right now.

Last night Isabella ended up not going into the hospital, after Corenne sat with her in the car in the hospital parking lot for an hour and a half, but her oxygen and heart monitor stabilized.

This morning Corenne took Isabella to the hosptal, but she was released after some intensive breathing treatments.

This afternoon Cor became worried and took Isabella back, and this time doctors determined that Isabella definitely should not leave. Meanwhile, she had been getting more congested over the past few hours and is currently headed over to the ICU.

Here we go again.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009: Off to the hospital again...

Well, as I write Bella is rushing off to the hospital again, after a difficult day. Her heart has been about 50% above normal all day, which is very tiring for her – when she stresses and cries, it doubles and that is dangerous.She was really good for the first 2 days after the hospital, but a little congested since then…..really happy, but congested, and crying at night. Right now Corenne is beside herself. I guess we all have to get a life and can’t just sit around and pray for her all day, but…in case you don’t happen to have one….

Saturday, March 14: Isabella well at home

Isabella is doing great at home, very happy. Her big brother was thrilled to have her back. She was a little congested this morning, which concerns us, but we'll pray that is is nothing.

Thanks for your prayers!

This babe's for you!

March 10, 2009: All Better!!

Well, it is quite a miracle, but little Isabella is suddenly very well. The power of prayer is amazing!

We were given a private room at the hospital yesterday, and last night she slept peacefully with her head on my (Philip's) forearm.

I snapped this picture when she woke up this morning - the first time she has smiled in two weeks. They tell us she may be able to come home tomorrow if the can switch the intravenous meds to oral.

Welcome back, Bellaboo!!

March 9: Out of ICU!

Thank you, thank you for all your prayers. Isabella has shown marked improvement over the last 24 hours, and this afternoon was transferred out of ICU and into a regular pediatric unit. Her body seems to be responding to the antibiotics, her fever is down, her vital signs are fairly stable, and she even smiled and played a bit this morning. We are so grateful to you for your prayers, and to God for hearing and responding.

March 7th: Still Critical

After several frightening episodes, Isabella has shown slight improvement in her vital signs, but is still in serious condition. Please keep praying.

March 6: Bella has another setback - please pray

After thinking the worst was behind us, we've had a setback. This afternoon Isabella seemed to grow worse -- her breathing became more labored, her oxygen saturation levels went down, her heart rate skyrocketed, and she is now running a fever. She's sedated and under an oxygen hood, and we are told she may need to be intubated again, if she doesn't show improvement. Please be praying! She's still in critical condition, and in real need of God's healing.

March 5: Accidental Tube Displacement

Yesterday Isabella was the same, intubated and sedated. Early this morning, however, another scare: an agitated Isabella managed to pull her breathing tube out. Scary for a while, but the doctors decided to go ahead and try leaving it out.

With no tube, Corenne was able to hold Isabella, who stroked her face and grabbed her nose and became completely calm. Every time a nurse wearing white came in, poor Isabella's eyes would grow wide and she would watch the nurse's every move with terror as if to say "what are they going to do to me next?"

By this afternoon, Corenne said she feels for the first time that the worst was behind us, and that Isabella may finally be on the road to recovery. She just seemed stronger and more alert. There is still a lot of secretion into her lungs, but her color seems to have returned. Mama just knows her baby, and was pretty upbeat this afternoon for the first time since last Thursday, when Isabella started her long, downhill slide.

Thank you for your prayers. I hope we have more good news tomorrow.

March 3: Bella still not improving

We need continued prayers. Isabella is just not getting any better, even sedated and intubated. They thought the forced rest might help her improve.


They cannot keep her on heavy sedation because her body will not properly respond with its own antibodies. However when the sedation wears off, because she has tubes in her throat & nose and a needle in her head, she cannot squirm around, so they have to tie down her arms. But she hates that (who wouldn’t) and it makes her so mad she throws fit, creating a real danger of a heart attack due to the sustained heart speeds given her lung condition. How does one explain to a 7-month- old what is best for her?

Mom can’t go in the room right now because Bella so wants to jump into Mommy’s arms that she has a similarly dangerous reaction. Meanwhile, her lungs are still filling up and they need to aspirate frequently, which also causes the air tube to jiggle loose and can cause big problems if not quickly corrected.


