HOPE

Four months ago today we walked out of an Ukraine Mental Institution with Selah and Sarah. Three weeks ago today the accident happened. Today Selah had her g-tube and trach put in. She did great thank God! Tonight I can look at her sweet little face without all the tape and tubes!

The plan is to try and wean her off the vent. Right now the setting is very low, 8 breathes a minute, she is doing all the breathing over that. The doctors expect her to be able to breath totally on her own. The reason she had to have the trach is that she is not swallowing/gagging or coughing and would aspirate on her saliva. When she gets the cough/gag reflex back the trach will be able to come out. You notice I said when and not if....I believe she will get the cough/gag back!

Since this happened three weeks ago, God has answered many prayers. Our first answered prayer is that Selah lived! She was not expected to live at all! We were repeatably told she would not live...but she did. Second, we prayed for the fevers to go and they did. Third we prayed for her to have a corneal reaction and she did. Fourth we prayed for her kidney function to recover and it did. Fifth we prayed for some neurological response and we believe she responded to Jon today before her surgery.

She has had some movements but they have not been "good purposeful" movements. They were what is called "posturing" which indicated neurological damage. All her limbs move at the same time in response to pain/pressure or stimulation. Today she seemed to make some purposeful movement when Jon said "Selah come to daddy" She seemed to lift and turn her head towards him (and he was on her left side which is not the side she seems to favor. Her limbs did not move all together (which was good-less chance of this being posturing) She did it 4 times ONLY when he said "Selah come to daddy" Then I called the nurse into see it. She didn't think it was posturing but said she wasn't sure of what she was seeing.

I wasn't sure if I was going to share this...it is a very small step and she needs to show constancy with this. We have been disappointed before with Sam who has done something once or twice and then NEVER did it again. So we are cautious about getting too excited about this and really would appreciate restraint on your part too LOL! Certainly it is good and anything that is not a step backwards is great but we have been extremely disappointed in some small strides Sam made that he never could repeat again to be too excited UNTIL we see a good consistent pattern. But we are excited and do feel like it was a true response.

The doctors have told us they feel all of her cerebral brain function is gone. That 's the part of the brain that is her intellect and her personality. They feel she only has a small part of her brain stem left The brain stem controls the basic functions like breathing, pain, temperature control (the concern with the fevers), gag/cough reflexes etc.... So since she doesn't seem to have even all of her brain stem function, it is hard for them to think she has anything above it. I don not think the doctors are trying to mislead us. They see near drownings all the time and know how things usually go. I believe they would be thrilled to see her exceed their expectations but they have seen so much they do not want us to get our hopes up.

So we are cautiously optimist and we are trusting in God. We are very thankful for the care she has received here at Strongs'. This is a great hospital with a wonderful approach to the whole person and family. So while we are thankful for the care she has received physically we know our real HOPE is in the Lord. We have been told over and over that there is nothing that can be done for her neurologically....

So please pray that Selah will respond more and more neurologically. Pray that all will see it and that God will get the glory for it. That is one thing that is for sure, if she recovers neurologically it will be God. Nothing can be done by any doctors for her at this time. They acknowledge that. We have some hope for some stem cell research but that is in the future.

Our hope is in God who made heaven and earth...pray for Selah!

Out of Surgery!

Out of surgery, she lookds great! Got a "mickey g-tube" like I'd hoped for. All the tubing and tape is gone from her face:) We can see her again and it is great! She didn't have one issue in surgery, it went perfect! Thanks for the prayers!!!!!!!

Surgery

Selah is in surgery. Her G-tube has been placed and now they are working on her trach. No complications thus far. Thanks for the prayers!

Surgery tomorrow~ Five months ago

Selah's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:30 pm. Of course it might end up being a bit later. She will have her trach and feeding tube put in. Please pray that everything will go perfectly and she will recover quickly.

Five months ago today we met Selah and Sarah, hard to imagine it's been five months! In some ways they have always been with us, a part of our family and in other ways it seemed just a few days ago we were meeting them. What a precious day it was to meet these little girls that had captured our hearts and dreams! Certainly, five months ago, I had no idea that just a few months later I'd be sitting beside her as she fights for her life and for her recovery. Sometimes I think if I'd just known what was coming, I would have treasured everything even more than I did. But I did treasure these past five months. They truly were the missing pieces of our family's puzzle. We didn't know we were missing a piece but we were and they fit into that spot just perfectly. This past summer has been the happiest time of my life. My heart was just filled....with love, thankfulness, happiness... I was the mom of TWO little girls who I just adored. It couldn't get any better than it was...now....I still can say my heart is still filled with love and thankfulness. But there is a deep sadness there because I want to be able to communicate with Selah and have her communicate with me. I want to hear her laugh and her little voice. I want her to scoot her booty up on the couch and come and sit with me...Please...Please pray for her!!!

