Isaac Update – Page 7 – Obtaining Mercy

Just a Quick Update

September 8, 2010June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in How Great is Our God, Isaac Update, What's Happening

Doug got sick over the weekend, and by Monday, Isaac was sick too – fever, cough, congestion. Poor little man! We are treating the fever and doing asthma treatments for the congestion. We'll let the fever go for 3 days, then make an appointment with his pediatrician if it continues past that.

Our caregiver started this week. It is working out wonderfully, and I am so, so thankful to have help.

We are supposed to start Isaac's horseback riding on Monday, IF he is feeling better.

I will be back to blog again, soon, I promise! :o)

My friend, Gail, who passed away in June had started a grape vine in her backyard quite a while before she got too sick to tend to her yard. Last season, it only yielded a handful of grapes. This year, it is bearing lots and lots of fruit.

Gail's Grapes

I think the Lord just blessed this vine this year so that it would bless Gail's husband with sweet remembrances of her. Isn't that just like our Lord? 🙂

Blessings,

Alesha

A Fun Day At The Ranch

August 29, 2010June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Florida Weather, Isaac Update, What's Happening

We were able to visit a therapeutic riding facility yesterday here in our town. We had heard about it before, but were just waiting on the right timing for us to try to begin Isaac's riding again.

Yesterday they sponsored a fundraiser and silent auction, and invited us to come out. It was a beautiful day, and we all had a wonderful time.

Isaac will start riding in September!!!

Enjoy the pics.

***

This last picture was Isaac's response when we asked him if he had a good time riding the horse. That smile speaks for itself!

Blessings on your upcoming week!

Alesha

A Little Post on a Rainy Afternoon

August 4, 2010 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Florida Weather, How Great is Our God, Isaac Update

I've felt like it's Monday all day today.

Doug was sick and didn't go into work or take Isaac to therapy, so today was his first day of the week. I guess that's why I've been 2 days behind! Poor Doug, though, his cold settled into an eye infection. A trip to the optometrist and an antibiotic for him today, and prayerfully, he'll be feeling better soon.

Isaac is sick too. You know, that little cough and a intermittent low-grade fever. Just doesn't feel good, but isn't sick enough to sleep all day either. Well, except for last Friday, when he did sleep all day. I thought the Lord was just giving me a little break, but it turned out that Isaac was getting sick after all.

I have been in the midst of a major pain flare, which hasn't happened in a really long time. So, it has had me out of commission for the past week or so. I am feeling some better today, although my back is giving me a little trouble.

Doug and his boss had a special time of prayer for me today at work. I didn't know anything about it, but suddenly I knew I was feeling better. I texted Doug to tell him, and he shared that he and the boss prayed for me today. How's that for a fast answer? I was so relieved and thankful and overwhelmed.

We have been having these fantastic electrical thunderstorms quite often lately. I really love them. We always turn off the computers and the air conditioner, and just enjoy the show. It's even better when I am near my bedroom window which opens onto the front porch. It has an aluminum room, and the rain just sounds phenomenal out there.

Our church is having a special time of giving this summer. You know, the dip in the economy doesn't affect the Lord, but it does sometimes affect his children and their charitable giving. Some folks have lost their jobs, others have had increased living expenses, and some are just too fearful to continue giving during an economic downturn.

Whatever the reason, giving has been somewhat diminished this summer, just like it was last summer. God showed off for us during last summer's special offering, bringing in far more that our goal. We are praying that our church members will be sensitive to the Lord's leading again this summer, so that the needs can be met.

With that in mind, I'll tell you what I did – only by way of sharing with you how good the Lord is to me. We really don't have anything extra to give. We do well to pay our bills each month. So I asked the Lord if He would sell some jewelry for me this week. And guess what! He did!!! One of my sweet, repeat customers made a purchase yesterday!!!

So, now, I can give a little something extra, too. Isn't God good?

He gives to me so that I can give back to Him!!!

(I'm asking Him to bless my customer, too, and to meet her needs – whether financial, spiritual or physical. And because I know her personally, I can pray specifically.)