She is supposed to be showing improvement. She cannot keep going downhill. The bottom line is that she remains at real risk and we really ask you to keep praying.

March 3, 2009: Frightening night; induced coma

We do believe in the power of prayer, hence our appeals for prayer yesterday.

Corenne thought we had lost Isabella when I was still halfway to the hospital, at 4:00 AM. I had no idea of what to expect when I arrived. (I had stayed home due to a flu).

Earlier the baby had just stopped breathing several times in Corenne’s arms, and she had to shake the baby to stimulate her breathing again. The resulting emergency intubation was anything but smooth (essentially artificial life support). This is already a risky procedure, with a risk of airway hyper-extension and anoxia, which could lead to permanent damage. They finally applied a muscle tranquilizer to still the squirming baby, and this is what Corenne interpreted through the ICU observation window as her baby having given it up.

When I arrived the ICU doctor was outside having a smoke, and he assured me with details of the procedure. Corenne had gone into hiding in another part of the hospital to avoid hearing any further news until I arrived, so I was able to assure her.

Isabella is now in an medically induced coma, tubes up her nose and down her throat. The only positive thing is that Corenne can finally get some sleep, as there is nothing we can do for the baby in this state but a ministry of presence. I got a hotel for Corenne down the street from the hospital, and she collapsed in the bed (she does not want to come home because everybody is sick here). I returned home in time for a normal breakfast with Marc, and took him to school – he never knew I was gone.

So, now we await tests and the diagnosis, but for the time being Isabella will remain sedated on life support. Perhaps this will give her a chance to replenish her strength.

Blessings and thanks again, Philip

March 2, 2009: Bella Not Improved in ICU

Isabella, in the ICU since Thursday Feb 27, i s worse than when she went in. We hope the virus is at its worse and improvment lies ahead.

Her lungs are filling up rapidly and she needs to have a tube inserted to aspirate, which causes discomfort and bleeding.

She has had so many needles that she has no good veins left that can be found to adminster her medicines. One three occasions, over an hour was spent poking her in the arms, legs, neck and head trying to find a good vein (in the picture she has a needle in just above the ear).

They finally found one in the neck today, Corenne left the ICU room for a short while, and Bella pulled the needle out. Now there are no more veins, and she is throwing up, so oral administration is very difficult.

Isabella is very alert and very unhappy, which makes it that much harder on Mom, at her side.

She MUST improve very quickly, because she is getting more and more tired from the treatment discomfort and her enormous breathing difficulty, which is making her weaker instead of stronger.

Feb 26: Isabella back in ICU

It's hard to get a break. Just days after Corenne's mother died, as we prepared to embark for the USA for the funeral, Isabella got another cold.

She went downhill rapidly, and within hours was being rushed to the hostpital, where the doctor's immediately admitted her to the ICU.

We trust that her condition will improve over the coming days, as it has in the previous incidents.

When "Bellaboo" is between incidents, she is as strong and healthy and alert as a baby could possibly be.

Feb 20: Corenne's Mother Passes Away

Last night, at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles, Corenne’s mother Jeanine Garrison went to be with the Lord.

She had been doing pretty well since returning to the USA after 2 years living with us in Brazil, but succumbed to a blood infection and died peacefully.

Despite her immense grief, Corenne is praising God. She feels the timing was right in many ways: she got her mother back to the USA in time; her mother saw her sisters one last time; she did not have to suffer; Corenne did not have to feel guilty about being so far away; and the Smtih family got a wonderful 2-week respite together (our first in many, many months) before this happened.

Funeral services are scheduled for Feb 14.

Jan 21: Isabella to ICU again

On Jan 17 Corenne flew to the USA with her Mom, who was returning to the USA to live at Atherton Baptist homes (partly because of her worsening medical condition and no medical insurance coverage in Brazil).

She left Isabella in the care of two adult friends, who came to live in our apartment and take care of the baby until Corenne could get back. Other friends were around to help. Unfortunately, on Jan 21 got another cold and was rushed back to the ICU. Philip and Marc flew back to Brazil on the next plane.

Isabella was released home on Jan 25, had to go back for a day Jan 27, but is now doing just great at home, seemingly in perfect health! This picture was taken Feb 1, 2009. CLICK TO ENLARGE.