Thursday, October 18, 2007

The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow...

It's pretty windy outside tonight. I always appreciate when the wind does my leaf raking for me.

Big brother Jack and I took Annie down to Children's yesterday for her rehab checkup. After a kid goes through inpatient rehab, the doc and therapists like to see how things are going 3 months after discharge. If you remember, we were there on the rehab floor for a month from May 15 through June 8. I think everyone was happy to see Annie's progress since then, and Dr. Jaffe seemed pretty impressed with her attention and awareness. It's encouraging to hear people who haven't seen her in awhile comment on her improvement. I told the doc that my blogging buddies have been praying their guts out, and that's why she's doing so well.

So far this week, she's had maybe one or two head drops in 3 days. Yesterday I didn't see any; today I didn't see any, but Olivia did. Bottom line, though--the head drops are dramatically reduced. Because of that, and the fact that the new seizure med is working so well, and God is healing her, she is much more alert, interactive, and vocal. She was playing with a switch toy today at school, placing both hands on it and activating it repeatedly. She played with her xylophone piano at home tonight with both hands, intentionally and repeatedly. She was playing with her hair with her left hand, and rubbing her eye, and scratching her ear. Just normal movements I haven't seen her do in almost 9 months.

Also--we got her electrolytes checked again on Tuesday, and they're back to within normal range. We'll be following that closely every week for awhile. The bad news today, though, is that Annie's blood pressure is high again. Please pray that it comes down and stays down.

Here's a short prayer request list to post on your dashboard:

1. Please pray that she sleep through the night. (She has two night's in a row!)
2. Lower blood pressure
3. Normal electrolytes
4. No head drop seizures
5. More facial expression!!!
6. Increased use of hands and arms. (If she can start using her hands and arms, she could begin using a walker.)
7. Talking, talking and more talking. WORDS!!

Thanks again for listening and praying. I am indebted to you guys every day.

Jean

For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him. Isaiah 64:4

4 comments:

Gretchen said...

Love it! I will totally print that out for my dashboard. Praise God on the intentional play and decreased seizures. I'll pray for the bp to decrease, as well.

Tracey said...

"Just normal movements I haven't seen her do in almost 9 months."

That's fabulous, Jean...wonderful to hear.

You know, Annie, if you wanted to throw something at someone, you could get away with it right about now...go ahead.

And you could yell at someone too... doesn't matter who, doesn't even matter what you yell(mostly). People all over the world would love to hear you.

And then there's your beautiful smile. By all means, don’t keep it to yourself; God gave you that smile to share.

Lord, intercede.
Hear our prayers, Lord.
Do you not tire of hearing the same piercing cries every minute of every day bombarding you from every angle?
We do not tire of praying the same prayers every day, Lord.
We will not tire.

But Lord, as we continue to pray the shortest, simplest prayer possible: "Heal Annie!" we also praise you for her progress, for where she is today compared with where she was nearly 9 months ago.

We praise you that you chose to save her in the first place, and that you have chosen to bring her here, to where she is today.

And we praise you for the progress, for the hours of sleep strung together recently...

And Lord, we have seen you glorified through the Sullivans, in the midst of their woundedness they praise you, they worship and trust you. And we have seen you glorified through all of the people who continue to surround this family in prayer, nearby and around the world.

Now Lord, we ask for that ultimate opportunity to praise you and to glorify you: IN JESUS' NAME LORD, PLEASE HEAL ANNIE!!

May she rest comfortably through each night,
and may the family follow suit.

May you wake up in the morning fully refreshed, to the sounds of your daughter, and sister, calling for you.

May she touch your cheek and look deeply into your eyes, and smile that big, beautiful Annie smile.

We pray these things in the only worthy name: Jesus. Amen

Anonymous said...

Amen and amen!
Love,
Terri W

Anonymous said...

Yeah Annie, and you can SAY anything you WANT right now and I guarantee you no one is going to complain about it ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaa ha ha haaaaaaaa You GO girl!!! :)

Love
Sue Powell