I'm singing with my brother at church tonight, so I guess I'd better start getting myself together. It seems like it takes a little longer these days to "get ready"! I don't know whether to blame that on old age, or diminished eye sight!!! Either way, I've got work to do, friends! 🙂

Blessings to you,

Alesha

Just Catching Up

July 27, 2010June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Hallelujah Diet, Isaac Update, What's Happening

Doug and Isaac are off to therapy today, so I have the privilege of enjoying a silent house! Oh, how I love my quiet time!!! :) Both of my boys like noise! Hmmm…"boys like noise"…maybe I'm on to something here! lol!

We have had a good week. Isaac visited his neurologist last week. She suggested adding new meds or increasing meds, while watching him have seizure after seizure in the exam room. I had to tell her, "Um…this really isn't a bad day for him!"

Waiting for the doctor…

He was occasionally coming out of the seizures, and even playing with his ribbons. On a bad day, he just sleeps.

She had no answers, of course. My personal opinion is that either his shunt does not work the same every day, or his brain does not put out the same amount of fluid every day. Something is obviously fluctuating, when he has really great days, and really poor days.

But, such is life with Isaac. The Lord is faithful on ALL the days, whether they are great or poor. When it's time to consider something new, He will make it plain to us. We cannot spend every day fretting about seizures.

My follow up at my doctor was good, as I told you in the last post, I have lost another 4 pounds. That makes me very excited, because we have been working really diligently on our eating habits. I'm so glad that the diligence paid off. 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~

When we came home from our appointments, my mom and dad were at my house trying to clean up. Now, wait, they weren't cleaning up OUR mess…they were cleaning up DADDY's mess! He has started drilling the holes for the air conditioner vents in the concrete walls of our house.

Can you even begin to imagine the layer of concrete chalk that covered every inch of my house??? No, unless you have experienced it yourself, you have no concept! Ugh! The floors especially were quite a mess.

I had used king size sheets to cover as much furniture as I could, and so that helped a little in the clean up; but the dust settled on every surface between the ceiling and the floor. Every picture, ceiling fan, uncovered knickknack…you name it, it all had to be wiped down.

I am waiting to do the final dusting when he is completely finished. He did all the holes but one! I love him to pieces, but what in the world was he thinking, to leave one undone???

My mom said, "He was hot and hungry!"

Well, ok then! That explains it completely!!! :~D

~~~~~~~~~~

I have been very busy working on jewelry for the past 2 weeks. I want to increase my sales, and am trying to implement as many things as I can to make that happen. I know it's all in the Lord's hands, but I am doing my best to be diligent.

Doug's grandma is still healing nicely, and is feeling much better. We are very excited about that.

Our teens had a great week at camp. It was so good to see so many of them in church on Sunday. Sunday night, several young men came forward to say they had accepted the Lord as their Saviour while out at camp last week, and that they wanted to follow the Lord in believer's baptism. That was very exciting to see.

~~~~~~~

I saw something interesting while we were at Isaac's doctor's visit. I thought I would share it with you.

Just a normal thing to see in the restroom…but wait, look closer…

Still can't read it? Here…this should help!

Considering that the building we were in is state-owned, I couldn't help but chuckle!!! (and take a picture for the blog, of course!)

~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I still have several projects to do today, so I better finish this up.

Blessings to you,

Alesha

One…two…three…four…

July 7, 2010June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Hallelujah Diet, Household, How Great is Our God, Isaac Update, Recipe, What's Happening

…counting my many blessing today. I thought I'd share my day with you. I think you will see why I am feeling so blessed today. Ready, set, here we go!

Got up at 6:45 to change Isaac. Repositioned him in the bed.
Drank barley.
Read Bible, the book of Exodus, the story of the Red Sea crossing. Remembered I had an unread email about the subject, and watched the powerpoint presentation which was very interesting.
Checked all email accounts, checked Etsy orders, read blog comments, checked Google Analytics and StatCounter for web sites, and check in to Xanga blogs that I follow.
Prepared Isaac's feed, juice and meds. Fed him very quietly because he had fallen asleep (had been up since 4:30 a.m. I did not get up with him – Doug did!) Washed up all syringes, tubes and jars.
Let Newton out to go potty.

