Update 3/18/23: Life and Appointments

 Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

I am so thankful for a God who walks along side and carries me when life is too hard. The past few weeks since I last posted have been hard and emotional, and yet in the midst of that, there have been beautiful moments where I see God moving. We appreciate all of your prayers. I truly think they are what get me through many difficult days. I will have a whole post about the following picture in a few days, after I get all the photos back, but here is a preview of what is to come. The girls requested that Wayne walk them down the aisle and have it recorded in case he doesn't make it to their weddings. To try to express the emotional impact this had on all of us leading up to this event, and even afterwards as we have all tried to process this, is an understatement.

Wayne's neurologist started him on another medicine to help with his seizures. I am thrilled to share that he has not had a seizure in over two weeks, so we believe this third medicine is helping. Wayne has been going to physical therapy two times a week to try to help with is weakness and coordination. I think both of these things are helping him, although he still isn't back to his normal self.

Wayne's brother and his daughter came and visited us for a week. It was wonderful to have them around and spend time with family. Kevin helped Wayne with a few projects around the house that Wayne has been unable to complete. That was a huge blessing to our family. It was just hard that they came during the week Wayne was adjusting to his new medicine, which made him tired. It also was a very emotional week for our family, so the emotion dynamics were a little strong. 

We tried to do a few fun things while Wayne's family was in town. We took the kids miniature golfing during Civil Air Patrol. That was a lot of fun! Speaking of Civil Air Patrol, Shan just ranked up to Senior Master Sergeant. Micaela will be ranking up for the first time next month. Sophia is attempting to rank up to officer...she's missed passing the test by one point! I have no doubt that she will continue to excel along with Shan and Micaela. 

Micaela and Joella participated in a field trip to the local ABC news station. We all learned a lot on this trip and had a great time with our friends.

Abigail returned home from college on 3/9 and brought four of her college friends home with her. Although our house was bursting with people, it brought us so much joy to hear laughter throughout our house. 

In the midst of all of this, we have had so many doctor appointments. Shan is in the process of having a new prosthetic leg made since he has outgrown his last one. We spent 3 hours on 3/16 getting fitted for a leg. Unfortunately, the trial one did not fit him and we have to wait for a new one to be made to see if it is correct this time. The next evening, 3/17, Shan had an MRI to check up on his overgrowth syndrome. We had to drive to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for an 8pm MRI. We had a few unfortunate things happen: 1) his foot from his prosthetic leg came completely off - the prosthetic technician didn't put it on correctly when he tried it on the other leg. 2) Shan's MRI machine broke half-way through a 2 hours MRI, which means we were at the hospital until 11:30pm! It was a long evening, but thankfully, we had a room at the Ronald McDonald House, which saved me from driving home at midnight.

This morning, we got up early and drove home to catch Abigail and her friends before they left for college. It was worth less sleep to get a hug from my oldest before she left for Liberty again. Tomorrow, Grace heads back to Life Action to continue traveling for the rest of the semester. It will be weird that our house went from 15 people a week ago, to 7 by tomorrow. No one told me how weird it is to be a parent with adult kids that come and go. 

We have busy week coming up. Joella has a neurology appointment on Monday to follow up on her epilepsy. Tuesday, we will be heading to Cleveland Clinic for Wayne to visit a new doctor. We have been working for weeks to get all the paperwork to Cleveland for a second opinion. God works in amazing ways and through my friend Amy, whose husband saw this doctor, she was able to get in touch with him and work a miracle. We were told the earliest appointment was 5/4 and an hour later, after Amy reached out, we were moved to this Tuesday! From Cleveland, we will travel to Chicago to follow up with his regular neuro-oncologist. I see lots of Starbucks chai tea in my future this week.

We covet all the prayers we can get in the weeks ahead as we continue to learn more about what is going on with Wayne and come up with a plan. Thank you again to each of you!!!