Our time in Ukraine was very precious to us. Yes it was hard/different than what we were used to but a very precious time for our family. We wouldn't' trade it for anything, even the inconveniences, it taught us so much about the country our girls came from. Now looking at the pictures, there are many rich memories in them for us.

Please please pray that our precious Selah comes back to us. Today I have hope, hope that she will be restored to us. But it is faint hope to be honest. My real hope is in God, the maker of heaven and earth. Whatever the outcome will be, I'm walking with Him. See He will always walk with us, but we have to make the choice to walk with Him. That is what I am choosing today. And it is a choice, there are times when things hit me like a giant wave at the ocean. That is when I step back...and remind myself "not to be afraid" and continue walking with Him.

Pray for her tomorrow that all goes perfect and she recovers quickly. Thank you all!!!

Good day!

It looks like Selah will be scheduled for surgery on Wednesday to get her feeding tube and trach placed. If this happens, then we start our countdown towards going home. 4-6 weeks from surgery! I am content in the moment but of course we miss home and all our friends and family!

Today was the happiest day for us with her becoming more and more stable physically and actually responding to her cornea being touched! We've prayed since the accident for this! Now we need to see her cough! Her heart rate and blood pressure still go up too high but they are more on the lower side of high now. The fever is pretty much gone thank God!

This afternoon I went to a couple of thrift stores and got some great deals. Couldn't find anything for the boys, so I had to go to Kohl's to buy them both a sweatshirt jacket. Now we all have a jacket, New York will probably have a heat wave LOL!

We got a chance to eat supper with our good life long friends the Wallenbecks (or at least part of their tribe) at Cracker Barrel and they had SWEET ICE TEA! That is a rare find in the north LOL! We bought Sarah another rocking horse, she seems to miss her rocking horse so now she has one here. She was so happy on it and didn't want to get off:) I told Jon I have no idea how we will get it home but we will somehow! She loves a rocking horse and tries to make everything a rocking horse!

I'm back at the hospital. Selah is resting peacefully, with her heart rate and blood pressure down some.

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray! We saw something new today, something that was unexpected...please pray now that she will cough and gag! That would be amazing. Doctors looks for a cough and gag response. It is a brain stem activity and if it is not there when something is inserted into the throat, it indicates severe brain damage. Please pray that she will start gagging and coughing when she is suctioned!!!!!!

Tonight on the way back to the hospital, we saw the biggest, orange, harvest moon. It was breathtaking! Just think the God who created that moon, cares for us! He cares for my little girl....the thought of that just blew me away! God is so faithful even when we are not! Tonight I resting in the "Peace Peace Wonderful Peace"

Corneal respond

Our fav doctor was in today and reassessed her. He was a little encouraging. she is certainly better physically than she was last week AND both eyes responded when he touched the cornea! Not a huge response but she did respond for the first time and it was in both eyes!

Corneal responds is a basic brain stem response but it shows that a tiny bit more of her brain stem is responding! PLEASE pray for more responses! I am encouraged! We pray that her whole brain stem will respond as well as the rest of her brain!

A New Week

Selah had a good night without fevers! Blood pressure is still up.

This morning I got up cooked breakfast for the kids at RMH (really wanting them to eat healthier we've been awful these past few weeks) Then I did laundry got a shower and did my hair which decided to have a GOOD hair day. I determined that I am not going to be shaken today ( I've got good hair so I won't be LOLOL) Selah is unresponsive this morning but the nurse & I are going to give her a bath soon. The doctors said they may put off her surgery still as she has lots of mucus in her lungs. They suction out all kinds of junk several times a hour. So we are still praying for a miracle. I've decided I'm going to pray until God either heals her or lets me know that we will have to walk this path. So I ask you to join me in prayer for our little girl. Don't forget her, bring her up to the Father until He grants her healing!

I really want to thank you for all the prayers and support, even from folks we have never met. It really uplifts us and encourages us!!

Today I'm going to run to the thrift store and get a few jackets and things for us. We only packed summer clothes so we need to get a few things. Hope I can find everything at the thrift store. I love shopping at thrift stores, you just never know what you'll find:) I am also determined to find some new CDs for her!!! We kept the little dvds "Baby Praise" playing for the little ones all day long on their tv and she loved it so I am going to find one of those. I have listened to the SELAH CD for almost 3 weeks now. They sing the old song "By and By" in the African language that one of them grew up in as missionary kids. I'm too the point I can almost sing it in the African dialect LOLOLOL Time for a new CD! The only other ones we had in the van were Lecrea (christian hip hop) so yep I need to find some more!

Pray that she will wake up more today....