Prayers for Malena

visiting Malena tonight

Earlier today I was in the middle of writing a post covering a residency celebration that Pete & I attended last week, but I was pulled away by a phone call. Because of that phone call, I'm setting aside what I had been working on and am posting a request for your prayers and good thoughts instead. The call was from my sister, Mama Bex, whose little girl, Malena, was diagnosed with a brain tumor while we were in Kenya in February. It was determined just after we returned that the tumor is not cancerous, but there area still a lot of questions surrounding it. Apparently, it's pushing against the part of her brain that controls her thirst, weight control, and urine output. Because of this, her body is constantly telling her she is thirsty, causing her to drink crazy amounts of water and then need to go to the bathroom. All of this has thrown off her sodium level in her body. The scary thing is that seizures can happen if sodium levels drop too low. That's the constant danger Malena faces. Becky is required to be incredibly strict about what, when, and how much Malena drinks every moment of every day. That is not an easy thing when Malena's body is telling her she needs more water. We've learned to be very careful about leaving cups of drinks sitting in her reach or not locking the fridge. 

Even when taking great care to keep everything in balance, Malena's numbers can get off. That's what happened today. Becky noticed that Malena was having little head shakes, definitely not normal for her, so she called the doctor. The doctor suggested they go to the clinic, where it was decided she needed to be admitted to the hospital. I don't know any more details than that at this point. Malena's little sister is staying here with us, and we'll see what tomorrow brings. Please, please, please pray that the doctors can get to the bottom of this. Malena is 3 1/2, just five weeks younger than Ella. This is a lot for such a sweet girl to go through. Please also be praying for Becky. I cannot imagine everything that a mama goes through during these times. Yes, I know what an auntie feels, but that's nothing compared to what a mama must feel.

I'll post an update when things happen.

Thank you!