Making progress

Well it has been a rough day and a half. Her surgery went as well as could be expected but it was late getting started and went way long. She has another set of balloons in, one in front, one in back. Also a large silver dollar size mole on her leg was halfway removed. It was almost 9 pm before we got home with her and I was very concerned as she will be ok in a position but if you attempt to pick her up or even if you are holding her and move your body a little she begins to scream in pain. That is a pretty heart-wrenching experience as a mom to not be able to comfort her when she cries. Now I would say by the time she went to bed tonight she was about 25% better then yesterday so I expect things to continue to improve pain-wise. We came up with one solution and busted out her old baby papasan seat and we carry her around in it which is easier than holding her. Now she wasn't scheduled to see the surgeon until Jan 4 but due to her high amount of pain he didn't want to wait to see her so he asked us to bring her in on Mon when he was already supposed to be on vacation. I continue to praise God for the care we receive from this fabulous physician. I think it is so cute when he calls her "Soph" which is our nickname for her and he constantly displays his high caliber of care. While the last 24 hrs have left me completely emotionally drained I wouldn't say I was empty and I would be remiss if I didn't give credit where it was due. The Lord continues to bless us and while yes I see Sophie suffering through pain I know that were it not for the constant prayers not only could things be much worse but our tolerance/ability to stand up underneath the weight of these burdens would be significantly different. I am SO thankful for the many people who are constantly sending notes of encouragement and prayers. I am SO thankful to my family and friends who take time away from work and their own busy lives (especially the week before Christmas) to pray with us the night before surgery (thank you Carl, we love you) to sit with us at the hospital (Thank You Thank You Mom and Dad!!!), watch Grace and take her out to have a fun time (I swear this week has been the most fun week ever for her and I think it is good that we try to downplay a little of the heavy burden of the situation around her), bring meals to my house (thank you Wellspring church, I love you) and just let me know how much me and more importantly Sophie means to you. Its those constant messages and people reaching out to us that carries me through. Admittedly for a variety or reasons lately I have been feeling very sorry for myself, it even has put an enormous damper on my usually unquenchable Christmas spirit. Sometimes I feel like its me and Sophie against the world and I struggle against feelings of bitterness that this is a constant battle for me with no end ever in sight. However, tonight I feel a lightness in my heart that I haven't felt in a month. Feeling the power and unity of the body of Christ reminds me I am NOT alone. Poignant more than ever to feel the presence of Christ in your life so powerfully at the season of His birth. Thank you, I love you all and God Bless you all in time with your family this Christmas. Please take time to THANK God for the blessings in your life and most importantly for the greatest Christmas PRESENT ever, his PRESENCE in our life. Please continue to pray for Sophies healing and if I could ask a special request it would be please also reach out to Craig, because I am the blogger and the facebooker and the emailer and we live near my family I get the bulk of the love and he tries to be the "brave, tough Dad" but I know he needs to feel that his people love and care too about our struggles so this will be a secret between us, please let Craig know how you care. Thanks again. Love and Christmas blessings, Amanda

Here we go again...

So tomorrow we begin another round of expansion. Sophie is having 2 more expanders put in, likely one in front and one in back again. Her surgery is at 12:30 and so her fasting schedule is much like last weeks for the MRI which went really well. I don't have the results back yet but the Dr's initial reaction was that everything looked fine. Anyways I am not looking forward to her coming out of anaesthetic again so soon, you feel so helpless when they are so miserable. Anyways we are not going to have to stay overnight, I would imagine it would be many weeks before we worry about injecting. So for now here are my prayer requests:
1. the surgery
2. the recovery 24 hrs after surgery
3. no post op infection (this is especially important as it is the week before Christmas and we are going out of town as is the Dr.)
4. this round of expansion will be successful (I keep thinking that since they are putting in balloons 3 and 4 and 1 in 4 supposedly fail means that one of these is doomed but Craig gently reminded me that is not how statistics work and is definitely NOT how God works, I am so blessed to have Craig around!) Well thats it, please say a word of prayer for us tomorrow. I will update on #1 and 2 soon. Thank you all. Amanda

mri

Hello all, we made it through the MRI today, it was a LONG day! Its funny, I thought the hardest part was the before when she had to fast and she did fine and was her normal sweet and social self flirting with patients and staff alike. The after I thought would be a breeze because I naively (that is probably not a word, sorry Sue) assumed that previously when she would scream and cry coming out it was from the pain of having surgery and that she would be groggy and hungry but no big deal this time. Well she was pretty unhappy for a long time and is still what I would consider "fragile" as she is taking a nice warm bath right now intermittently starts to cry. But overall it was a success and if we focus our prayers on a crystal clear result she will never have to worry about that again. We have our pre-op appt on Mon and then its gearing up for surgery on the 15th. I feel as though I am trying to keep my head down and barrel through this month, hold my breath until January and then breathe. On top of all of these things I may have to change job locations (quite involuntarily) and believe it or not I got summoned for jury duty AGAIN! I feel as though it is raining inconveniences. I am just glad I did all my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving! Well enough griping for tonight God is good, he got us through a long difficult day and gave me two wonderful parents who sat with me for seven hours at the hospital so Craig didn't have to take another day of work. Now I am of to cuddle my sweet baby girl off to bed. I will write again after our appt on Mon. Amanda