ALL CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF! (March 21, 2008)
YAY! We are all cleared to leave for Indonesia early next week! We are in Sacramento tying up loose ends and visiting family that we won't see for a while. One of these day we may share all the little miracles and blessings that we have seen these last few days, but right now we need to focus on our ducks (we are getting them in rows :-)
Please pray for us this coming week, and we will let you know when we are safely on the other side of the world!
PLAN B (February 29, 2008)
K;
First the good news;
Caleb is 13 lbs 3 ounces! A 6 ounce gain in a week, despite being sick! He is still not quite on the charts, but is moving steadily that way.
Now the not so good news;
Exactly 24 hours after finishing the antibiotic for his ear infections his symptoms returned.
There are some blessings to be noted, we tested for C-dif (the bacteria that caused much of his previous weight gain issues) and that was negative, they also did a chest X-ray to check for pneumonia or Bronchitis and those were also negative PTL!
BUT: The Doctor feels like his weight gain and general health are good but she is a little concerned that the strong antibiotic he was taking didn't knock out his ear infections. She said she wouldn't recommend taking him overseas (obviously) UNLESS we can get this under control, she prescribed a longer dose of the same antibiotic (14 days) and wants us to see her after that to make sure he is all better. This digs right into the time we are supposed to be heading to Sacramento.
We tried to push our tickets back one week, still giving us time to get to Indonesia before our visa's expire but there are no seats on those flights.
So we are going to trust that this round of antibiotics with take care of this infection and continue with our plans as they are with the exception of leaving for Sacramento a few days later. If Caleb's infection is not gone then we will deal with that then. It is hard to think about already having moved out of our house and packed up and then having to stay longer but we really don't see any other options at this point.
I don't really like this "flying by the seat of our pants" approach, I like nice, neat, orderly plans. But obviously God is trying to teach us to TRUST HIM, not our plans. So we are TRYING to do that. Your prayers in all of this are greatly appreciated.
We would also ask you to pray for Greg's sister, Darcy, who is in Indonesia translating the Bible for the Semandang people. For several months she has been experiencing weakness, dizziness, and chills for several days at a time. She has seen the doctor at the Baptist hospital there and he feels she needs to be seen by a doctor either in the US or Singapore. She is waiting for her Visa paperwork to be granted so she can leave if she needs to. She already has plans to come home in April. Please pray for her health and that her paperwork will be granted quickly, also for wisdom for her as to weather she should come to the US earlier than planned.
Now for a bit of humor: 3 year old Katie has a new word this week, it is "expert" She has told me that I am an expert at cooking dinner, Daddy is an Expert tickler, etc. Well yesterday she told me that Caleb is an expert at crying and spitting up! Yes, he is, and isn't that a nice way to look at it? :-)
We are hoping to become experts at trusting God through all the uncertainties and we are so thankful for the way he is molding us into the people He wants us to be.
Thank you again for all your prayers and support!
ALL SYSTEMS GO! (February 26, 2008)
Dear Friends and Family;
We got the results of Greg's tests today and they were ALL normal. The Doctor is certain the numbness he is experiencing is the result of the Shingles Virus and is nothing we need to worry about. SO - that means we are officially "all systems go" for our return to Indonesia! YAY!
DON'T STOP PRAYING the next 2 months are going to be a crazy blur of packing, moving, adjusting, and finishing up our house.
MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS (February 15, 2008)
Greg's doctor appointment yesterday really brought up more questions than answers. He has some problems in his neck; disks C6 and C7 appear to be broken down some and also pressing against the spinal cord. The doctor said that if he had had a past neck injury that could account for the damage he wouldn't be worried, but since he hasn't the doctor wants to test further to make sure we aren't dealing with a degenerative disease. So this morning Greg is having a spinal tap and we will find out the results next Friday. Please Pray for Greg today and for us as we try not to worry.
Many people have noted that we have had a really rough year and I just wanted to mention something that has been rolling around in my head and I think I can finally put into words. I have always wondered if I had enough faith to get through really tough times. I realized something in those first early days in the hospital with Caleb, through times when we really didn't know if he would make it or not. It really isn't a matter of my faith at all. It is about God meeting us right were we are and leading us through things. It is about His strength and love. It really proves true the verse that says that in our weakness He is made strong. It really is His strength that helps us through each and everyday.
