grace led in life

Very sleepy and bright sunshine!
That is how day two started for us here in Philadelphia!

Sleep was surely ho-hum last night...so keep praying for that, please!
Isla's first appointment at CHOP was early afternoon, so we were able to get a few things in order this morning and head over to the hospital early afternoon until dinner time.


We learned as much as we could about Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, today.
It is made up of a number of different buildings...people were very kind!
When we first were learning about the campus we felt a bit lost, but by end of day we had a little more bearings on the buildings, clinics, etc.

Isla was so sleepy today and man...poor girl with teething! So, she was timid and fussy much of the day, but she handled it all so well. the "outside world" is still a bit foreign for Isla, let alone a completely different city/hospital...she is such a champ! And bless this girl...she still finds smiles





We were able to meet in person and speak with our Nurse Navigator here at CHOP! We really like her! She is extremely informative and kind!
We met with a lot of people today, but Isla's main appointment was with Pulmonary.

We really need time to process all we learn and have time to discuss it all, just Justin and I, so we will give basics of our appointments, but we are going to wait to share details until we feel the time is right. Thank you for following this journey, and even more...all the prayers for Isla!


We met with Dr. Mayer - Pulmonologist at CHOP.
He was very easy to talk to and gave great information.
We were able to ask any questions we had and he patiently listened and answered really well.
He is very knowledgeable and felt confident in his medical advice and assumptions about what is ahead - according to his area of specialty.
Dr. Mayer was able to give us some more info about the team of doctors that Isla will be seeing.
We really appreciated what he shared with us, and really admire this team and how they handle seeing patients. A team of doctors have already met and discussed Isla's medical needs and after this week of consults, testing, and imaging, they will be meeting again.
When these teams meet, they take all information about a patient and together, discuss options, ideas, and a plan. We really appreciate this approach. It is not just one doctor's opinion and another - it truly is collaborative.
We really look forward to the next appointments for Isla. These are not easy, but we are just so thankful for this opportunity for Isla to be seen by these doctors.
We felt that today's appointment with Dr. Mayer went well. His kindness was a relief for us.

We came back to the hotel around dinner time - ate some dinner and headed to the pool to get some energy out! Unfortunately, the pool was closed tonight for maintenance...so bathtub it was! ha!
We will surely be swimming tomorrow!

One of Isla's greatest comforts is her big brother and he is so sweet to her!

Zeke was such a champ today - It is a lot of sitting and waiting, for him! he has been working on workbooks, playing with stickers, drawing (mostly fire trucks and police cars) playing a lego game, and watching fun shows :)
As soon as we got back to the hotel...he was making sure our needs were being met. He is such a sweetie! We can't wait to get him our fishy, into the swimming pool tomorrow!
As the evening came to a close, Isla was much like her usual joyful self...