Abby Update & Thank You!!

[Hey, this is Heather again... we aren't going to bug you or remind you too many more times about the "Praying for Abby" T-shirts. I'm lucky Brent lets me remind you at all. If you don't know, a group of us wanted to help the Riggs, and so we got a bunch of t-shirts donated with Abby's picture on it. For more information, click here. Thanks! ~ Heather


Update on Abby From Michelle:

Abby's little body handled the surgery fine. The surgeon said there was more bleeding than normal, but with low platelets that is understandable. He took off a quarter size raised area of necrotic tissue and sent it to pathology and microbiology. The hope is they will be able to find the cause of Abby's problem, so they will know how to treat it.

Abby really handled everything like the brave little warrior she is . She knew we were going to surgery, but wasn't scared. The anesthesiologist allowed me to carry her back to the operating room and hold her until they put her to sleep. I was allowed to go back to the recovery room before she even began to wake up, so in her eyes mom was never far away.

The biggest risk of operating on Abby with no WBC is obviously that she could get an infection during surgery or she could get a new infection in the bigger open wound, after surgery. Keeping her four year old fingers from touching her new owwie is a big challenge, but critical. Abby is usually a very obedient, but she really wants to know why her tummy hurts.

Right now, Abby and I are settling in for the night. She took a late nap after surgery, so we will watch movies together until she is tired. I treasure these quiet moments with Abby.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouraging messages. They helped carry me through the last couple of days.

Thank You!!
From Brent:

A couple of days ago we put up the nice comment from OncologyRN with the intention of just letting folks see what some people think about us, and giving them a chance to consider her opinion, agree with her if they wanted, then politely find other blogs to read. We did it to show people we aren't afraid of criticism, to let other people know the truth about what happens behind the scenes sometimes, and honestly, just to allow each and every person who reads our blog the opportunity to judge for themselves if they wanted to stay with us on this journey... not just with Abby, but on our pilgrimage through this life, anticipating the next.

What happened after posting that totally overwhelmed us. We originally wanted to ignore her comment, much the same way we ignore 99% of other hurtful, baseless responses (the ones that have merit, we prayerfully consider).

But now... we are glad we put it out there publicly because we received an outpouring of love and encouragement that left no doubt in our mind that we are helping people (our real motivation), blessing people (our true heart's desire), and being a source of hope and guidance for many (our mission).

A couple of hundred people or more went out of their way to encourage us, state publicly what our blog and ministry work has meant in their life, and tell other readers what they personally know about our character and life. It was the greatest testimony to our effort and service that we've ever seen or could have ever hoped to see.

We are completely undeserving of so much kindness and support, and of course we can only thank God for the luxurious blessing He gave us in the form of your loving words and extravagant encouragement.

Once again what was meant for evil (the nasty comments), God has used for good because we are now a 100 times more encouraged and motivated to continue what we are doing than we were before OncologyRN stoked the fires.

Hey, OncologyRN... thank YOU! We are forever grateful for the blessing that came from your comments. Please know that there is an entire community of blog friends right here that wait with open arms to be your friend, love you and give you the same kind of encouragement. All in the name of, how did you put it?... "religion". And you are right, "religion" is a joke.

What is NOT a joke, is that we wait with open arms in the name of the loving, forgiving name of Jesus Christ who is the source of our joy, our hope, our happiness and our willingness to befriend even those who speak evil of us. We hope you'll come meet our Friend, Jesus.


Not long after her surgery, in typical Abby fashion, I ask for a smile,
and get a big beautiful smile although she's on enough morphine to make
even the Detroit Lions happy again. Abby loves her biggest brother,Dane (21) who came to visit her today.
Did you notice the wall behind Abby? There's about a hundred
pictures of __________. What?

Abby's doesn't want you to forget she's still got her purple tongue,
and LOTS more wall space in her room to put YOUR colored tongue pic!

Meet Sarah... Dane's girlfriend. She came to the hospital to see Abby.
Sarah is very sweet and pretty, and fine Christian young lady. We like her alot.
Did you spot YOUR purple tongue pic on the wall yet?

Abby's pain is under much better control now. They took her off half
a dozen pain meds and just went to one continuous morphine drip. So hopefully
the rollercoaster of pain will end. But... she'll probably remain pretty docile.
You can tell she's in "happy land" and she is a screaming funny "drunk".
She cracks jokes, makes faces and says hilarious stuff she'll have no memory of.

To close on serious note, we want you to know the truth. Abby is in
a precarious and dicey situation, medically speaking.

She is totally bottomed out, and has not yet began to recover her blood counts at all. She faces another surgery soon, much more extensive than todays. She is still in danger of becoming septic, and is open game for every germ and disease that crosses her path. That's all MEDICALLY speaking...

Spiritually speaking, she sits in the loving hand of the Creator of the Universe who poised to show His love and glory through the outcome He determined for Abby before the foundations of the world. Given that truth, we have not a care in the world, and rejoice that God makes ALL things work together for good for those that love Him and seek His face.

~ Brent