CALEB UPDATE (February 10, 2008)
Sorry I have been slow updating about Caleb and Greg.
Caleb's Endoscopy and Biopsies all came back negative. So the Doctors think he will just need to grow out of the reflux before he starts catching up weight wise. He has been doing much better since we treated him for C-Diff. He was up to 12 lbs 10 ounces before catching a cold this week!
We are STILL waiting for the results of Greg's MRI, we have an appointment to meet with the Doctor about them on Thursday. If nothing else it makes us thankful for Caleb's Doctors and how good they are at getting results back right away. Greg isn't feeling any noticeable difference in the numbness, which would seem to follow the original diagnosis of shingles.
We are all fighting a nasty bug that the kids must have brought home from school (they had 57 kids out sick one day last week, and 7 in Hannah's class alone!) Nate and I are still pretty healthy but everyone else is hacking and coughing with low grade fevers and two of the girls have ear infections and pink eye. Please pray especially for Caleb, he always loses weight and spits up more with a cold.
We are starting to pack and sort for our move. Our plans right now are to fly out to Indonesia towards the end of March. Once we arrive we will be able to stay in a friends house while they are in their tribal location. Greg will be frantically trying to finish our house , which still needs electric and plumbing, glass in the windows and the concrete floors smoothed out and finished. One huge praise regarding this whole unexpected move is that we were able find someone to watch our cat and dog and continue to feed them. The kids would have been crushed if they weren't there when we returned!
Thank you for your continued prayer for us.
BERGLUND UPDATE (January 30, 2008)
Hi all!
Caleb and I are in Denver and we spent the morning at the Denver Children's Hospital seeing the Specialist. They were very pleased with the steps our Doctor in Bozeman had taken so far. They want to do a endoscopy on Friday morning. (put a scope down his throat and look at his intestines and take some small biopsies of the intestinal lining. They are looking for inflammation that could possibly be causing him to not absorb the nutrients he is getting. The Doctor said this may just be the way Caleb is going to grow and it might not really improve much until he is a toddler and grows out of his acid reflux . But this test will help determine if there is an underlying cause that we can treat. I also met with a dietician who showed me how I can mix Caleb's formula thicker to give him more calories per ounce and also add canola oil to his baby food to give it more calories.
Please Pray for Caleb's test on Friday, It is another one of those things where he can't eat for hours, and this time the test isn't until 10am. And also pray for me as I drive around this HUGE city. It snowed today and it was pretty harrowing driving on the freeway in rush hour traffic in a car I am not used to! I got back to the hotel with my stomach in knots.
Greg had his MRI on Monday. He should get the results any time now. We will let you know when we hear.
We are also applying for a part time, assemble at home job to try to pay off some of this years medical deductibles and some other medical bills that weren't covered by insurance. Please pray that we will be hired and will be able to pay those off before we head back to Indonesia
One more prayer need that is weighing on our mind; We found out that the house we were renting in Indonesia has been sold by the owner. He is breaking the contract and we have to move our stuff immediately. We have been building a house there but it is not ready yet and we are feeling bad that other people are having to deal with moving all of our stuff
Thank you so much for your prayers for us!
BERGLUND BULLETIN (January 24, 2008)
Dear Friends and Family;
Praise the Lord! Caleb is 12lbs 2 1/2 oz!!! that is an impressive gain of over 1 lb since the first of January!!! We have started calling him "Bubba" in honor of his new, filled-out look :-) We just got back from a Doctor appointment and the Doctor is very pleased with his progress. We also got the results of a lab he had done and it shows that his fat absorption is now within normal range. Any of you who have been following Caleb know what a HUGE blessing this is! Our Doctor still wants us to go see the specialist in Denver this next week but said she feels he will probably give us the "all clear" to return to Indonesia at the end of March!!!!!!! Caleb and I will be flying down to Denver on Tuesday and returning Saturday morning. Please pray for our travels and for Greg and the kids as they are here without us.
Greg also had a Doctor appointment with a neurologist this week. He feels that Greg's numb fingers were caused by shingles and said it could take up to a year for those nerves to regenerate. He wants to do a MRI on Monday of next week to make sure that there is nothing else going on.
For those of you who have been praying for my niece who was shot in the eye with a pellet gun, please continue to pray for her as she deals with the loss of her eyesight in that eye and also pray for her spiritually.
