Recently I was catching up with a dear friend and was explaining what my life had looked like for the last year. There have been many times that I've wanted to share on here all that I shared with my friend that day but my heart just wasn't ready. Now to be honest I'm not sure that I'm ready yet but the Lord keeps nudging me and asking me to be transparent. With that said here it goes......
The end of last August we got a call that our 16 year old nephew, Trevor, wasn't able to keep anything down and they were taking him to the ER. Once they were there they were told that he had developed Type 1 Diabetes and they were sending him to a larger hospital in a city close to us. When he got there an extremely rare thing happened. Trevor went into a diabetic coma and his brain began to swell. The doctors gave us a very bleak outcome and we sat in shock and just prayed. Very slowly the risk of losing him became smaller and smaller and he started to make improvements everyday. He stayed in the pediatric ICU for weeks and finally was transferred to a regular room where he started to do intense therapy. Finally at the end of November he was able to return home. PTL!!! He is in a wheelchair, does physical therapy, has done hyperbaric treatments, and is now looking at going back to school for a short amount of time each week. He's improving all the time and has come so far!
On Sept. 22nd of last year we had a birthday party here at our house for both Brodie and Claire since their birthdays are only 4 days apart. During this party my Dad suffered a mini-stroke and it was a very long night with getting him to our local ER then waiting for him to be transferred to that same larger hospital in the city where Trevor was at. (What a blessing that was.) Our big sign was we could not understand a word he was saying. It was like he was talking a foreign language and it became very scary for him. Thankfully within the next day he was back to normal and no serious issues were detected. Although after this he did start to have some big anxiety issues which ended him on some meds and back in the hospital for a short observation.
Then on Oct. 29th we got a call while we were already in Joel's parents town shopping that his Dad was at the ER and they found a large tumor in his sinus region. This came as a huge shock to us all and was discovered because of a nose bleed that just wouldn't stop and what they formally thought was a sinus infection. He was transported to Columbus to a hospital that specialized in this sort of cancer. He underwent a nasty surgery to remove the tumor, then another one right after to fix a leak of fluid from his brain, and yet another one for another smaller leak. He was extremely weak after this and would have to wait a couple months to have another scan. We found out after this scan that the tumor was back and appeared even worse than the last one. The next step would be months of intense radiation and chemo. They would be required to move 4 1/2 hrs away so they could treat him properly. He had a lot of problems with his eye sight, completely drained of energy, and a case of needing two units of blood right before he was supposed to come home after his treatments. He has been told now that he is cancer free and slowly on the mend. We praise the Lord for again this awesome miracle!
The day after my father-in-law went to the ER I ended up there myself. I hadn't been feeling well for awhile and after feeling a bit worse and doing some internet research I thought maybe I had appendicitis. We headed to the hospital and after some scans and bloodwork they told me that I had a UTI and something they called a spongy kidney. I had no idea what they were talking about but they referred me to a urologist to look into that further. They also let me know that I had several kidney stones and a large one in my left side (funny because I didn't have any pain there). This started my welcome into living with Medullary Sponge Kidney (it's actually in both kidneys) and after 3 lithotripsys I am now facing a different procedure because the others aren't working like my doctor would like. I have also just recently been diagnosed with Hyperparathyroidism and am scheduled for that surgery the beginning of October. Hopefully that will be successful and will cut down on my excessive stone formation. Passing stones is not any fun and cutting down on that would be WONDERFUL!!!
Then onto November 17th....we were headed home from visiting Joel's Dad after his surgery in Columbus. We had stopped at our friend's house since it was on the way when I received a frantic phone call from my sister. My 24 year old niece had a been in a serious car accident and with the poor reception on the phone I made out "brain injury, life flighted". That drive home was horrible to say the least plus it had gotten very foggy so my nerves were shot. She was in a coma for a couple of weeks and it was so hard seeing the similarities between her and our nephew. She has three young children and this was so very hard for them. Once she was cleared to leave ICU she ended up at a nursing home where she received hyperbaric treatment which did wonders for her. She started out pretty much comatose and ended up talking, walking, and very much back to "normal". She did extensive therapy and is still making improvements all the time but is home and able to care for her children but still is extremely tired quite often. Yet again we have to give all glory to our wonderful Creator for this miracle!!!
I've decided that I'm going to do a 2nd part to this because so far there has been so much to take in and to be honest I'm exhausted from writing all of this. Stay tuned when I share my vulnerable part....how I felt emotionally, spiritually and some of my PTSD if you will.
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