Hello everyone!

It's been a long time since there has been anything to report about Natalie but we could use your prayers as she is sick. We actually have (maybe wrongly so) allowed ourselves to think things are pretty much back to normal. Well to our surprise Natalie just recently has been admitted to the hospital again. But we are all doing pretty well now.

The serious condition of a bacterial blood infection is what the doctors feared Tuesday 11/18/08. Because of a fever rushed from home to the local ER. After a night there we thought we'd be heading home but we found out her immune system was nearly zero from this bacteria. This being the case we were taken by ambulance to Santa Clara Valley Medical instead of Stanford because a lack of available beds.

Also pray for Nicole who misses us. She has a cold so we are not able to see her because of the risk of getting Natalie sick. My mom has been taking care of her at her house for nearly a week.

Natalie is doing so well now. You wouldn't even know she was sick! She plays her instruments (cat piano) and the shakers, takes rides waving to the staff in her little wagon, and enjoys only the company of a bag of pretzels these days. The doctors have done a stellar job at targeting the bacteria and being thorough in her care. We are praying for:

  1. Two negative blood cultures (making sure no bacteria is present in her blood.
  2. An immune system rating of 500 (she's 200 now and you and I are 5,000)
  3. Two consecutive days without fever.
After a tiresome and scary start we are in a great place however, we are reminded (for all of us) that we only have today. Make the most of it.

Love you all,

Dominick

Natalie Orlando

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