The other kids are doing well. They are in swim lessons (we thought it would be more useful that ice skating lessons given the Indonesian climate :-) and Awana. Those two things alone keep us hopping. They just received mid term reports and are all doing well in school. Gracie's mid term said, "Grace is every teacher's dream! No one is sweeter . .I want 15 more just like her!!" We are so proud :-)
Greg is plugging away at the Bible translation and making good progress. We are chomping at the bit to get back to Indonesia and get the material checked and into the hands of the people. Just imagine if you sat down to read the Bible one morning and the words looked like this:
Kanaun Gosat fidi Markus 2
Geba bir-mata gosa
1 Sepo fidi, beuk beton lalen pil-pila sa gam dita, tu di Yesus iko sakik gam di Kapernaum, habar eblaba fen Ringe ma di huma. 2 Fidi pa gebar taga epsulun fidi huma ha di Ring baeptea eta elet sa tehuk moo, bae fi di hinolon bu elet sa moo. Pa tu di Yesus dohik Opo Nak liet wahan la sira hede, 3 gebar taga, pa gebar paa fidi sira dada geba birmata nain kahan sa gam di Yesus. 4 Bu sir eguh beta geba dii gam di Yesus moo, wahan geba demen dii. Petu sir loho abat bet-beta tu Yesus Nake elet, pa sir tatik geba birmatan, tu nak kadada dii. 5 Tu di Yesus kitah sira bapake Ringe dii, Ringe prepak la geba birmatan dii fen: "Nang anate, nam dosa dii, do Ya ampong haik. 6 Bu fidi dii, geba ka-toke agama pil-pila baeptea ma di, pa sir caan Yesus prepak gam di, petu du odo lalen: 7 "Gam doo sepe geba naa prepak gam dii? Ring iik Oplastala! Bara Oplastala emhewak moo, do sane ampong beta dosa?" 8 Bu Yesus tewa fidi sir odo gam di, petu Ring nika sira fen: "Emkua pa kimi odo gam dii fidi lalen nim dii? 9 Ii ha doo dape, prepak la geba birmata naa fen: 'kanam dosa Ya ampong haik', pi prepak fen: 'hosak, la ku tuuk kanam kadada, pa iko'? 10 Bu Ya prepak naa la kimi tewa, fi naa junai lalen naa do Ana Mhansia Nak kawasa la ampong beta dosa". Petu Yesus prepak la geba birmatan dii: 11 "Yako prepak la kae, hosak, tuuk kanam embage elen, pa ku oli gam di kanam huma!" 12 Petu geba dii hosak, pa da tuuk nake embage elen, pa da suba gam ak gidan fi di gebaro dii pupan lalen. Tu di sir kitah dii, do gebar dii helak, pa du seba Oplastala fen, "Ii gam naa, do ma kitah sala mohede."
not very enlightening, is it? But this is what it would feel like for our Buru friends to try to grow and study using a Bible in a language other than their own!
We appreciate each of you and the vital role you play in our ministry. It is an honor to be entrusted with reaching the Buru people for Christ. Thanks you so much for your prayers, support , and encouragement!
In Him;
Greg and Pam Berglund
Nate, Hannah, Grace, Katie, and Caleb
PRAYER NEEDS (November 1, 2007)
Well, we spent another day at the doctors today, trying to figure out why Caleb is not gaining weight like he should. He is 3 1/2 months old now and at 9 lbs 12 oz his weight and height are off the bottom of the charts. He was 9lbs 7 oz last Friday so that is some improvement, but not without effort on my part to wake him up several times a night and from naps during the day to feed him every 2 to 21/2 hours. Right now we are hoping that it is acid reflux and he is on Previcid this week to see if it will make a difference in helping him to keep his milk down. If the Previcid doesn't help we will be looking at more tests to figure out what is happening with him. On the bright side, he passed a hearing test with flying colors and is reaching all of the other developmental milestones he should be reaching (such as making eye contact, batting at toys, smiling and laughing) His head size is right at the 50th percentile, which means his brain is developing as it should.
Katie was supposed to get her adenoids out this morning but had a 103 fever all last night so we had to cancel. We have rescheduled for Nov 13th and if all goes well with her and Caleb is doing well we hope to make it down to Sacramento before Thanksgiving. Hannah will also be getting her adenoids out that day.
