Thursday, May 30, 2013

A Week in the Hospital

allie

Allie is having seizures just about every two days. She had one today. She had one yesterday. She had two on Sunday.

About three years ago, Allie was having seizures about once a month and that terrified us. Our doctors took it very seriously, too, and started her on medicines to eliminate the seizures. Three years later, her seizures have increased exponentially and we’ve tried everything we can think of to manage them.

We’ve been in the hospital on several occasions to study the brain and monitor the seizures with a video electroencephalogram (EEG). Each visit we have to stay longer. Next week, we’ll be at Miami Children’s hospital from Monday through Friday. Allie will go through a battery of tests, have her seizures monitored and recorded, and also have an MRI. The intent is to get a good work up of what kind of neurological behavior is associated with the seizures she’s having.

We covet your prayers. Since Allie’s seizures have been so difficult to manage with meds, her neurologist is considering inserting a shunt into her neck that gives off an electric pulse to negate her seizures before they hit. We really don’t want Allie to have to have and electronic device surgically implanted. Allie has had a number of other surgeries and has been very susceptible to infections. One time a three day hospital visit turned into a nine day stay due to infection.

There will be a number of doctors involved in this testing so having more than one opinion available makes us happy. But we are not looking forward to our stay. We’ve been in the hospital for overnight stints three times in the last year and they are incredibly disruptive and intrusive to our family routine. Quite frankly, we often leave the hospital frustrated and defeated because we don’t ever learn as much as we hope. We’re praying this time will be different. Again, please pray with us.

I’ll post what I can here, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram while we are there. We look forward to your online involvement and interaction with us during our stay at Miami Children’s Hospital.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

One of my heroes

Even though posts here have been sparse over the past month, I have actually been writing and working through past blog posts I’ve written in and organizing them into my outline. If this is your first time here, you need to read this post to understand what I’m writing about.
One topic I worked on was about one of our heroes. Ruth. She’ll be so embarrassed if or when she reads this, but she is one strong, classy lady.
Her love and dedication to Allie has been God's gift to us. Nobody has been a bigger help to us.
Ruth is Allie's paternal grandmother.
She is a friend that we have a unique bond with because we all want things to be back the way they were when Allie was a healthy little baby full of wonder about the new world she had been born into. This was before she learned that the world had fallen from grace and is broken.
Ruth is broken like we are and that binds us together. In spite of this, she always encourages Susan and I. She constantly affirms us. Encouragement turns the tide. Words of encouragement don’t come naturally. Otherwise the Bible wouldn’t instruct us to encourage one another. It wouldn’t have to if it came naturally.
Encouraging people takes putting others first. That’s something else that doesn’t come naturally. Talking about one’s self and putting one’s self first comes naturally. Encouragement, however, changes the course of somebody else’s life.
Allie shrieks with joy when Ruth walks into the house. She goes nuts kicking her feet and yelling happily. Allie could be in the worst mood, but Ruth changes things the instant when she brings her grace and classiness into the room.
Life isn't fair but Ruth doesn't complain. She makes it a point to be a blessing to those around her proving that the best way to overcome adversity is to put others before yourself. She has done that with Allie and Susan and me demonstrating goodness that must be mentioned.
When I need a lesson in classy, I go to Ruth.