(Newton catchin' some Florida rays)

Drank first glass of veggie juice.
Rinsed black eyed peas, and put in Crockpot with onion, shallot, salt and Better Than Bouillon.
Rinsed chick peas and put in to cook on stove.
Checked Facebook, accepted gifts and played games.
Rinsed chickpeas, put in fresh water, put back on to finish cooking.
Made my way through most of the blogs that I follow – everybody seems to have a lot to say this week. 🙂
Made hummus for lunch – our favorite recipe!
Stirred the black eyes peas.
Changed Ike who decided to wake up, put in a video, then spent some time talking with my boy whose eyes seem clearer today than they have in some time.
Talked to Mama on the phone. She is feeling better today. We are still waiting on the results of one more test. Found out my aunt (my mom's sister) was taken to the hospital on Sunday morning, and tests showed she was having multiple mini strokes. She is still in the hospital and will probably be released to a nursing home/rehab facility to learn to walk with a walker before she goes back home with my uncle.
Took all my vitamins.
Chopped up veggies to eat with our hummus.
Answered the front door to receive some of Ike's medical supplies.
Drank second glass of juice for the day.
Prepared Ike's meds, juice and feed. Fed Isaac. Changed him, put in a new video. Washed up.
Had lunch with Doug. Sent veggies and juice with him for an afternoon snack.
Gathered veggies and fruit for juicing: kale, carrots, celery and apples. Everything was already prepared in baggies, except for the apples.
Spent about 30 minutes juicing and cleaning up the mess that it makes. 🙂
Stirred the black eyed peas.
Checked in with Isaac who needed new toys and some lovin' and repositioning. We are not able to get him up in his wheelchair yet, because of the shunt. He still had some stomach issues yesterday due to the pressure, so they said to keep him reclined. Since I can't get him in and out of the recliner, his bed is the best place to do that.
Made afternoon snack: banana-peach and parsley smoothie.

(yes, it's green, and yes, it's very yummy!)

Peeled all the bananas and broke them up into a freezer bag for smoothies for the rest of the week.
Turned on the radio for Isaac, switched his toys again. It's exciting to me when he gets bored.
Downloaded some pics for this blog post, and figured out how to use a new program to edit them.

I have to tell you, my faithful blog readers, I believe I am finally on the mend! I seem to be getting stronger and my back has not "gone out" since we got the new mattress. Thank the Lord for that.

I can't remember the last time I had the energy to go through a day like this!!! It is very exciting to me!

Also, considering that I kept this pace the entire week that Doug was gone, then spent 48 hours at the hospital with my mom over the weekend, I am thrilled to be able to do all that I did today.

I know that so many of you pray for me on a daily basis, and I am so thankful for that. Don't stop praying yet! ;o) But now you can add a little praise in there that I am doing so well right now.

It's my plan to get ready and go to church tonight. Afterwards, we will have choir practice and then I will practice for a duet on Sunday with my friend, Mrs. Sandy. I should be good and tired by the time this day is over.

I pray your day has been productive, and that you can lay down tonight and count your many blessings.

I know I certainly will!

(a little blurry because he is in constant motion…)

All pics were added for Dani – my photo-graphical inspiration! 🙂

Alesha

Continuing to Trust His Heart

July 5, 2010 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, How Great is Our God, Isaac Update, Prayer Request, What's Happening

The weekend has been incredibly busy for us, and it was not because we were celebrating the birthday of this great country of ours, unfortunately.

On Saturday, we realized that Isaac's shunt need to be re-adjusted. He started trying to vomit after sitting upright in his chair for just a little while. We made an appointment for him to be seen on Sunday at the children's hospital by the neurosurgeon.

They did x-rays and a CAT scan just to check everything out. The shunt is fine, as is the tubing leading from it. However, the shunt had been pulling so much fluid from his brain that his ventricles had completely collapsed! His test, however, looked ok.

I've done some research this morning on over drainage, and it can apparently lead to a subdermal hematoma, so we are really grateful that did not happen.

