Thursday, 22 March 2007

Isaac's not been doing really great –
lots of small seizures the last 2 days.  Then yesterday he began
vomiting again in the afternoon.  Although, praise the Lord, he kept
his supper down last night.  He's been with the physical therapist this
morning for 45 minutes and it still sound asleep! 
She getting lots of good stretching done with him though.

We don't know what causes the vomiting.  The
dr's are stumped as well.  They don't think it has anything to do with
the seizures, though.

Well,
he and Daddy have a quiet day today, so that will be good.  I'll update
more later.

Alesha

Tuesday, 20 March 2007

Praise the Lord – we
were able to go to church together on Sunday.  It was so nice.  Isaac
started "singing" as soon as we got inside. 

He has been having quite a bit
of seizure activity, but not grand mals.  It's more of the smaller
seizures that take him out for only a few seconds at a time – over and
over.  He has many of them in a cluster. 

When he's experiencing these, he
doesn't sit very well.  He topples over suddenly.  He also has a hard
time drinking from his sippy cup.  His toungue wants to "hump" and the
liquid rolls out.  We just have to keep at it though and eventually he
can get the sipping part down again.

Isaac's also been staying up and
partying all night again!  Last night he stayed up until 6 this morning! 
Then he slept until noon!  What a life! 
Seriously, we suspect its seizure activity that keeps waking him up just
as he tries to drift off.

Doug has been reading the info from the hospital
about what to expect when we go.  I'm getting a little anxious about
it.  Not a good state of mind, I know.  I'm going to the Lord with it. 
He's working on me.  

I also made a really stupid mistake at work the end
of last week.  I wasn't slacking or doing something I wasn't supposed to
do.  I just forgot to do something that was really important.  I just
HATE when I do that!  I want to run home and never go back!  Then I get
mad, and after that self-pity tries to settle in.  Grrrrr…  

So, the Lord has been merciful
and given His Word and words of encouragement to me all along and I do
feel better today.  Still irritated with myself, but not dwelling on it
too much in my mind and singing praises to keep my focus on Him.

I guess that's it for today. 
Hopefully, something more interesting tomorrow.

Alesha

Saturday, 17 March 2007

Good Morning,

I thought
I'd include a few more pics from our trip.  It was such a beautiful day
and everything was new to me and therefore interesting.

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This was the Ronald McDonald
House.  Can you see that someone has painted only one coat of red paint
on a white wall. 
  This sign was perhaps the most
impressive part of our stay here.  'Nuff said!

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A little friendly dove
that greeted us at our 2nd. floor window.  He sat there all evening.

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I was amazed at how far you
could see of this skyline.  Good ol' FLAT Florida!

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One of the many
gorgeous, palm-tree-lined, neighborhood steets near the hospital.  The
tall spire is the Biltmore Hotel.  It was beautiful.  Unfortunately, I
didn't get a good shot from in front of the hotel.  It was truly
impressive.

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The gateway to a
Coral Gables neighborhood.  I'm thinking that in years past, this was
the main entrance.  Now it is just one of many.  Pretty though, huh?

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The construction going
on in downtown Miami was astonishing!

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This was a beautiful shot.  I
wish my camera had captured the color of the water.  It was an amazing
turquoise green.  My hubby says this was the most beautiful scene we
saw.  Unfortunately, there was no place to stop to get a better picture.

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Pretty little side street off
Ocean Drive.  See the quaint ivy-covered building?

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One last pic to pay homage to
my favorite beverage store!  Starbucks!  Can we say "Cinnamon Dolce
Latte"?  Yummmmmmmm…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isaac update:  Yesterday Doug
was able to get him in his stander for almost an hour.  That's really
good for us to do everyday, but some days his lateral hamstrings are
just too tight for us to get him in it.  He had a little seizure
activity last night, but slept really well.  He woke up smiling this
morning, but is also having seizure activity this morning.

We're praying for a good
weekend – I'd LOVE for all of us to get to go to church together
tomorrow.

