It’s been a few months since my last update. The return home after 60 days in the hospital was a much tougher transition than I could have anticipated. I spent the first few weeks trying to make up for lost time with the older kids. We went to the amusement park, zoo, swimming, and squeezed in as many play dates as possible. Then, this momma got exhausted, and truthfully, the kids were too. I had to scale back my expectations and get back to the basics.
Now enter July. We finally got Elyse in outpatient therapy at the local hospital twice a week. It was a struggle thanks to the insurance company initially not wanting to cover services at our chosen location. We entered her second week in the clinic when the entire family contracted COVID. This led to 2 weeks of no therapy for her while she recovered and officially got out of quarantine. Thankfully all of our symptoms were mild.
The next few weeks were again challenging. Elyse started having increased difficulty standing and walking, crying every time we attempted to help her. Then, she began with episodes of vomiting and the inability to sit upright, falling over to the right side each time she attempted. This led us to the ER and transfer back to the Cleveland Clinic. After some tests were run and an adjustment was made to her shunt setting, it was determined that her symptoms were likely due to an intermittent blockage of her shunt, which can be common after the type of surgery she just had in April. It’s not very common for these blockages to clear on their own, however, so I’m just incredibly thankful that we were able to avoid another surgery.
Enter August and Elyse was finally able to consistently attend her outpatient therapy sessions and two weeks ago, began preschool!! She truly is an amazing little girl. As we walked into the building on her first day of school, she was so excited. She started saying, “Yay!!I did it!”. You sure did do it sweet girl. We are already seeing some great things after only a few days of school too. She’s starting to communicate more appropriately, putting 2-3 words together, and participating in more appropriate play for her age.
She has come so far since April, even with some bumps along the way. We can only thank God for this. Trusting and seeing his plan can be difficult when you're in the middle of a difficult time. Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches us to trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; in all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths. If we could understand everything that happens in our life, there would be no need for us to trust God. Instead of spending time in confusion and anger with God, I am learning to be patient with him, trusting his plan as it unfolds in front of us. Reading and studying the scripture has helped tremendously with this. Realizing that God’s love is so great for us that he sacrificed his only son to save us from the death of sin tells you that he is good and faithful and has our best interests at heart. We just have to trust when we don’t know exactly what he’s doing in our lives.
“Father, I am sorry for all of the times that I doubted you and not trusted you during difficult times in my life. Help me to remember your promises to us and trust you without knowing exactly what you are doing. Amen.”