I asked him this morning if his head felt better, and he smiled for me. That was really good to see!

Also, on Saturday, my mom gave us quite a scare. She was fixing lunch, and suddenly felt the room going dark, and her jaws began to hurt. She managed to call out to my dad, and sit on a stool in the kitchen. He was able to hold her up there, but she was completely unresponsive for a little while. He called us for Doug to come over, then they called 911.

By the time the EMTs got there, she had come to, but was obviously a little confused and very upset. The EKG they did at the house showed no problems, but of course she went to the hospital.

They did every test known to man, I think. Several EKGs, echocardiagram, CAT scan on brain, chest x-ray, ultrasound of neck, MRI of brain, tons of blood work and blood pressure checks – laying, sitting and standing.

They found nothing wrong.

Incredible, yes?

They "suspect" she had a TIA or mini-stroke, which they said was completely self-healing, which is why they feel they could find no evidence of it. She will follow up with her doctor later, because, of course, he was out of town for the holidays.

So, I headed home last night, and she came home this afternoon. She is feeling much better today, although she is still having problems with vertigo. She has been having issues with that for several weeks, and had already been to her doctor where they had done extensive blood work the week before last.

Of course, this rattled us all pretty thoroughly – my dad especially. Although she is feeling better, I know we are all wondering if everything is really ok. We'll see what her doctor says.

Also on Saturday, Doug's mom had to call 911 for his grandma. She was feeling very poorly. (Remember she just came home last Monday after having open heart surgery.) They felt she was ok, and did not feel the need to take her to the hospital. She was feeling better when Doug talked to her yesterday.

I am so thankful for those who were praying for us…I was able to get a status up on Facebook, but only had my phone, so could not manage to blog. If the Lord lays our family on your heart, we would really appreciate continued prayer for her recovery, for Doug's grandma's complete recovery and that Isaac's shunt would do it's job properly so that he is feeling much better soon.

It's really been a time around here…maybe we can all get a little rest this afternoon. I am SO SO thankful that Doug was home before all of this happened. Even the timing of the "bad" things is in the hand of the Lord, and we continue to trust Him.

Blessings,

Alesha

From the Land of Nod

June 26, 2010June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Isaac Update

I feel I could write an entire post about the lack of sleep, but I fear that at some point I would lull my readers into the state that I am so earnestly craving!

Oh, yes, Isaac did sleep last night — from 9 pm to 11 pm. <sigh…>

(My hat is permanently tipped to every single special needs mom out there in bloggy land!)

You would think that the dose of Diastat (that would render a small elephant senseless, I think) would have worked to not only control the seizures that have been increasing in number all week, but would have also helped him sleep for longer than 2 hours.

But, alas, it did not.

He has been happily playing with his ribbons, while alternately listening to music and watching Gaither videos for the past 9 hours.

I'm glad he's Happy…just wish he would pick a different Dwarf to imitate – particularly, the one with the "Zzzzzzzzzzzs" above his head. :o/

I did nap occasionally throughout the night, out of sheer exhaustion; but between the soggy diapers, the medication administration schedule, and my overactive mommy-radar, I never slept for more than an hour and a half at a time.

It's those darn ribbons, I tell you. He won't settle down and sleep because he is compulsively chewing them, and I can't sleep because I'm afraid he will choke on them.

I don't dare take them away, because then I would be compelled to listen to his whine-moan of "Uhhhh…uhhhh…uhhhh" with every breath. It's the Isaac equivalent of "Mommy…mommy…mama…mommmmm." 😉

Well, I guess I'll wrap this up now. I leave you with this final thought:

I feel my aggravation growing and my intelligence slipping with each sleep-deprived hour that passes.

If I start posting gobbledy-gook at some point, you'll know why.

Alesha

P.S. For the humor-challenged folk out there in the blogosphere, I need to assure you that this post was written wholly tongue-in-cheek. While I am indeed sleep-deprived, my ability to care for Isaac is in no way diminished.

Yet.

(sorry, I just couldn't resist one more!!!) ;o)

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