Alesha

Friday, 16 March 2007

Yesterday Doug took Isaac to the
neurosurgeon to have his shunt checked.  It is draining well. 

His CAT scan showed that his ventricles
are getting smaller, but not as fast as the doctor wants them to.  So
they adjusted his shunt again. 

It's a magnet and can be made to open or close off the opening
that the fluid flows through.  The lowest setting is 0.5.  Isaac has
gone from 2.0 to 1.0. 

Let's
pray that this change does the trick.

He slept ALL NIGHT last night! 

WHOOOOO HOOOOOOO!

Praise the Lord!

Alesha

P.S. for
those of you who have asked about Isaac's diagnosis – He has
hydrocephalus (shunt revision – 12/13/06), epilepsy, GERD, delayed
gastric emptying, asthma, various eye conditions (although he does see
fairly well), developemental delays, and he is basically non-verbal and
non-mobile.  He can say about 10 words or short phrases, occasionally
using them with meaning. 

These diagnoses are
primarily due to a premature and traumatic birth, complicated by
substance abuse by his birth mother.  The wonderful little man that he
is today is due to God's grace and mercy – he was placed in a FABULOUS
foster home at 3 months of age (directly from the hospital), and then
came to live with us at 18 months old.  We adopted him just 3 days after
his 2nd. birthday.

He is our pride and joy and God's
perfect will for our lives.  We have determined that when Isaac has
something new going wrong it's because there are more doctors, nurses,
receptionists and parents who need to see God and witness His hand on
Isaac's life. 

It is amazing the places we have been
and the people we have met because of this little child.  We wouldn't
want to miss a thing God has for our family – so we just hang on and see
where God is taking us next.  Hopefully that doesn't mess with your
theology!!!!  We've learned that God just refuses to stay in
that box some churches and Christians try to put Him in!!!!! 
Imagine that!

Anyway, those are the things that are
going on with him medically.  Some day, I'll share with you the amazing,
funny little person that Isaac IS.  Diagnoses do not the person make!

Tuesday, 13 March 2007

Hi, we've had a good day here.  The "big meds" seem to
have helped Isaac this time, rather than wipe him out.  It's like
somebody pushed his reset button.

I only saw some slight seizure activity this evening, and he
was all smiley and happy the rest of the day.  We were singing before
bedtime and he kept telling me "more".

We picked up Newton (our Labradoodle) from the kennel today
and he seemed soooo happy to be home.  BTW, have you figured out the
little joke with his name, yet?

I've been
visiting lots of blogs this evening – just taking it easy after our busy
weekend.  So many great ladies – wives, moms and daughters writing
about our Lord and our families.  It's very encouraging.

We all have trials and struggles, but "the same Lord over all
is rich unto all that call upon him." (Romans 10:12)

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness.

Alesha

Monday, 12 March 2007

We have good news and bad news. 
Which do you usually ask for first?

I always ask for the bad news first.  I like to have
something to look forward to.

So, the bad news is that our doctor/nurse here in town did not
send all of the appropriate tests and results down to Miami.  We had no
idea what they needed and left that to our doctor.  (Guess who will be
taking care of that from now on?!!) 

Basically we were there for about an hour and told them
all about Isaac.

The
good news is that we are going to go back on Tuesday, April 3 and they
will admit Isaac to the hospital.  We will be there until Friday.  They
will be running all of their own tests, some of which are tests we've
had done before, but others will be new to us.

We feel like this is good news, because we
will finally be getting some answers. 

Basically, this will be a surgery evaluation, as they
will be determining if Isaac is a candidate for a surgery that will
help control the seizures. 

We don't know what those surgeries are yet.  We'll be doing
some research during the next couple of weeks, obviously.

Our trip was very smooth and uneventful,
for which we are really grateful. 

Thank you so much for the many prayers.  Please continue
them for Isaac.  He had 5 seizures this morning before noon.  TOO MANY
for this mommy!  We did give him the "big" meds after our visit with the
doctor.

I guess that's
all for now.  I'm exhausted and heading for bed.

Much love,

Alesha