Kirstin

In the week and a half since I last wrote, Kirstin improved to the point she could go home on Monday. The doctors say she'll fully recover, but what they don't know yet is whether she'll have to have an operation to repair a hole in a bone to prevent her getting meningitis some time in the future. She's at home, in a room to herself, to minimize the risk of catching something from the others in the family. On Monday she was being moved from an isolation booth to a room shared with another child. It made more sense to be at home and try to control contagion than to have her in the hospital with another sick child or, perhaps worse, exposure to those who come to visit.

At the moment, there's no lack of opportunity to catch a cold or the flu. There's been a lot of it since before Christmas, and most of the families of the church have been affected to some degree or another. In some cases, the symptoms go on for weeks and weeks. Until now, Abbie and I have escaped unaffected; correction, UNTIL YESTERDAY we escaped unaffected. Abbie thought a few days ago she might have been starting a cough, but she hasn't gotten any worse. Yesterday, towards the end of the day, I felt a head congestion coming on...sinuses inflammed, etc. As the day wore on today, I have worn down myself. There are all the signs of one of those bouts with sinusitis I get every few years, and it means having to sleep in a recliner. The cough that accompanies it is the real bother. I pray this round is light and short. In fact, today would be enough, as far as I'm concerned.