Category: Blessings

I've been mulling on a new post all week.  Do you do that too?  You have something you want to share, but you're not quite sure how to go about it, so you just think on it for awhile?  That's what I've been doing.

I told you Isaac is making some transitions since his surgery.  It has been really odd, and we are still sort of processing and learning as we go along.

Let me start by saying that I began blogging in February of 2007.  As I have been working to move those old posts over to my new server, I realized that I began blogging in order to keep a grasp on reality and my sanity.  Truly, there was so much going on with Isaac, and it was so overwhelming, that if I had not stepped out of my self, in order to tell his story, I think I might have "lost it" a little.

When thinking over this blog post, I realized that most of you don't know what Isaac was like before I started blogging.  You didn't experience much of Isaac's life before the seizures took over.  So, when I tell you the new things that are happening you aren't going to understand some of it.  I will try to explain as I go along.

When Isaac had his shunt revision in December of 2006, they were unable to remove part of the shunt, the catheter.  It had been embedded in his brain since shortly after his birth, over 6 years earlier.  The skull had literally grown and calcified around it, and to remove it would have caused entirely too much trauma and blood loss.

The decision was made to place the new catheter right beside the old one.

Isaac began to decline immediately following this surgery.  You know all about that if you have read my blog for any length of time.

However, before that surgery, he was doing well: 

• He had learned to chew – it took an entire school year. 
• He played with ribbons and strings, chewing on them mostly. 
• He loved to look at books and would try to help turn the pages. 
• He used words with meaning to express himself. 
• He made minimal eye contact. 
• He turned his head to see things on his left side.
• He was learning to use communication devices.
• He picked up toys to feel them and look for tags or labels (so he could chew them).
• He noticed people who spoke to him and responded to them.
• He expressed excitement about going places and seeing people.
• He pitched fits when he didn't get his way.
• He jumped at loud noises.
• He had very sensitive palms and feet, and needed "brushing" to calm his sensory issues.
• He could stand and sit, on command.
• He was taking steps, with a therapist's help.

Can I just say…We almost have this same child again!!!

With the exception of the last item (because he has lost so much strength in the last 3 years and 4 months) he is doing all of the things in that list! 

His skills have been returning gradually since the last surgery, and we have just watched in amazement!  It's as if each morning, we are waking up to a new child.

While these things are astonishing, can I tell you something even more astounding???

We are only seeing a couple of seizures a day!!!

And beyond that — he is doing things he's never done before:

• He is picking up toys that make noise and shaking them, smiling when they make noise.
• He is making choices by grabbing the toy or movie that he wants.
• He is pulling our hand to his mouth when we are offering him a bite of food.

It is utterly amazing.

We don't know what God is doing, but we are cautiously thrilled by the things we are experiencing.  I say "cautiously" because we know the human brain is an magnificent puzzle; and quite possibly, as quickly as these things appear, they can disappear.

However, we are thanking God each day that we are experiencing these little miracles; and I just wanted to share them with you – my friendly readers – who have so faithfully walked the difficult path with us the last 3 years.

It is proof that although prayers may not be answered the way that we desire, we should not stop praying. 

God's answer will come when the time is right in His will, and then we will stand back in amazement, as we see what the mighty hand of God can do.

To God be all the glory!

Alesha