We are feeling a little discouraged, after trying so hard to get all these things taken care of before our return to Indonesia it feels like a whole new set of "things" are cropping up. It is hard to plan ahead for 3 years in advance and try to get all these medical things taken care of while we are in the states (and have met our deductibles for the year).
We see the Lord working in all these things and feel his assurance but just ask that you would say an extra prayer for us as we make important decisions this week on what the best course of action for Caleb will be. The Doctor he is seeing has recommended that we not return to Indonesia with him if we don't see him really starting to thrive in these next couple of weeks. This would be a hard decision to make as we could lose our return tickets and Greg would need to go back by himself over Christmas to renew our paper work.
We would love some extra prayer for these things in the coming weeks!
CALEB UPDATE (July 25, 2007)
Dear Friends and Family;
God is truly a God of miracles! Yesterday I asked the nurse if she thought Cleb might get to go home by Saturday and she looked at me and said, "This Saturday?" Today she was filling out discharge papers and moving us to the "step down unit"!
It all started when I asked the head nurse when I could try to nurse him. She told me to go ahead and try last night. He had only been getting 6 ml (about a cap full) every 3 hours. Well I tried to nurse him and he caught right on! He ate 60ml! 4 more than they require for discharge! Then he kept it up every three hours all night. Then this afternoon they did an ultrasound and his leg looks normal. They also unplugged the nasal capula (oxygen tube) to see how he would do and he has kept his oxygen up in the 90-100% range all afternoon! God obviously heard and answered all of our prayers for Caleb beyond what we even imagined! Even the Dr.'s and nurses are surprised by his progress!
So we will begin the LONG trip home tomorrow after he has the standard hearing test they give all newborns. We will just travel the three hours to my aunt and uncle's house tomorrow, then spend the night there and pick up the kids before going the rest of the way home. We are so excited to see our other kids again and be all together as a family with our new little addition.
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers!
One last note: We have seen so many babies here that will not be able to go home for MONTHS. So many of these families don't even know the Lord and have no Hope or place to get their strength. If you think about it you can pray for all these little babies and their parents. They are going through so much more than we have.
In His Hands;
Greg and Pam Berglund Find out more --
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CALEB UPDATE (July 24, 2007)
Dear Friends and Family;
Today has been a great day for us! Caleb is doing so well in so many ways. Just since yesterday he has gone from a CPAP (kind of a helmet that they wear that pushes oxygen into his lungs) to just an nasal oxygen tube. The hematologist saw him today and was very pleased with his foot also. He said they will give him the blood clotting injections twice a day until the end of the week and then he will be done. Probably the biggest impovement he has made has been digesting food. Yesterday they were giving him milk from a feeding tube and he wasn't digesting it at all, today he is drinking from a bottle and digesting it! They will slowly increase his feedings by 6 ml every 12 hours until he is eating 2 oz every 3 hours, I might even get to try to nurse him tomorrow. We spent the day holding him and bathing him and giving him his bottles. He would just fight to open his tired little eyes to look at me when I sang to him. His voice is back from having the ventilator tube in too, so we get to hear those sweet little baby squeaks, and a few squalls :-)
We are feeling so thankful that our little boy will be OK and will be coming home with us soon. We are so thankful for each of you and for the way you have been upholding us in prayer, and encouraging us with your emails and phone calls.
Greg and Pam Berglund Find out more --
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CALEB UPDATE (July 23, 2007)
Dear Friends and Family;
Caleb continues to do well. Yesterday he gave us a scare when he pulled out his ventilator tube! The Dr.s had just taken an x-ray to see if it was ready to come out and decided it wasn't. then he pulled it out. This was very frightening to us because when they put the tube in the first time he stopped breathing and his heart stopped, so we were afraid the same thing would happen when they reinserted it. But, PRAISE THE LORD, they put him on a C-pap instead (a tube than gives him oxygen through his nose) and so far he is doing great with that. So basically he took a step up all by himself, maybe he will be a Dr. :-) His foot is looking great too. We need to keep praying that he will start digesting his food. They are feeding him through a tube, just 6 ml, then 3 hours later they suck it back out again, and it has been kind of just sitting in his tummy. The Dr. says that is not terribly unusual since he is spending his energy on so many other things. Over all yesterday was a great day. His oxygen levels are down to under 30%, and we got to hold him for a while and give him a bed bath. We still haven't found anyplace permanant to stay, the Ronald McDonald House is full, as well as the nearby hotels that give discounts to patient's, so we are just going day to day. You can be praying for that.
Pam's mom and the kids left today to head down to southern Wyoming where they will stay with her Aunt and Uncle until we are released, so pray for their safe travels, and for the kids as they are really starting to miss us. The Doctor told us that she thought we would probably be here for 4 or 5 more days, and the nurse told us that was being a little optimistic. Thanks again SO much for your prayers, we are really feeling them.
Greg and Pam Berglund Find out more --
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CALEB UPDATE (July 22, 2007)
Dear praying friends;
Thank you so much for praying for Caleb right now, we are definitely feeling your prayers. Caleb’s leg and foot are looking MUCH better today, there is still some restricted blood flow but it is pink at times and looking much better. Please continue to pray that the clot will be completely resolved and that the Dr. will be able to determine if the clot was just an effect of a catheter they put in him, or if there is some underlying blood disorder that caused it. His breathing is about the same and he is still breathing with the help of a ventilator, this is not abnormal. His lungs need to mature and the pulmonary hypertension needs to be resolved before we will see changes, but he is taking step steps in the right direction. I asked the Dr. point blank if she felt he was out of the woods as far a surviving and she said there is nothing going on right now with him that is life threatening. This was such a relief for us to hear; I think Greg and I both breathed for the first time in days after hearing that.
Greg and I are both here with him in Denver and the hospital has given us a room to stay in last night and tonight. We are on a waiting list for the Ronald McDonald House, so please pray we will be able to get in there in the next few days. I was able to get at least 6 hour of sleep last night, which is more that I have gotten in the last 4 days combined, so we are feeling a lot better and are not quite so emotional. The Lord continues to comfort and encourage us (of course) and today he brought my all time favorite verse to mind, so I will close with that:
Jeremiah 29:11
"I Know the plans I have for you says the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. And you will call to me and I will answer you when you seek me with all your heart."
Calling to Him;
Pam Find out more --
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CALEB UPDATE (July 20, 2007)
We got to Denver at about 4 am last night, Caleb tolerated the flight well. Greg just left from Billings to Drive down, he should get here this afternoon. I haven't talked to a Dr. this morning but they tried to find the blot clot by ultrasound this morning and couldn't find it. there is low still low blood flow to that leg. I am praying that this means the "clot Buster" they started him on yesterday is working, but haven't actually heard that from the Dr. His lung function seems to be about the same, although he has been receiving a higher percentage of oxygen since or trip down. This is good news, his lung just need a chance to mature. My mom and the kids will be going down to my aunt and uncles house in Wyoming on Monday. It is a 3 hour drive from Denver so once Caleb is improving they might be able to come up for a day and Greg will be able to spend some days up there. Mom will also have some help taking care of them. They were able to come to Billings yesterday and see Caleb and spend a few hours with us before we were moved. They are doing OK but have lots of questions and want me to come home. On the light side, they hadn't seen me since Caleb was born and when they saw me one of them told me my diet was working :-) I guess it is the 8lb-er diet! The Denver Children's Hospital has a library with computers so I can check email each day so I will be able to do that.
Thanks you so much for praying,
Love Pam Find out more --
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CALEB UPDATE (July 19, 2007)
HI;
Sorry about the lack of communication, it has been
hard to find an internet connection, or time to update
you.
Caleb is stable. We had a scary night last night but
he is doing much better now. He has underdeveloped
lungs as well as pulmonary hypertension. The next
48-72 hours are really critical for him and the Dr.s
say they hope we will see a big change in him during
that time. He also developed a very rare blood clot
in his leg so is on anti clotting medicine which
complicates things because they need to weigh
everything they do to prevent bleeding.
We met with the Dr. today and he said that while this
is all very serious he doesn't foresee Caleb having
any lasting disabilities or big ongoing medical needs
once we get him through this. He does think we will
be here in the hospital for at least 2 weeks.
Greg and I are both in Billings at the Ronald Mc
Donald house, my mom is watching the kids at home in
Bozeman.
Please continue to pray, we are exhausted, worried,
and overwhelmed but we know that God is in charge and
is with us through this. Please pray for the kids
that they would hold up OK and for my mom.
Find out more --
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